Partners weigh in on the importance of training new Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM consultants, users

Recruiting for a job that requires Microsoft Dynamics product skills is no small challenge. The list of trained, qualified, and available workers who know Dynamics ERP or CRM products can be perilously short. Scarcity drives up wages - good for employees and contractors - but drives down productivity for companies when they are short on staff.

When skilled CRM professionals are too hard to come by, firms often look to train up employees with the right qualitiative skills but who don't yet have the knowledge. Often the existing experts who might be candidates to train others are busy doing their jobs, with little time to run workshops or mentor new employees.

Microsoft partners are taking a range of approaches to training more Dynamics 365/CRM professionals, calling on both internal and external experts to give them a lift.

Gus Gonzalez, founder of Elev8 Solutions and a Microsoft MVP, says his business has found an entire line of business in helping Microsoft partners train up new CRM consultants. "When a lot of partners hire new consultants, or new solutions architects, they hire us to go and train them. So we travel all over the world training partners in emerging markets," says Gonzalez. The company provides services and solutions to Microsoft customers, too, but they have built a line of business around training and certification prep for partners.

Elev8 trains consultants and solutions architects and salespeople for some of the biggest global partners, Gonzalez says.He has traveled to 15 countries this year, training partners who are entering the CRM game. "We teach them how to sell it, how to implement it, ...