Herndon, VA, October 16, 2007 -- Southport Services Group, LLC, a management and IT consulting company specializing in business intelligence, announced today that it has attained Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program with a competency in Data Management Solutions. As a Certified Partner, Southport has demonstrated expertise implementing Microsoft technologies and a proven ability to meet customers' needs using the Microsoft BI platform.
"This certification attests to Southport's depth of expertise in helping customers leverage the Microsoft Business Intelligence product stack to deliver solutions that provide knowledge workers with the tools they need in order to make better decisions," said Jim Butz, Principal and co-founder of Southport. "We are excited to be recognized by Microsoft as a Certified Partner and believe our standing in the Microsoft Partner program will help our current and future customers by expanding the technology options that we are able to offer, helping them evaluate technology options and select the right platform based on their requirements."
"Customers are looking for partner companies that can bridge the gap between their business demands and technology capabilities," said Allison Watson, corporate vice president of the Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. "They need to trust in a company that can act as an expert adviser for their long-term strategic technology plans. Today, Microsoft recognizes Southport Services Group, LLC as a new Certified Partner for demonstrating its expertise in providing customer satisfaction using Microsoft products and technology."
As one of the requirements for attaining Certified Partner status, Southport had to declare a Microsoft Competency. Microsoft Competencies are designed to help differentiate a partner's capabilities with specific Microsoft technologies to customers looking for a particular type of solution. The Data Management Solutions Competency is designed for Partners that have proved their competency in deploying data warehousing, online analytical processing, data mining, decision support and in-depth reporting solutions.
"Microsoft Competencies make it easier for our partners to position their offerings to our mutual customers, better align their business with Microsoft's marketing initiatives, and form closer relationships with other industry partners," said Bill Baker, distinguished engineer and general manager of Business Intelligence applications for the Microsoft Office Business Platform at Microsoft Corp. "Through the Data Management Solutions Competency, we can assist our industry partners' proficiency in developing and deploying business intelligence applications more quickly and easily, and help them align with our goal of making business intelligence solutions more pervasive and accessible to everyone. We are committed to working with industry partners to take advantage of Microsoft"s business intelligence (BI) platform. In today's complex business environment, BI is one of the first priorities of CIOs. Achieving Certified Partner status is an indication that a partner strives to bring real-world solutions to our mutual customers."
As a Microsoft Certified Partner, Southport will have Microsoft trained and certified resources on staff dedicated to implementing the Microsoft suite of BI products, including SSIS, SSAS, SSRS, ProClarity and Sharepoint. In addition Southport will receive a rich set of benefits, including access to software, training and support, giving them a competitive advantage over non-Certified partners in the market.
Southport Services Group, LLC is a management and IT consulting company specializing in enterprise business intelligence. We offer a full-range of consulting services that help our customers design, develop and deploy business intelligence solutions that convert data into actionable information.
Media Contact:
Vicki Meginley
Southport Services Group, LLC
###
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
