How much is an Azure professional worth? Take the Microsoft Technology for Business Salary Survey and find out

Ready to share your thoughts on life in the Microsoft technology ecosystem? The fifth annual Nigel Frank Microsoft Technology for Business Salary Survey is now live.

Covering Microsoft business technology such as SharePoint, Office365, Skype for Business, Power BI, and Azure, the study is the result of self-reported insights from professionals across the Microsoft industry, on a range of career levels and role types.

The survey covers not only compensation but takes into account perks, benefits, and working patterns in the channel to give a thorough overview of the ecosystem today.

A vital tool for both Microsoft professionals and the businesses that employ them, the survey enables those in the channel to benchmark salaries, stay up-to-date with product and usage trends, and find out what Microsoft cloud, business intelligence, and UC pros really want from their careers.

If you work with Microsoft technology, you can help make this year’s survey as accurate and representative as possible by sharing your thoughts and opinions. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes to fill out, and on completion, you’ll be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win a Samsung Mixed Reality Headset.

The survey will close for responses on Friday 31^st August 2018. Nigel Frank will be launching the results at Microsoft Ignite 2018; respondents will be among the first to receive the results, and a copy of the report will be sent directly to you.

This year has already been a significant one for Microsoft business tech. Services like Office 365 and Azure helped push yearly profits for the company past £100bn for the first time in its history.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella accredited the boom in revenue to two factors; Microsoft’s dedication to its customers, and the company’s ongoing efforts in the cloud technology sector. “Our early investments in the intelligent cloud and intelligent edge are paying off, and we will continue to expand our reach in large and growing markets with differentiated innovation,” said Nadella.

The big winner for Microsoft in FY2018 was its Intelligent Cloud division. Since Nadella first unveiled Microsoft’s new cloud-first, mobile-first mantra in early 2014, the company has invested massive amounts of time and money into positioning itself as a leader in cloud and edge computing and safeguarding its dominance in an increasingly cloud-led world.

In the past year, revenue for the Intelligent Cloud division, which comprises of the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform and its related technologies and services, increased by 23%, bringing in a total of $9.6bn. Earnings generated by Azure itself ballooned by a massive 89%—though Microsoft does not disclose exact revenue—with commercial cloud services and software such as Office 365 swelling by 53% to $6.9bn.

In this growing and constantly evolving channel, it’s crucial to keep a finger on the pulse of its professionals; those who are driving the industry forward. So, what can we learn from this year’s Microsoft Technology for Business Salary Survey? Have these enormous financial gains had an effect on Microsoft professionals on the ground? Will the company’s record earnings translate to higher salaries for professionals as demand for their services increases?

Last year, two-thirds of Microsoft partners working with Azure said that their workload had increased in the past 12 months, with 68% estimating that they’d be even busier over the coming year—more than half predicted that Azure would overtake Microsoft Office 365 as the most in-demand Microsoft product for end-user projects in the very near future. As Azure continues to gain on AWS in the cloud services market, will partners be able to keep up with demand?

In 2017’s survey, 78% of end-user respondents stated that their employers had migrated at least some of their processes to the cloud in the previous year, with just one in five of those user partner resources, and one in ten utilizing contractor services. Will this year see an increase in contractor popularity, and will that have an effect on rates for Azure contractors?

The survey also found a gap between the rate of cloud adoption, and the training that end users are providing for their teams—just 34% of Azure end users stated that they’d been offered training on the new cloud tech in their workplace. Will there be a natural opportunity for partners to offer more training services to help plug the skills gap?

To have your say on the Microsoft ecosystem, and find out how much you should be earning as an Azure pro, take the Microsoft Technology for Business Salary Survey today, and receive your free report before anyone else.