SA Software Developer wins rare Microsoft Gold

Issued by DUO Marketing + Communications for Khanyisa Real Systems
Johannesburg, 03 Jul 2008

Morale is high at software developers Khanyisa Real Systems (KRS) as they announce their Microsoft Gold Certified Partnership, making the company one of around 200 Microsoft Gold Certified Partners in South Africa.

Among the thousands of Microsoft partners worldwide, only 2% reach the level of customer-testified service quality and rigorous testing to become Gold Certified. Fewer still earn a Microsoft Competency in Data Management Solutions, which KRS chose, together with Custom Development Solutions, to address the database and systems needs of their enterprise clients.

"It's an achievement all our people are proud of!" says Stewart Scott, projects director at KRS, who has championed gold certification amongst the company's teams. Stewart is also deeply involved in a long-running part of the company's culture: ongoing training for staff development and employee motivation.

From the start, Stewart knew that the answer to gaining the gold accolade was in achieving staff buy-in. The company was expected to achieve a minimum number of individually-held Microsoft qualifications. He began by giving the teams tasters of what to expect and an understanding of the hard work that would be required.

"It's taken a great deal of encouragement and the dangling of a carrot or two, including salary increases to motivate people to move out of their comfort zones, study up and take the exams," says Stewart.

The Microsoft Gold Certified Partnership was a natural challenge. KRS, to date, has guided many staff members through their Microsoft professional qualifications, comfortably exceeding the minimum number of Microsoft Certified Professionals (MCPs) expected by the gold partner programme.

In qualifying as a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, KRS has also demonstrated the expected highest level of expertise with Microsoft technologies and proven their ability to meet customers' needs. KRS tested successfully with clients - Matrix Vehicle Tracking, AMC Classic Cookware, Homechoice and ACE Solutions.

Khanyisa Real Systems (KRS)

Khanyisa Real Systems (KRS) is a medium-sized software development house with flexible and agile processes, project and risk management, and professional skills in Sybase, Microsoft.Net, Microsoft SQL Server, Borland Delphi as their core competencies. KRS focuses on partnering businesses in developing customised enterprise systems - from initial business analysis through to support after implementation - and have a trusted relationship history with some of their clients spanning 20 years. KRS is also tackling South Africa's skills shortage head-on by running a one-year in-house training and internship 'Upgrade Yourself' programme for matriculants considering a career in IT. The programme culminates in students taking the Microsoft Certification exams. The Upgrade Yourself programme forms part of Real Systems Training, a division of KRS.

Notes to editors:

Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation. This news release is an independent (publication) and is not affiliated with, nor has it been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Microsoft Corporation.

Microsoft Custom Development Solutions The Custom Development Solutions competency is designed for Microsoft Gold Partners that are providing custom-developed solutions to customers who require value-added capabilities to optimise business opportunities. The Web Development specialisation focuses on delivering Web-enabled deployment solutions required in organisations that wish to operate and transact through the Internet using Visual Studio, ASP.NET, IIS, Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server.

Microsoft Data Management Solutions The Microsoft Data Management Solutions competency is designed for Gold Certified Partners with proven competency in implementing Database Management solutions that focus on delivering migration tools and services, database administration tools and services and performance tools using SQL Server technology.

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