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UTS and Microsoft collaborate to solve skills shortages

New online Graduate Certificate in Business Consulting and Technology Implementation available to learners globally.

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Microsoft and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have announced an innovative new course designed to help individuals build high-value careers and enable more organisations to harness the power of business applications.


The UTS Graduate Certificate in Business Consulting and Technology Implementation has been co-designed with Microsoft and leading services firms Avanade, Capgemini and EY.

It has been created to provide students from a wide range of backgrounds with the skills and knowledge to work in the professional field of functional consulting using Microsoft Dynamics.

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Liz Blatchford 0:07 So this is a world first, this incredible collaboration with UTS, and Microsoft to build an accelerated program to bring more functional consultants into the market to meet the demand that we're seeing now. And in the future.

Mai Hansford 0:22 It's a burgeoning industry, digital transformation is what a lot of businesses are about. So their business consultants are scarce on the ground. And these business consultants help businesses to move into this new space using their systems in ways that are going to benefit business.

Natalia Nikolova 0:43 So this Graduate Certificate will provide pathways for you to work in some of the biggest consulting and advisory companies in the world. So students will be presented with a real client project, a similar one that they will be facing when they actually start the career as a Dynamics consultant.

Tharlon Khinzaw 1:00 So Dynamics 365 is a CRM that has also additional features, such as allowing customer service interactions, and ability to solve customer issues.

Kurt Solarte 1:11 Dynamics and Power platform are a great kind of set of platforms allow us to do all sorts of things from CRM, through to things like automation and logic app, it's a really, it's a whole platform that lets our functional consultants decide which of the multiple pieces of the platform should be hooked together to solve our clients business problems.

Ben Davis 1:33 We've seen our partners like KPMG, EY, Avanade, Capgemini really driving digital transformation with our customers seeking an edge seeking a competitive advantage, optimizing their businesses, of course, with all of that growth in the customer space, our partners are seeking more and more people to come into their businesses to enable that and help their customers.

Josephine Porrier 1:53 So functional consultants come from wide and varied backgrounds, you know, you can imagine a finance consultant might come from finance background, but they don't necessarily have to, they could come from a commerce or business type background. They don't need to come from computer science.

Lucia Gamarra 2:07 We have hired teachers, we've hired accountants, we have hired Field Sales officers, we've hired a range of people, this is a great career, because there's never a dull moment, every project is very, very different.

John Zampa-Howe 2:24 I'm in my 50s now and I've had a significant career in the military. And I thought that was all I was going to do. I spent many roles in army over 25 years, none of them it related.

Prajwal Bhetwal 2:35 As a consultant, you're doing multiple things in multiple projects. Sometimes you have to wear a hat of a planner, sometimes you have to wear hat or be designers. Sometimes you have to wear a hat of a tester.

Cathy Xu 2:44 Other skills include communication skills, you're talking to a wide range of stakeholders. So it's important you know how to communicate and get your point across creative thinking skills and problem solving skills are super important. Also facilitation skills, you'll be helping facilitate workshops and meetings a lot more. So there are plenty of opportunities.

Kurt Solarte 3:04 I think certifications are really important that Microsoft has looked into you and certified your knowledge on the platform is really important to a lot of clients who are in the market right now looking to acquire expertise and really get help.

Natalia Nikolova 3:16 It is very experiential is very realistic students who work in teams, there'll be facing a realistic scenario. And they'll have to go through the process of how do you actually solve a current problem and implement a solution. It's challenging, it's not easy, but it also brings in a lot of learning opportunities, and really prepare students for the next step, which is to go out and work with real clients.

Josephine Porrier 3:40 There is a huge demand for functional consultants. Every single day, a new deal comes across my desk and this doesn't seem like it's slowing down anytime soon. It's just only going to get greater demand from here.


  • The Graduate Certificate comprises six subjects and aims to equip participants with the business, human-centric and technical skills needed to work as functional consultants, either in Microsoft's partner ecosystem or its client base.

    This course combines UTS research and academic rigour from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and UTS Business School with the technology and industry expertise of Microsoft and leading service firms

     


  • Content focuses on real-world case studies and implementation practice via organisations such as Avanade, Capgemini and EY.

    Students build foundational knowledge of the features and capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365 & Power Platform. 

    Graduates enter the workforce with a unique skill-set to set them apart in an in-demand field. 



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Learn more about the course and the future of technology consulting from industry leaders and UTS experts.

Why study this course?

Mai Hansford 0:05 The Graduate Certificate in Business Consulting and Technology Implementation has been co-creation with Microsoft and industry partners to fill a gap in their employment needs. So their business consultants are scarce on the ground. There, it's a burgeoning industry, digital transformation is what a lot of businesses are about. And these business consultants help businesses to move into this new space, make sure that they're efficient. And using their systems in ways that are going to benefit their business. The core subjects in the Graduate Certificate, it's stakeholder engagement, one on Dynamics 365, and the technical skills that you need to be a business consultant. Alongside that you do a subject on business processes, which helps you understand the context for the application. And there is a final subject or Studio Capstone where you pull together all of the skills and knowledge that you've gleaned from the other subjects and use them in client scenario. The Graduate Certificate is offered fully online - the material. But we also have live online sessions with tutors. So in each subject, there'll be three or four sessions where you get to speak to a tutor, speak to fellow students, and you can ask questions, you can clarify your understanding of concepts. So you're not alone. You have all of the information that you can go back and reread, use the interactive material that's there that helps submit the concepts are because they are in practice, you know, what UTS is well known for its theory to practice, we've got that marriage a down pat. I think in this course, the consulting firms that are part of the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. They have been very involved in this course, this involvement has meant that we have real world case studies, we've got their advice, their information, scenarios that they know that you will face when you become a business consultant. And so there's that real sense of preparing yourself for the workforce. These consulting firms are committed to this course and committed to welcoming the graduates into their firms. So they're very enthusiastic about this course, they're very involved with it. And the job opportunities are there for you when you graduate.

Francesco Bailo 2:44 This subject will run in parallel with the business processes where students will learn about the business, business issues and business problems that they will need to be able to apply in a software context in the in the implementations subject. So students will also learn ethical principles to deal with these new kinds of challenges.

Alan Davidson 3:06 The Microsoft collaboration with UTS is really demonstrating our university such as UTS can be agile and responsive to industry needs. And through a co-design process and being responsive within months, not years in building up workforce profile and understanding the nature of the workforce needs.

What does a Functional Consultant do?

John Zampa-Howe 0:05 Within my role as a functional consultant at Avanade, I configure Microsoft Power Platform to meet the needs of the business that I am working with.

Prajwal Bhetwal 0:14 Technology in the 21st century is moving in such a fast pace, that you know, more and more industries are now adapting to no code, low code platform. That means, with simple drag and drop and little very less complexity, you can actually build apps and software for different companies. And that is where, you know, Microsoft is heading right. And Microsoft Power Platform itself.

Lucia Gamarra 0:36 Functional consultants, they design the system for a client, to give them the output that they need to automate their business.

Tharlon Khinzaw 0:46 The functional consultant at Capgemini, works with clients to solve their issues, and uses the available infrastructure and IT to solve these issues.

Francesco Bailo 0:57 It's really again about targeting consultants that want to bring innovation into into companies through the use innovative use of this of the software applications.

Kurt Solarte 1:10 Functional consultant at EY is a bit of a glue in a project. So we've got, you know, developers and engineers that are working through a platform and we have some of the business analysts that are working through the business problems. And what the functional consultant does is tie those two things together, make sure we understand how we can meet the business requirements. With the chosen set of technology stack that we have. Dynamics and Power Platform are a great kind of set of platforms allow us to do all sorts of things from your traditional CRM through to things like automation and logic apps. And so really, it's a whole platform that lets our functional consultants and our architects decide which of the multiple pieces of the platform should be turned on and hooked together to solve our client's business problems.

What background do Functional Consultants need to have?

John Zampa-Howe: The great thing about the subject specifically is that students don't require any programming or coding experience or skills. The software actually implement low code, no code principles, allowing everyone with, again, no coding experience to take full advantage of the different opportunities offered by the software. I'm in my 50s now and I've had a significant career in the military and I thought that was all I was going to do. So for me, this is really good. Where Avanade has looked at my soft skills that I have from previous experience, they've seen my potential and they've given me the opportunity to embark in a new career that I never thought I'd ever be in. No, I've never had any experience other than turning a printer on in the office. So this is a great opportunity really for me to learn new skills and utilize those into the future. I spent many roles in army over 25 years, none of them IT related. So this is really good for me. This is a great learning experience. 

Prajwal Bhetwal: Dynamics 365 is basically a Microsoft prebuilt platform which different company uses to build business solutions for them. When I joined Avanade, I thought like, we all the people come from different technical backgrounds only. When I joined Avanade, I saw a guy from Defence, I saw someone from student academy background, I saw a salesperson being consultant, I saw data analyst being consultants. So it's a combination of a lot of different occupations. It doesn't have to be technical background that you have to belong to. However, it would be great because everyone has their own strengths, right? Someone has great soft skills, some have got great technical skills, and it doesn't have to be one or the other, right? If you have that willingness to become a consultant, then you can definitely go out and learn. And technical skills can always be learned, so that's not a problem.

Lucia Gamarra: Functional consultants don't necessarily have to come from IT backgrounds. We quite often hire people that come from very, very, very different industries. We have hired teachers, we've hired accountants, we have hired field sales officers, we've hired a range of people. We hire many non-IT professionals. We look for people who have work experience, who can basically apply their industry knowledge into designing solutions for customers.

Tharlon Khinzaw: At UTS, I studied business and IT, so I majored in marketing and business information systems management. As I mentioned before, the business aspect allows me to have a different insight from a lot of my other peers who are more technical. So I'm able to see in a more selling and financial aspect that how an idea or can help a client become profitable or just kind of be able to think something that's more marketable. 

Josephine Porrier: So functional consultants come from wide and varied backgrounds. You can imagine a finance consultant might come from a finance background, but they don't necessarily have to. They could come from a commerce or a business type background. They don't need to come from computer science. I think everyone in the old days used to think that was a given that you had to come from computer science. We also have people coming from industry. So they'll come from industry and they've worked in a certain place for a while, then they'll transfer across and learn the application. And when they learn the application, they can often be some of our best functional consultants. We also have people who are coming from other they've been out of the industry for a while, out of all industries, I should say. They've been out of work and so being on maternity leave or they've been in the military. Then they come back and, you know, they can be functional consultants, but it's really it's all about attitude. It's not so much about what you've done in the past, it's about what you want to do in the future. 

Kurt Solarte: I don't really think you have to have any particular background to come from. I think that's the beauty of working on a platform like this and on going into consulting. I think if you're open minded, I think if you are a good learner and you spend the time and effort to understand the platform when you get on site to understand the client's business and their problem need, that's what's needed. It's really about diving deep, getting experience and understanding what people need and pulling that together and then executing. I think not having a technical background can actually often be quite an advantage for a functional consultant. So someone that can understand a business problem really well and then has spent the time to really learn about the platform, become certified and understand the value of the platform will really be good at stitching together how that platform can solve those business problems.

Why is it a future-proof career?

John Zampa-Howe: So one of the other things that I wanted to do was really future proof a career for me. I wanted to get into an industry that was going to give me, you know, longevity, probably 1020 years of meaningful work and also learning experience that happens on a daily basis. And the learning aspect is something that keeps me motivated to do well here at Avanade. 

Prajwal Bhetwal: I think this is a good long term choice because in 21st century IT industry is moving in such a fast pace that more and more industries now want no code, low code platform that can build complex business solutions, complex applications and softwares with just quick drag and drop, drag and drop and less code is required. So that is where Microsoft is heading. And if you look at the market today, there's a little bit of a skill shortage in terms of Power Platform as well. So even to fill that gap and progress on that career pathway, I think this is a great career for the next 10-20 years. 

Lucia Gamarra: Technology is such a big part of our lives right now that it is really future proofing in your career. 

Kurt Solarte: Right now this career is massively in demand. There's all sorts of corporations and government entities that have made massive investments in Microsoft Platforms and they have a huge need for people to come in who are knowledgeable in the platform, who've been certified by Microsoft and who understand what it's going to take to move them from where they are to where they want to be. You could see functional consultants move into big program management or project management. You could see them climb up into more deep business analysis or data analysis. You could see functional consultants go heavily technical. They could fall in love with the platform and become a developer worker or configurer on the platform. So I think really, when you start your career at functional consultant, you're kind of right in the middle and can start to figure out where you want it to take you. 

Tharlon Khinzaw: Honestly, I think long term I want to be able to create or help create something that will positively impact the world and that my contribution can be seen that can really make an impact and I don't know, just put a smile on people's faces. 

Josephine Porrier: As a functional consultant, it's really the basis, the foundation for a number of different roles. You can go into a people leadership role, you can go into a deep solution architect role, you can stay being a functional consultant, particularly in that area. But for me, one of the most fantastic things is being able to transfer those skills to another country, so the UK, the US or Europe, just to be able to do the same thing because you're a functional consultant. There is a huge demand for functional consultants. We are literally down I can't tell you how many people with current projects today for the lack of functional consultants in the industry today. It's been a problem for a while and we've tried to develop people from outside the industry and brought them into being functional consultants, but the demand keeps growing. The demand that I'm seeing every single day, a new deal comes across my desk. And this doesn't seem like it's slowing down any time soon. So it's just only going to get greater demand from here. 

What is Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform?

John Zampa-Howe: Dynamics 365 is a suite of intelligent business applications that connects customers, operations, people and products. Power Platform analyzes data, builds solutions, automates processes and creates virtual agents in order to resolve business problems. 

Prajwal Bhetwal: Dynamics 365 is basically a Microsoft prebuilt platform which different companies use to build business solutions for them. PowerApps basically is a combination of four different suite of tools which helps functional consultants or technical consultants to build different software solutions using those tools. So it could be canvas app or model driven app or Power Automate that is used to design an app for different purposes. 

Tharlon Khinzaw: So Dynamics 365 is a CRM that has also additional features such as allowing customer service interactions and ability to solve customer issues. So the Power platform consists of Power Apps, which allows businesses to build low code apps as well as Power BI, which allows businesses to visualize data and make insights with that data and Power Automate, which allows businesses to automate a task that can usually be very autism or cumbersome. It allows organizations to improve their business operations. 

Kurt Solarte: Well, the Dynamics and Power platform are a great kind of set of platforms that allow us to do all sorts of things from your traditional CRM through to things like automation and logic apps. So really it's a whole platform that lets our functional consultants and our architects decide which of the multiple pieces of the platform should be turned on and hooked together to solve our clients, business problems. 

Work with Microsoft channel partners

John Zampa-Howe: Avanade is a great place to work at, firstly for the culture. I was impressed with the culture right from the start of the interview process, going through the academy as a student and then graduating as a CRM consultant. The leadership and mentoring that we have is outstanding and that certainly holds us in good stead. And I also really like the feel that we're in a huge family. It's a great thing to be part of the team here at Avande. 

Lucia Gamarra: Why Avanade? Avanade delivers on its promise to provide an inclusive, supportive environment that will help consultants grow and develop in their career. Avanade is very conscious of people's health and wellbeing. We provide health and wellbeing allowance. We provide My days, which are additional annual leave days. We also provide flexible working arrangements and we also provide our staff with gadget allowances so that they keep current. 

Tharlon Khinzaw: Yeah. So as an Associate consultant at Capgemini, I currently am learning everything Microsoft and Dynamics and Power platform. This includes learning and obtaining certifications as well as shadowing senior managers on projects and just I'm actually currently also a part of coordinating a big response. 

Josephine Porrier: The beauty of being with Capgemini is we have so much industry depth that even if someone doesn't come from that background, we can really upskill them very quickly. So someone like a graduate can get to know so much about the industry very, very rapidly instead of having to spend a good decade in that industry. 

Kurt Solarte: So EY are currently looking for functional consultants right across the spectrum in Microsoft, that's everything from the cloud platform Azure straight through to Dynamics and the Power Platform. We need them for our clients who need them to finish their projects, even to kind of do the solution and plan out where they're going to be in the next year, two years, five years, as they move whole swaths of their business onto the Microsoft platform. Yeah EY is a great place to work for a single of reason that we focus solely on people. All we do is offer our services and our people. We don't have any other products or anything we sell. And so the whole focus of the firm is on people, around further education, around giving them the opportunities they need, around mentoring them, around making sure their whole career experience is what they want it to be, and making sure that translates into outcomes for our clients. 

 

This initiative is focused on solving existing skill shortages and helping to fill some of the estimated 286,000* additional skilled technology workers needed over the next four years (*Tech Council of Australia). 

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