Upwork and Microsoft Partner To Connect Businesses With Independent Azure Experts To Support High-Value Projects

The On-Demand Economy is about leveraging technology to immediately provision goods and services to fill consumer demand. While online marketplaces have been in the transformation business for a while, the Human Cloud is well positioned to revolutionize the way individuals and organizations source talent for their projects. As the nature of work changes, technology will have an outsized impact on the kind of work that people do and ways in which people find and transact work in the first place. 

The independent workforce is growing rapidly, representing 35% of the U.S. workforce. Despite current economic conditions the use of independent professionals is expected to grow, 72% of hiring managers are continuing or increasing their usage of independent professionals, and nearly half (47%) are more likely to engage independent talent in the future, according to findings from our annual Future Workforce Report.

That’s why we’re excited to share we’re partnering with Microsoft to provide businesses with on-demand access to a curated pool of independent Azure experts. We have worked closely in partnership with Microsoft to ensure that the Azure talent included in our marketplace has verified Azure certifications at the Associate or Expert level, with a proven performance history and strong customer ratings.Together, we’re helping provide businesses with quick and easy access to a curated talent pool of certified Azure professionals from around the globe.  

Meet a few of the Azure certified freelance experts available to support your projects:

‍Sokol Dollani - A Microsoft 365 and Azure expert, Sokol holds six Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) and Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) certifications. He has over a decade of experience delivering Microsoft enterprise-driven solutions for his clients, completing over 250 projects on Upwork with a 100% client satisfaction rating. Sokol has worked with a number of high-profile clients from around the globe including the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, India, Germany and France, to name a few.

‍Amos Cabanban - A Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect Expert, Amos is a top-rated freelancer with nearly 10 years of experience working on Upwork. As a tenured .NET consultant, he has supported client projects across a wide range of industries including healthcare, energy, real estate, technology, legal, banking and manufacturing. 

Hardik Mistry - A two-time Microsoft MVP, Hardik has over a decade of software engineering experience. He has designed and implemented cloud native solutions for start-ups and large Fortune 500 brands. Hardik is the founder of AppMatic Tech, a full-service software development agency. In his free time, he serves as a mentor for open source software professionals and community user groups.

Here’s how it works:

1. Create a free job post. Write a targeted project description and post your job on Upwork. You can use our Azure job posting templates to help you get started. 
2. Freelancers come to you. Get qualified proposals within 24 hours. Compare bids, create a shortlist, interview your favorites, and hire the best fit. 
3. Collaborate remotely. Leverage Upwork to share files, video chat, message, and track project milestones from your desktop or mobile device. 
4. Automate payments. Manage your independent workforce from a single dashboard where you can receive invoices, authorize work, and release payments for hourly or fixed-price contracts. 
   

Small and medium-sized businesses aren’t the only ones who can benefit from engaging independent talent professionals. Businesses of any size can benefit from the agility gained by filling organizational knowledge gaps through on-demand talent marketplaces. Reskilling an existing workforce is often more costly and complex than hiring on-demand specialists on a per-project basis

If you'd like to tackle your next Azure project quickly, visit Upwork to find a Microsoft certified professional. If you have Azure expertise and would like to participate as an independent professional, you are welcome to sign up here.