Optimizing Excel formulas - SUMPRODUCT vs SUMIFS/COUNTIFS

Question

According to a couple of web sites, SUMIFS and COUNTIFS are faster than SUMPRODUCT (for example: http://exceluser.com/blog/483/excels-sumifs-or-sumproduct-which-is-faster.ht

Answer 1

1st SUMPRODUCT could become

=COUNTIFS(Sheet1!$N:$N,$A4,Sheet1!$H:$H,"1A*",Sheet1!$M:$M,"<>service catalog",Sheet1!$J:$J,"incident",Sheet1!$I:$I,"<>self-serve",Sheet1!$AK:$AK,AFM$‌​1,Sheet1!$E:$E,">="&$E$1,Sheet1!$E:$E,"<"&$E$2)

The LEFT part can be handled by a wildcard, as shown

change the second part along the same lines