Navigating Microsoft


Microsoft's Dynamics Partners Finding Strength in Numbers with Katalys (UPDATED)

Katalys Group formed to help small Dynamics partners find a creative way to meet the Microsoft Partner Network requirements by banding together.

A Microsoft Partner's Inside Tips for Selling Windows Intune

Lead with pain points, not the Windows Intune brand. Leverage Windows Intune to help SMBs upgrade to Windows 7. Pair Windows Intune sales with Office 365. Look for business incentive fund (BIF) opportunities.

Top 10 Windows 8 Features for Microsoft Partners

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Microsoft's recent Build conference gave partners -- and the world -- the first in-depth look at the forthcoming Windows 8 operating system. From the radically different UI to Hyper-V support, here are the top 10 features Microsoft revealed at Build that partners should pay close attention to.

Partners: 6 Ways To Get Free Microsoft Product Licenses

Hidden in plain sight within the Microsoft Partner Network are six places where partners can get free product licenses. Hint: Check your Internal Use Rights.

With Office 365, Microsoft's Direct Billing Drama Continues

Microsoft created a new partner category when it launched Office 365 to fix the billing problems that vexed partners with BPOS. But there's a catch.

How Microsoft Dynamics Partners Are Evolving with the Cloud

With Microsoft rolling out more of its key business applications in the cloud, the channel must prepare. But in interviews at Microsoft Convergence, partners and customers are finding the cloud is just one more reason to re-emphasize good old-fashioned services.

Microsoft Partners Energized by 'Windows 8'

Citing "cool" factor, partners see the next OS interface as unifying Microsoft's platforms. Concerns surround how the touch orientation will translate to the desktop, and whether thorny OEM and development issues find quick resolutions.

For a New Category of Cloud Partner, Microsoft Relaxes Office 365 Billing

WEB EXCLUSIVE: In a major change from BPOS, 20 hosters with value-added services will handle their own customer billing for Office 365. VARs and MSPs must still go through Microsoft in the Partner of Record model.

Cloud Computing and Strategic Sales Management

Partners and sales teams are entering uncharted territory in cloud computing. Here are six tips for building a successful cloud practice.

Microsoft Lync Partners Bullish on Skype Deal

While most of the analysis of Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype has focused on the consumer aspects of the deal, partners have responded enthusiastically and are seeing some opportunities for Skype alongside Microsoft Lync.

Top 10 Microsoft Products: Partners Rate What's Most Important

WEB EXCLUSIVE: Which components of Microsoft's 350-strong product portfolio are the most important to its partners' businesses? To find the answer, we asked the partners themselves -- over 500 of them -- to pick the 10 they and their customers can't go without.

The Dynamics Decade: 10 Highlights from 10 Years of Microsoft Business Applications

WEB EXCLUSIVE: From the early acquisitions of Great Plains and Navision, to the Burgum-Nadella-Tatarinov executive shakeup, to the company's tentative first steps toward an "all-in" cloud approach, we spotlight the top 10 milestones from Microsoft's decade of Dynamics.

2011 Microsoft Partner Survey: Your Take on the MPN, Selling the Cloud and More

With the launch of the Microsoft Partner Network in November, Microsoft forced 400,000 partners to decide how they'll fit their businesses into the new structure. In our annual survey, readers reported how they're planning to adapt.

Microsoft Partner Network: Questions Answered in Online Partner Forum

In a channel network that's 640,000 strong, it's a tall order to address the multitude of questions, concerns and grievances that partners may have. Thankfully, the leaders of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group seemed eager to hear them all.

BPOS Billing Reaction Floods In

If Microsoft doesn't get BPOS billing right, the sharks will certainly be circling.