Getting employees working from home or at least in widely separated sections of the office, leveraging Microsoft Teams and watching your cash flow like a hawk are among the key measures to weather this pandemic, says channel community leader Per Werngren.
With the coronavirus affecting us all, both in our professional and our personal lives, it is important for Microsoft partners to take proper action in order to not fall victim to this crisis.
We need to take care of each other: our employees, our customers and our fellow partners. We compete every other day with each other, but right now is the time to be generous and help those in need. Don't try to make the coronavirus an opportunity to steal business from each other -- we're better than that and united we stand as a community. More
Posted by Per Werngren on March 17, 20200 comments
As we're well into the first quarter of 2020, I see four big trend-related opportunities for Microsoft partners this year.
Having been around this ecosystem for quite some time, I'm noticing that we are finally seeing great progress in embracing diversity. More
Posted by Per Werngren on February 20, 20200 comments
Thank you for all the great feedback and wonderful discussions on my previous guest blog about the concept of the virtual hoster. I understand that this resonates well with both legacy hosters, as well as newcomers who want to enter this market.
As Microsoft prepares mechanisms and processes to incentivize partners who manage resources -- instead of only those who just handle the transactions -- we see that this will further boost interest from partners to be in this space.
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Posted by Per Werngren on November 18, 20190 comments
As the CEO of Interlink Cloud Advisors in the Cincinnati area, Matt Scherocman has been selling cloud for a long time. Having launched the born-in-the-cloud startup after observing the opportunity from inside Microsoft, Scherocman has navigated a lot of change in how Microsoft offers cloud services. In this guest post, Matt shares his secrets for selling to customers under Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider model and for competing with Enterprise Agreement inertia.
Interlink has seen it all when it comes to selling Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) licensing program. We have had tremendous success over the last eight years of our business, but we also know the tremendous frustration it can bring. Licensing itself is constantly changing, and it can be confusing and complicated.
Microsoft and other partners often ask us what has made us successful and how we overcome challenges. Here are some pointers: More
Posted by Matt Scherocman on October 17, 20190 comments
Being a hoster has been a phenomenal business model for many years. The concept was easy: You built a datacenter in your own building or rented colocation space elsewhere, and then you bought hardware and expanded as needed. It was a simple way to earn good money when you did it right with a structured, industrial approach.
For many years, I ran my own hosting company and it was the best of times. But times are changing! With the adoption of megascale cloud computing provided by Microsoft, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google, many local hosters are becoming obsolete and losing their customers. Some local hosters will still make a decent living for years to come, but they might benefit from special requirements in a certain vertical or geography. More
Posted by Per Werngren on September 17, 20190 comments
Over the years, it has been very lucrative for partners to look at where Microsoft is making investments and to make sure that their bets are aligned with Microsoft's.
The level of investment from Microsoft that goes into engineering, readiness, marketing and sales means that partners who make sure to align their businesses with those priorities have a lot of wind at their backs. More
Posted by Per Werngren on August 12, 20190 comments
What are the top steps Microsoft partners can take to help their businesses succeed in 2019? We put that question to top experts, including Microsoft channel veteran and RCP contributor Per Werngren.
I have been a leading advocate for partner to partner (P2P) cooperation for several years and in recent years I'm seeing a hockey stick effect, which is marketing lingo for something that takes off and grows like crazy.
P2P is simply on everyone's lips, and the momentum that I saw last year is a great promise for what 2019 will bring to us. More
Posted by Per Werngren on March 22, 20190 comments
With diversity and inclusion top of mind for most companies, both the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) and The WIT (Women in Technology) Network are working hard to help businesses build programs and take advantage of education that will foster success. A new joint membership promotion makes it easier for respective members to be part of the unique opportunities each organization is driving.
The IAMCP and The WIT Network share an impressive history, with both organizations demonstrating significant impact on this critical agenda. It is this robust and mutually successful growth that has led to an official alliance between the two organizations. More
Posted by Gail Mercer-MacKay on March 21, 20190 comments
What are the top steps Microsoft partners can take to help their businesses succeed in 2019? We put that question to top experts, including Howard M. Cohen, Senior Resultant, The Tech Channel Partners' Results Group.
It has now become incredibly easy to know how to optimize your Microsoft relationship and enjoy the best of their support and attention. Easier than ever.
From the very beginning of the Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP) through to the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) it has always been all about "The Big Bet." While the current Big Bet at any given time has changed regularly, causing partners to have to be very light on their feet, there has always been at least one Big Bet. More
Posted by Howard M. Cohen on February 21, 20190 comments
What are the top steps Microsoft partners can take to help their businesses succeed in 2019? We put that question to top experts, including Mark Rice, General Manager, Managed Services Partners, Microsoft.
As customers digitally transform themselves, all partners are also going through some level of transformation necessary to take advantage of the growing customer demand and opportunity in the cloud. The promise of the recurring revenue of long-term cloud managed services is a clear end game to their customer engagement. This is a journey, and can be looked at in three pillars: business transformation, capability transformation and sales and marketing transformation.
Business Transformation
Customers are looking for dynamic solutions focused on business outcomes from their partners, who can help them navigate the move to the cloud. But they're not just looking for partners to help navigate, they're looking for help optimizing and governing their use of the cloud. Partners who are best positioned to deliver this to their customers are those who can deliver a full customer cloud engagement lifecycle. This sounds very simple, but taking a customer from plan/design through migration, application modernization, optimization and running requires solutions, tooling, automation and, of course, a ton of talent. Partners who adapt to guide customers through this cycle will have a competitive advantage over their peers in the coming years. More
Posted by Mark Rice on January 29, 20190 comments
What are the top steps Microsoft partners can take to help their businesses succeed in 2019? We put that question to top experts, including Keith Lubner, Chief Strategy Officer, Sales Gravy.
Your success will be predicated upon how well you can manage your time in 2019.
Collectively, we are consumed by inordinate amounts of data, by vast arrays of communication methods, and by the demands of an "instantaneous" society. As professionals, we are being asked to respond quicker, be more thoughtful and compete in more situations. More
Posted by Keith Lubner on January 24, 20190 comments
What are the top steps Microsoft partners can take to help their businesses succeed in 2019? We put that question to top experts, including Toby Richards, General Manager, Partner GTM and Programs, Microsoft.
Going into 2019, we're hoping more and more commercial partners, including services partners and independent software vendors, take advantage of the Microsoft portfolio of go-to-market services. Partners should focus on attaining technical competencies and delivering validated solutions in order to remain competitive.
In the past year, Microsoft has released new programs that help partners differentiate themselves in the marketplace, including the Azure Expert MSP program, the release of the company's security competency later this year, and advanced specializations in the area of SAP solutions on Azure and Azure Stack partners. I encourage partners to take advantage of these programs that work in tandem with Microsoft to differentiate. More
Posted by Toby Richards on January 24, 20190 comments