As Microsoft Transitions from Pinpoint to Partner Center, Marketers Should Tune In

At its 2016 Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), Microsoft announced it would be retiring Pinpoint, the customer-facing partner directory, and replacing it with Partner Center.

Partner Center is now the landing place for customers who visit many Microsoft Web properties and click on a link to "Find a Partner." To make the most of those potential customer connections -- as well connect with other partners and Microsoft employees -- partner marketers should be tuned in to the evolution of Partner Center.

More than just a directory, the Partner Center is the transactional hub for cloud partner-customer relationships. It's Microsoft's one-stop shop to help partners manage the complex transactional relationships with customers -- like multi-channel and multi-partner account assignments. In the long run, the centralization of partner and customer information should benefit everyone involved, but it's going to take some getting used to. And some marketers may have missed the transition.

In terms of referrals, Partner Center is in its early days, but marketers need to be paying attention as the site develops. According to Microsoft, the company is investing in and rebuilding the architecture of the customer-to-partner matching/referral tools. "Microsoft Referrals" will centralize the tools previously known as Pinpoint, C2PC, FastTrack and many others that connect customers with partners.

Managing Marketing Profiles in Partner Center
The fanfare around the Partner Center as referral engine is likely to heat up once the migration of partner accounts from Pinpoint is completed. The transition has created some confusion. While limited profile information for all partners has been migrated to Partner Center, not all partners are able to manage their accounts on the platform. Cloud Solution Providers (CSPs) and some ISV partners manage their profiles in Partner Center, while most non-CSP partners still use the Pinpoint interface to manage their information. The original announcements from Microsoft suggested all partners would be on the Partner Center platform before January 2017, but the process is not yet complete.

"I don't have a final date as it is an iterative process working with partners through the rollout plan," said Niamh Coleman, director of Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) programs in the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group. "It's a journey. We are working hard to bring partners a new and improved referral engine."

Based on my review of the listings currently in Partner Center, most partners have not spent enough (if any) time updating their profiles. The Referrals Partner Deck provides a clear step-by-step guide to explaining the transition process and how to manage your marketing profile through either interface. Collaboration Works, a Dynamics partner marketing firm, wrote a good post with valuable tips on the transition and how to improve your search rankings.

'Microsoft Referrals'
While the transition to the new platform may be a little rocky, it's important that marketers pay attention to what Microsoft refers to as the "Next generation of Microsoft referrals." Microsoft is trying to up its game for customer-to-partner and partner-to-partner referrals. That engine will be driven through the Partner Center which, at this point, is still evolving.       

"The referral engine will identify the most relevant and qualified partners," said Coleman. "We will be connecting customers with partners, as well as connecting partners with one another. Partner Center will be the hub for finding qualified partners."

For many partners, the real value of Pinpoint was making connections with partners and Microsoft employees. Microsoft employees and partners searched Pinpoint to find partners with specific industry or functional expertise. Partner Center is likely to be even more valuable in that regard. Microsoft needs partners to work together so they are motivated to foster P2P connections.

Currently, the Partner Center listings have limited capabilities. There doesn't appear to be any way to attach supporting documents. The customer references that were part of Pinpoint have been discontinued -- probably in response to the difficulty in validating entries.

"Customer references was retired," said Coleman. "The plan is to replace the function with an enhanced service. We'll be keeping partners apprised as we roll out additional functionality."

Coleman promised that there would be much more information at July's Inspire (formerly WPC) conference, along with hands-on help for partners who want to improve their Partner Center marketing profiles. Watch the Inspire session catalog for more information.   

There is clearly a lot going on behind the scenes as the referral engine on Partner Central is rolled out. The first step for marketers is to update your partner profile. Then, monitor communications from Microsoft to stay ahead of the curve and take advantage of early opportunities. It feels like partner marketers should be paying close attention to whatever comes next on Partner Center.

Posted by Barb Levisay on February 09, 2017