Tech Data Spins Up New Microsoft Program
    Tech Data Corp. on Wednesday launched a new program to help its  solution providers expand their Microsoft practices.
The distributor's new initiative is called Microsoft Beyond!, and it  includes a rewards program, education, marketing kits and incentives. 
"Microsoft has complete solutions, and there's a growing need to  take those solutions into market and enable based on a solution, not just on a  point product," said Stacy Nethercoat, vice president of Product Marketing,  Software and Cloud Services at Tech Data,  in a telephone interview.
While Tech Data has always had specialized Microsoft programs running  for its partners, Nethercoat said the new effort will be more comprehensive and  consistent.
"With Beyond, what's different about it is it's comprehensive  across four different Microsoft workloads -- productivity, datacenter, business  intelligence and cloud. In the past, we might have attacked productivity for a  quarter or two, then we might have moved on to datacenter," she said. "We  thought a more meaningful approach would be to pull these all together in a  long-term program."
By grouping Microsoft's key SMB products into the four areas, Tech Data  and Microsoft executives also hope to encourage partners who start in one area  to branch out into the others.
"Our goal is to enable our partners to sell the full stack of  Microsoft. Bringing Beyond together the way that we have, virtually any partner  can take advantage of it," Nethercoat said.
The Beyond! name stems from the program's prize tiers, which are "Build,"  "Breakthrough" and "Beyond!" A top prize is a seven-day  stay at Club Med, according to a Tech Data flier on the program.
The point system puts the highest value on Office 365 Small Business  Premium, which is good for 5 points for every $1 sold. Office 365 Open is worth  3 points/$1, while Open Business/Open Value Commercial sales are worth 1 point  per dollar.
 
	Posted by Scott Bekker on October 16, 2013