Microsoft Readies FastTrack PR Blitz

Microsoft is taking FastTrack on a world tour to raise the profile of the cloud onboarding service with tech professionals and developers.

Microsoft and partners have a love-hate relationship with FastTrack. Microsoft loves the program because it helps boost consumption of cloud services, a key metric for the company and a critical goal for retaining subscriptions to Office 365 and other cloud services. Partners often counter that the program zeroes-out formerly profitable routine migration services, while still devaluing in customers' eyes the more complicated migrations that partners must take over when the FastTrack desk's remote and automated capabilities fall short.

Microsoft defines FastTrack as a "customer success service." In three years, as of September, Microsoft claims to have onboarded 40,000 customers and migrated more than 6.5 petabytes of data through the service, which is included in the price of Microsoft cloud subscriptions.

The company had a big presence for FastTrack at the Microsoft Ignite show in September, with an expo presence and more than 20 FastTrack-related sessions. Next month, Microsoft begins a 17-city tour to bring Ignite material to customers around the world, and the FastTrack team is among the most enthusiastic Microsoft groups participating in the tour.

The free, two-day Microsoft Ignite | The Tour sessions kick off in December in Berlin and São Paulo. Next year, the tour will hit Toronto; Singapore; Tel Aviv; Johannesburg; Milan; Washington, D.C.; Sydney; Hong Kong; London; Amsterdam; Dubai; Seoul; Mexico City; and Stockholm before wrapping up in Mumbai in late May.

In the condensed context of Microsoft Ignite | The Tour, the FastTrack elements will include 15-minute theater sessions and breakout sessions with an emphasis on deploying Microsoft 365 products, and details about the app remediation services of Desktop App Assure.

Posted by Scott Bekker on November 26, 2018 at 11:36 AM