Bekker's Blog by Scott Bekker, Editor in Chief

Blog archive

New Microsoft Cloud Club Doubles BPOS Margins for Top U.S. Partners

U.S. partners who sell Microsoft's Business Productivity Online Suite to at least 20 customers for a total of 500 seats or more will be eligible to double their initial margins under a new arrangement called the Cloud Champions Club.

Microsoft held a webcast for partners on Friday about the club and has another webcast scheduled Oct. 1. The club consists of three tiers with benefits increasing as partners advance from one level to the next. Benefits include specialized cloud training, monthly webcasts, marketing support, qualified leads and an online services partner development manager.

The entry level for the club is three customer wins for a minimum of 75 seats. Tier 2 is eight sales and 200 seats. Reaching the 20-sale, 500-seat third tier triggers the doubling of the finder's fee margin for BPOS to 24 percent. But reaching the first tier brings personal attention from a Microsoft partner development manager; and market development funds and per-deal subsidies kick off with the second tier. See our news story on BPOS margins and the Cloud Champions Club for a lot more detail.

Oh, and one point of clarification -- this is different from Microsoft's Cloud Accelerate. The Cloud Champions Club is a U.S. subsidiary intiative. Cloud Accelerate comes through the separate Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group and has different requirements and benefits, and – as far as we've heard – standard 12 percent BPOS margins.

Posted by Scott Bekker on September 20, 2010


Featured

  • Microsoft Offers Support Extensions for Exchange 2016 and 2019

    Microsoft has introduced a paid Extended Security Update (ESU) program for on-premises Exchange Server 2016 and 2019, offering a crucial safety cushion as both versions near their Oct. 14, 2025 end-of-support date.

  • An image of planes flying around a globe

    2025 Microsoft Conference Calendar: For Partners, IT Pros and Developers

    Here's your guide to all the IT training sessions, partner meet-ups and annual Microsoft conferences you won't want to miss.

  • Notebook

    Microsoft Centers AI, Security and Partner Dogfooding at MCAPS

    Microsoft's second annual MCAPS for Partners event took place Tuesday, delivering a volley of updates and directives for its partners for fiscal 2026.

  • Microsoft Layoffs: AI Is the Obvious Elephant in the Room

    As Microsoft doubles down on an $80 billion bet on AI this fiscal year, its workforce reductions are drawing scrutiny over whether AI's ascent is quietly reshaping its human capital strategy, even as official messaging avoids drawing a direct line.

Most   Popular