Microsoft Unveils Key Cloud Partner Program Enhancements
Microsoft's chief partner officer outlined the new initiatives that include training and support.
March 22, 2023
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Microsoft VP of partner go-to-market Julie Sanford discussed three ecosystems now in development. The first is for partners who provide customer support solutions for small and midsize customers.
“This is about creating a trusted ecosystem that customers can rely on to provide outstanding customer support outcomes,” Sanford said. “We see this as a huge growth area for our partners. Gartner predicts that guided support will have a 24% compound annual growth rate through 2025.”
Sanford said the second ecosystem in development is for learning partners crucial to expanding skills capacity. She said it would focus on organizations that package and provide Microsoft courseware and help other partners grow their expertise.
“We’ve seen 350,000-plus certifications that partners have attained since July 2022,” Sanford said. “In a world where technology capability is outpacing the size of the technical workforce, we are so thankful to have learning partners who are core to our program.”
Microsoft’s ISV Success is now in public preview worldwide. According to Sanford, it gives partners access to cloud benefits, demo sandbox environments, technical consults for solution development and go-to-market assistance.
“Thousands of ISVs have activated these benefits with favorable results, and expanded packages are being built now for general availability this summer,” she said.
Casey McGee, Microsoft VP of global ISV sales and digital natives, outlined the three enablement offerings for ISVs. The first: new designations for ISVs that Microsoft aims to help customers identify where their solutions fit.
“These designations will distinguish a software solution’s specific capabilities,” McGee said. “Eligibility will be based on technical criteria — Microsoft, commercial marketplace presence and demonstrated customer success. After attaining this designation, partners will receive benefits that help their go-to-market capabilities.”
He said Microsoft will launch it in its fiscal year 2024, which starts in July.
McGee said Microsoft’s new multi-party private offers would empower partners to offer their personalized custom payout terms directly to Microsoft customers.
“Through this simplified marketplace, this is a powerful aspect,” he said. “This expedites our partners’ ability to deploy, build, support and track customers’ transactions on Microsoft workloads that qualify for benefits and incentives. Some of the biggest cosell deals I’ve ever seen are now being executed through these transactable offers.”
The multi-party private offer is currently in private preview, and a public preview is scheduled to launch later this year.
Microsoft is letting partners enter diversity and socially sound business classifications in Partner Center. The classifications will appear in their business profile in the marketplace. Microsoft plans to hold a virtual “Commercial Marketplace Impact Event” for diverse and minority-owned partners and those with social impact solutions such as sustainability, accessibility and nonprofits.
Microsoft is letting partners enter diversity and socially sound business classifications in Partner Center. The classifications will appear in their business profile in the marketplace. Microsoft plans to hold a virtual “Commercial Marketplace Impact Event” for diverse and minority-owned partners and those with social impact solutions such as sustainability, accessibility and nonprofits.
Microsoft is readying partners to deliver its new GPT-4 in Azure OpenAI service and launching enablement capabilities for ISVs. Nicole Dezen, Microsoft’s chief partner officer, revealed planned enhancements to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program (MCPP).
Dezen explained the MCPP enhancements in a State of the Partner Ecosystem 2023 report. Microsoft will offer ISVs multi-party private offers and new training and support service designations. Also, for ISVs, Microsoft will launch new diversity and socially sound business classifications in its Partner Center portal.
The additions to MCPP come nearly six months after Microsoft launched it to replace its Microsoft Partner Network (MPN). Since the launch of MCPP, Dezen noted that Microsoft now offers 28 partner specializations. The latest four Business Application specializations for Dynamics 365 partners launched last week.
Here’s our most recent list of important channel-program changes you should know. |
Microsoft’s Nicole Dezen
“These new offerings are aligned to the Business Applications solution area for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and make it easier for customers to find partners that possess the expertise they need,” Dezen noted.
The specializations include finance, sales, service and supply chains.
Now under development, Microsoft is creating ecosystems for ISVs, partners seeking to offer support solutions for small and midsize customers, and for learning partners. Microsoft intends to launch the new programs for ISVs during its fiscal year 2024, which begins July 1. Also, at that time, Microsoft plans to launch three new ecosystems.
Microsoft Partner Opportunities for GPT 4
Dezen emphasized the opportunity for partners to deliver services that use Microsoft’s AI offerings. Microsoft has launched many AI technologies, including Bing Image Creator, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Copilot, and Microsoft 365 Copilot. The company also announced the public preview of GPT-4 is now available in its Azure OpenAI service.
“This brings the latest generation of large language models to our Azure partners and customers,” Dezen said. “Partners can streamline processes, save time and improve overall efficiency so that they can focus on important day-to-day operations.”
Microsoft’s Casey McGee
According to Microsoft corporate VP Eric Boyd, paid usage of GPT-4 will begin April 1. In a blog announcing the new GPT-4 service, Boyd described it as “the most advanced” AI modeling service available.
“With this milestone, we are proud to bring the world’s most advanced AI models – including GPT-3.5, ChatGPT, and DALL•E 2 – to Azure customers, backed by Azure AI-optimized infrastructure, enterprise-readiness, compliance, data security, and privacy controls, along with many integrations with other Azure services,” Boyd noted.
A breakdown of the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program announcements and more appears in the slideshow above.
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