Parallel Goals: Microsoft invests in partners’ success

AS THE BUSINESS landscape rapidly transforms, there has been a continued focus on more technology innovation, growth opportunities and newer ways to connect partners with both customers and other partners across the world. Software major Microsoft India continues to enable growth for its partners by investing in the tools and services they require to expand their reach, help customers unlock growth potential, and grow their businesses. Today, partners influence more than 95% of Microsoft’s commercial revenue, either directly or in partnership with Microsoft. In India, the Microsoft partner ecosystem has more than 11,000 companies.

Bridging the skills gap within the partner network remains a key priority for Microsoft. To ensure that partners have the resources to innovate and drive growth, Microsoft has been consistently investing in skilling programmes.

In FY20, training on Microsoft products and solutions were provided to more than 3 million partner employees, resulting in more than 96,000 new certifications. In India, over 4 lakh professionals from partner organisations have attended training programmes in FY20. At the recent 10th edition of Microsoft’s Partner Leadership Conclave (PLC), over 1,100 professionals from partner organisations were skilled through the Cloud Skilling Challenge within just three days.

Venkat Krishnan, executive-director, Commercial Partners, Microsoft India says, “We remain committed to create new growth opportunities for our partners who are building innovative solutions on our cloud platforms. We have strengthened our investments towards skilling initiatives and providing a globally accessible marketplace where our partners can collaborate and co-sell with us and other partners to customers worldwide. We are focused on preparing them for the future and enabling them to build solutions that can help customers achieve more.”

Microsoft India is constantly enabling its partners to connect with global customer base and differentiate themselves on the Azure marketplace through their skills and services. To create additional value across the Microsoft ecosystem, it is offering opportunities for collaborative sales to partners. Through co-selling, partners can leverage the sales teams, demand-generation capabilities, and the commercial marketplace to reach new customers worldwide and sell with both Microsoft and other partners. The model encourages seller-engaged and partner-driven selling for customers across the world.

In recent times, some of its India bound partners have earned global recognition. Among them is Blue Yonder, named as the Microsoft 2020 Partner of the Year for Global Retail and Global Automotive, which takes an innovative approach in helping retail customers manage their supply chain. By combining the latest technologies like advanced AI, machine learning, and cloud solutions, Blue Yonder customers can automate complex supply chain processes to make them faster and easier.

Similarly, TCS BaNCS is designed to help financial services institutions enhance end customer experience, enabling them to embrace open and innovative technologies that embody true digital customer engagement. It is the largest collection of components, enterprise and consumer apps for the financial industry made available through the cloud, helping firms become more agile and intelligent by leveraging the power of new and extended ecosystems.