Microsoft Announces Key Updates to Partner Strategy

Microsoft has announced new investments in technologies and programs designed to support its partner engagement in the cloud era.

“Customers and partners alike continue to move to the cloud and accelerate their digital transformation, leading us to new and different levels of partnership,” said Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner group. “Our portfolio of programs, offers and resources for companies partnering with Microsoft is transforming to help them capitalize on this opportunity.”

Among the highlights, the company has announced new enhancements to Microsoft Teams, including new partner integrations that include support for contact centers, compliance recording and cloud solution providers.

The company announced significant updates to the Dynamics 365 Nonprofit Accelerator and two new integrations for Dynamics 365 that support the automotive and financial services industries. In addition, the Business Applications ISV Connect program is now generally available, with new development tools and guidance, marketplace resources, joint field engagement processes and go-to-market support.

Microsoft has also rolled out “Azure Lighthouse,” a platform that provides partners with a single control plane to view and manage Azure at scale across all their customers. Meanwhile, the new Azure Migration Program (AMP) helps customers accelerate their migration to Azure by providing advice and tools to help mitigate risks and address common issues associated with moving workloads to the cloud.

The company has additionally announced general availability of the Microsoft Security competency, allowing partners to market their expertise and provides access to a range of benefits. Along similar lines, five advanced specializations include Windows Server and SQL Server Migration to Microsoft Azure, Linux and Open Source Databases Migration to Microsoft Azure, Data Warehouse Migration to Microsoft Azure, Modernization of Web Applications in Microsoft Azure, and Kubernetes on Microsoft Azure.

Channel Impact^®
Designed to assist partners in developing and proving their cloud expertise, these enhancements effectively provide greater depth to the existing partner program.