Microsoft: Sweeping Competency Changes Will Help Partners Capture Cloud, Mobile Opportunities

Microsoft Tuesday said it will retire 12 competencies in its partner network and add new ones in an effort to simplify the program and drive partner profitability.

The change reflects the Redmond, Wash.-based company’s focus on helping its partners align their competencies with customers’ cloud-first, mobile-first needs in the workplace, said Gavriella Schuster, general manager of worldwide partner programs at Microsoft.

’[The changes] are designed to simplify and streamline our program so we can focus our efforts and the investments our partners make … to drive the greatest profitability for our partners today and in the future,’ said Schuster. ’As customers increasingly look to the cloud to meet their evolving business needs, they want to know that partners have the expertise to help them.’

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Ric Opal, vice president at Peters & Associates, a Microsoft partner in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., said the changes give partners a critical opportunity to evaluate their own strategies in aligning their services and solutions with evolving customer expectations.

’Competencies need to add value to what customers are trying to do, and customers have a desire to move to the cloud,’ he said. ’I think this is a very healthy motion to make sure the competencies align to customers’ requirements and demands.’

The competencies that will be retired include Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Devices and Deployment, Digital Advertising, Distributor, Hosting, Identity and Access, Intelligent Systems, Learning, Midmarket Solutions Provider, OEM, Software Asset Management and Volume Licensing.

Microsoft Gold and Silver partners can earn competencies in an array of areas, including customer segments, core infrastructure, business productivity and business applications.

However, Schuster said cutting down the program’s 29 competencies would ensure that partners can be more focused on customer expectations -- particularly a focus on cloud and mobile solutions.

Microsoft hopes to further enable partners to align their businesses to fit customers’ expectations for cloud services. According to a report from research firm IDC, 48 percent of partners have already adapted their business models to offer project services, managed services and IP.

’Customer expectations are changing dramatically. The opportunities for our partners in the cloud have never been better,’ she said. ’We’re very focused on helping our partners capture that market opportunity … and shift their investment into what’s most relevant for customers today.’

For example, Microsoft's Identity and Access competency helps partners build solutions to protect corporate information across the data center and the cloud. Partners will be better served by the recently introduced Enterprise Mobility Management competency, which specializes in mobility solutions to manage customer identity and devices, said Schuster.

In addition to retiring 12 competencies, Microsoft will also add the Windows & Devices competency on April 18, designed to help partners take advantage of customer demand for Windows 10 and mobility.

The retirement of Microsoft’s 12 competencies will take place over the next 18 months, designed to give partners the necessary time needed to develop capabilities in cloud solutions, expand or build new practices, and transition into new competencies.

Microsoft has introduced an array of tools to further help partners transition, including an Interactive Microsoft Partner Network Evolution Guide to guide decision processes and identify which competencies are the best fit for partner businesses.

Peters & Associates' Opal applauded the transition period of 18 months, saying that the timing of Microsoft’s partner program changes are important, particularly with the company’s Worldwide Partner Conference in July.

’This is part of a strategy to amplify the Microsoft partner brand in the market. … Looking ahead to WPC in three months, partners will now have the time to look at where they are and what they need, and use that to get the most of out of the conference this year,’ he said.