Microsoft's New Math

Microsoft is preparing to unfurl a study covering about 830 partners, research it will use internally to assess which pieces of its massive partner program directly impact partner profitability—for good or bad. Allison Watson, vice president of the worldwide partner and small business group at Microsoft, also will use the data to help partners benchmark their financial performance and know what to expect if they&'re thinking of investing in a new competency under Microsoft&'s program. I&'m sure it&'s data the participants eagerly anticipate, and I look forward to seeing it myself.

Cisco is famous for talking up the profitability quotient related to its own partner effort, as is IBM, which often wields services attach-rate figures VARs, ISVs or system builders can expect when representing its products. So, I commend Watson&'s team for its own fact-finding mission, which hones in on four areas: basic partner performance, growth velocity as it pertains to new customer acquisition, service utilization and billing rate trends, and deal execution metrics.

Of course, the chances that a reseller&'s business is exclusively reliant on Microsoft are pretty slim. So, I encourage Watson&'s team to study closely the other vendor relationships their partners cultivate. Consider Interlink, the $23 million Microsoft-exclusive services company whose CEO, Bart Hammond, hit the road last week with Watson to talk about profitability. For the past two-plus years, Interlink has built out managed services related to its Microsoft practices in advanced infrastructure, custom software development, information worker and CRM competencies. Along the way, the company invested $1 million in a network operations center and familiarized itself with Cisco gear, even though it doesn&'t sell any. Both will have a bearing on its future, and it kind of makes you wonder just how “exclusive” an exclusive partner can be.

Now seems like a good time to tout CRN&'s upcoming Profitability study, version 2.0 of a report we published last Oct. 31 that outlines which services contribute most dramatically to partners&' bottom lines. As we prepare to field that latest survey, we&'d love to hear about what math you use.

Which measures count for your coffers? HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, welcomes your survey ideas at [email protected].