Vendor University: Is It Getting Better?

Only 26 percent of solution providers indicated that they were receiving reimbursement for training in applications and infrastructure software, which was the lowest percentage of reimbursement of any product category, according to the 2006 CRN Channel Compensation Survey. Not surprisingly, software solution providers also were the least satisfied of any group with the vendor-paid training they receive.

But that dissatisfaction did not spill over into their bullish support for Microsoft's training and certification programs, particularly in the business applications arena.

Solution providers consistently gave Microsoft good satisfaction ratings for training and certification in this year's CRN Channel Champions survey. And its rating of 81.4 out of 100 points in business software suites, in particular, was the highest rating any vendor received in any category—software or hardware—and was higher than those of SAP, Oracle and Sage, its rivals in the category that incudes ERP, CRM and accounting software.

The fact that Microsoft Business Solutions has its roots in Great Plains Software—a small Fargo, N.D., company known for the personal care and feeding of its partners—remains a plus, some MBS partners said. Microsoft, Redmond, Wash., bought Great Plains in 2001 and subsequently bought Navision for its ERP expertise. "If you look at that lineage, you see a deep history of great training programs and a deep commitment to partners," said Alan Kahn, co-CEO of InterDyn AKA, an MBS partner in New York.

Kahn, like many MBS partners, has a dual perspective on this issue since his company both consumes training for its own staff and offers training to customers on behalf of Microsoft. Since the time of the survey, Microsoft announced that it would provide all MBS ERP customers with free online training and coursework, a decision that irked some training partners. At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in July, one Midwestern training partner said his company's revenue from e-learning and training was down 30 percent from last year. "The community of learning partners is very fragile and financially challenged," he said.

While some training partners may be dissatisfied, Terry Petrzelka, CEO of Tectura, a Redwood City, Calif.-based MBS partner, is not. Microsoft is proactive about getting its partners and customers trained on its latest wares and also is aggressive about requiring partners to get and keep certifications, he said. "You have to keep your people current, and Microsoft drives the Gold certification as a differentiator. All the major partners that are successful take that training and certification process seriously."

For Microsoft, training and education is a profit-and-loss center, although the company does not disclose much more than that. One East Coast MBS partner, who requested anonymity, said that didn't bother him. "We're happy with the training we get," he said. "We get tons of free training, tons of reduced-price training, and the fact that Microsoft training is a P&L doesn't bother us. I don't think they try to profit off of partner training."

Barbara Darrow