Microsoft To Tighten Sales, Support Forces With Partners

Velocity Worldwide Partner Conference

More than 5,500 partners flocked to the Air Canada Center in Toronto Sunday to get their marching orders for fiscal year 2005 from the company's top sales and channel executives.

As part of an unprecedented $1.7 billion investment in its channel, Microsoft said it will extend to its solution providers, ISVs and system builders a variety of new sales and marketing, consulting and support resources once previously reserved for internal use only. "To me, we are one," said Kevin Johnson, group vice president of Microsoft's Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Services Group. "We operate in a very competitive environment. Winning customers together is a big piece of the investment we're making. We can't do this alone."

Microsoft plans to better align its sales and support forces with partners. Microsoft, for example, will establish a more tightly integrated sales and services model that makes its sales group accountable for engaging partners in deals.

Additionally, Microsoft will assign sales specialists to partners to help with qualified opportunities. Microsoft will also formally establish one account plan between sales and services and one opportunity pipe for Microsoft and its partners going forward. Johnson said the company trimmed down the number of Go-To-Market Campaigns and pledged not to change the lineup each quarter. The revised lineup Five Go-To-Markets (GTMs) for operational efficiency, connected productivity, connected systems, business applications and solutions and Windows XP Reloaded"-will drive partner business for the long term, Johnson said.

But in order to make those GTMs work, Microsoft is also working to extend better support services to partners as well as sales resources. To that end, Microsoft announced Services Partner Advantage, a premier support program for partners that comes in standard, plus and solution plan types.

The Premier support program, currently offered to ISVs and system integrators as well as large customers, will give all partners managed support, problem resolution, service delivery planning, consulting workshops and a set amount of service hours.

Microsoft is also cutting the price of Microsoft Solution Selling Online to a one-time annual fee of $500 so solution providers can train up to 40 employees at minimal cost.

The sales chief elicited a round of applause with new plans to highlight partners as part of the solution in all of Microsoft's global advertising and solutions campaigns.

Online ads and print ads, for example will refer to Microsoft Gold Certified partners or Certified partners that have competencies in the specific solution advertised.

"Partners are part of integrated innovation, so were re-engineering our approach to advertising in all of our print ads we'll point to partners. We're going to make this a standard approach in our advertising," Johnson said.

Partners will also have access to internal company programs developed to fight competitive engagements with Linux and address critical security problem at customer sites. For example, Microsoft has decided to extend to partners its year-old CompHOT program for handling competitive situations against Linux and response management system to handle customers' security issues.

Microsoft will also extend to partners greater access to more of Microsoft's technical support coordinators and pre-sales technical support as well as business critical phone support and managed newsgroups.

The goal is to more closely align MCS with partners in the field, the company's top services executive said. "We want to make sure the relationship is deeper, end to end," said Rick Devenuti, corporate vice president of Microsoft Services and IT.

During the four-hour opening keynote session, several Microsoft channel, sales and service executives drilled down into opportunities for partners in the enterprise, mid-market and small business sector. Executives pegged the small business opportunity at $11 billion in FY05.

Other executives directed partners to upsell Microsoft Business Solutions into the enterprise space. Channel executives said the integrated marketing and innovation approach between Microsoft sales and services personnel will drive more sales in FY05.

"The economic environment is shaping up out there," said Allison Watson, vice president of Worldwide Partners, noting that tech spending has increased five percent since the last partner conference in October.

"We have to capture that incredible opportunity out there. You're a critical part of making it real for customers and we know that. The industry focus and vertical approach you take to our solution will make the ultimate difference."

One solution provider said Microsoft has made significant strides in its partner relationships.

"Microsoft continued commitment to the partner channel improved this past fiscal year. We saw an all-out effort from the field to pull partners into opportunities, and more importantly, for the field to understand the value that each partner can bring to the table," said Ken Winell, president and CEO of Econium, Totowa, NJ.

"We are happy to see an increased investment by Microsoft to continue to improve the quality and reach of the partner channel in general, and how they work with us to close business."

For more on the conference, see CRN.