New Era For Microsoft Channel?

But many of these problems could soon be history. This month, the company begins a new fiscal year and a chance to create a healthier partner ecosystem. In this, the 10th anniversary of the first official Microsoft solution- provider program, Microsoft is launching new initiatives to help partners. For example, the company is spending more cash to help it achieve its aims, which include familiar short-term goals like revenue growth, but also newer objectives like improved predictability, enhanced partner and customer satisfaction, and increased penetration in key market segments, according to Orlando Ayala, group vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and services. "I like to believe the company has been perceived as an innovator in terms of channel programs," Ayala says. "We absolutely need to be sure that we keep innovating."

Increased Budget

Among other initiatives, Ayala has authorized a 50 percent increase in the amount of money Microsoft spends on partner-related activities. The extra $500 million will fuel things like training, improved technical support and increased marketing assistance. For example, Microsoft plans to deploy as many as 500 new Partner Account Managers (PAMs) in the field. It will also provide PAMs better career paths to reduce high turnover. And it will pay bonuses and/or incentives to partners that help lead it into key target markets.

The latter is one of the more significant developments. Executives have identified vertical markets such as government; key horizontal technical markets such as wireless; and specific geographies such as Korea as top priorities. To that end, Microsoft has created Go To Market (GTM) initiatives that combine products with best practices and sales methodologies to better deliver solutions in these fields.

All of the changes come as Microsoft changes management within its partner ranks. This month, Allison Watson steps into the role of vice president of worldwide partner sales and marketing, effectively becoming the new channels chief, following Rosa Garcia, who moves on to be the general manager of Microsoft Spain. One significant aspect of the change: Unlike Garcia, Watson has the title of vice president,a step up in the Microsoft internal corporate hierarchy.

The former head of Microsoft's Mid-Atlantic regional office, Watson has deep ties to the channel and says she looks forward to taking over for Garcia in preparation for Fusion, Microsoft's largest partner event of the year, starting this week in Los Angeles.

Watson won't bear the burden of partner coordination alone. That's because Microsoft has split partner and channel responsibilities among four executives. Watson, of course, is responsible for developing channel strategies and orchestrating them with other business units. But she will also depend on Sanjay Parthasarathy, vice president of the .NET Platform Group, who will oversee activities with global systems integrators and help coordinate activities with ISVs and developers; Charles Stevens, vice president of the Enterprise and Partner Group, who is responsible for the partner engagement model in the enterprise market; and Lindsay Sparks, vice president of the Small and Medium Business Group, who has responsibility for developing and executing on the partner-engagement model for the SMB customer space.