Microsoft resellers promised steady transition

Microsoft wants to reassure all 13,500 Australian partners that the overhaul of its channel program announced today at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans will occur slowly.

Speaking to CRN from New Orleans, Inese Kingsmill, partner strategy & programs director for Microsoft Australia, said the changes are not going to happen today and it's something Microsoft will transition to over the next 18 months.

"There's plenty of time [for partners]. It's important to reassure our partners that we're not pulling away something that they have today and then suddenly tomorrow it's gone.

"Everything they've had in terms of their investments with the Microsoft partner program, as they have them now, will transfer fully to the Microsoft Partner Network," said Kingsmill.

Yesterday, Microsoft scrapped its partner program in favour of a Partner Network. Up until today, the program had 17 competencies and 46 specialisations grouped under a hierarchy of Gold, Certified or Registered.

Microsoft partners will be grouped in a simplified network under four categories: community, subscriber, competency partner and advance competency.

"By enabling our partners in this way with connections with Microsoft and each other helping them generate demand for customers, what we're doing is making it easier for the customer to find the right partner," said Kingsmill. "We're not talking about levels of hierarchy anymore.

"It's really around what kind of engagement do you want from Microsoft and also with other partners. There are different kinds of benefits within each partner engagement type," said Kingsmill.

She added: "Partners will be able to say, 'well ok, what kind of engagement do I want. It looks like this, so then what do I need to do to be able to be eligible for that classification'.

"Over the course of the next 18 months we'll be evolving to new branding, new logos and we'll be working with our partners to help enable them through the transition, said Kingsmill.

Today, and over the course of the next 18 months partners need to stay informed and keep their profiles up to date, said Kingsmill. 

"Firstly, partners should stay informed, keep visiting the partner portal and Microsoft locally will send a lot communication out.

"The second thing for them to do is keep the momentum. They should keep moving forward with their certifications so they land where they should.

"They should also continue to refresh their business within the marketplace by updating their solutions profile; it's actually something they do now anyway. It's something that helps them. The more up to date [the profile] the more relevant [they are]," said Kingsmill.

Additionally, a new requirement for Gold and Certified partners is their need to complete a customer satisfaction index. Microsoft will be asking eligible partners to do this from October.

Kingsmill said the index is to have some kind of measurement of what their customer satisfaction is.

Spending the day with partners after the announcement, Kingsmill said the feedback was generally good. 

"Partners are in the phase of 'how do I prepare myself for the transition'," she said.