Invest in the Cloud even if your market is not ready just yet

Winning Together Blog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:40:00 GMT

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Upselling: a way to be profitable in the age of Cloud

Winning Together Blog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:35:00 GMT

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Investing in the Cloud regardless of infrastructure barriers

Winning Together Blog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:14:00 GMT

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How a partner is leading schools into the Cloud and making money from it

Winning Together Blog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:59:00 GMT

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The question of the times: How do we make money in the Cloud?

Winning Together Blog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:44:00 GMT

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Why social media is important to your business

Winning Together Blog — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:27:23 GMT

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Interview with IAMCP Chairman Ulises Aguilar Nahle

Winning Together Blog — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:37:00 GMT

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Greatest value of transitioning to the Cloud with Microsoft? Integrated solutions.

Winning Together Blog — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 03:11:00 GMT

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The Value of Intune: Deploying Office 365 and Transitioning to the Cloud

Winning Together Blog — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:24:00 GMT

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Transform into a Cloud business: Opportunity for greater profitability and increased customer success

Winning Together Blog — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:35:00 GMT

Cloud industry outlook:

With a set of technology trends (social, mobile, big data, devices…) leading to rapid progress and change in the technology we use at home and, in turn, at work and with an expected CAGR of 29% to $83 billion by 2015 (IDC), the Cloud computing industry is rapidly taking off. This explosion in growth and new technology paradigm provides unprecedented opportunities for companies willing to make the business transition forward. As we all know, Cloud computing provides significant business value as it allows our mutual customers to move from relatively heavy capex investments to lower opex spend, pay as they go, enjoy enterprise capabilities at a fraction of the cost, and adopt solutions that are always on and always up to date. Customers can either buy all of their computing and productivity needs as a service in the Cloud or adopt the value that Cloud services have to offer on their own terms, complimenting important on-premise investments.

Many of our competitors are also investing in Cloud as the overall industry shifts and the landscape is becoming more competitive at a rapid rate. Microsoft is the leader in the Cloud industry due to the strength of our end-to-end solution offerings in the Cloud and on premise, with over 80K customers and partners adopting Cloud, fueled through the creativity, scale, and solution orientation of our 640K strong industry leading partner ecosystem.

Microsoft Partner Outlook:
There is significant opportunity for partners to drive a profitable business in the Cloud. By transforming into a Cloud inclusive or leading business, partners are able to cross-sell multiple online services and products, increase their revenue mix, reach new markets that were never before addressable and deliver billable annuity and IP based services through new business models in a repeatable and efficient way.

Partners are responding in a big way to this market opportunity with over 80K Cloud Essentials Partners, nearly 3K Cloud Accelerate partners, 70K BizSpark Startups, 6,500+ partners actively selling Microsoft Cloud Services every month, more than doubling year over year.

Microsoft is making substantial investments in the channel to support this transition and to help our partners make money. In our current fiscal year of 2013, we have implemented unprecedented channel incentives for Office 365 and Intune with up to 23% in year 1 for sales, an incentive for partners delivering Azure based solutions of 20% on consumption, and 30% for CRM Online. Additionally, we have invested in our Cloud partner programs providing 70K+ partners access to internal use rights of Microsoft online services for partners through Cloud Essentials and Accelerate. And we are opening up a new business model for reselling Office 365 through distribution to provide our traditional SMB channel an easier way to get into the Cloud and deliver services to their customers.

In response to the industry shift and our investments, Microsoft Partners are actively evolving their business models to the Cloud in a variety of ways. Traditional systems integrators are integrating Cloud into their practices, evolving with managed services and annuity, building IP services to extend the value of Microsoft Online Services, and delivering hybrid solutions for enterprise customers. New “Born in the Cloud” partners are emerging and leading with the Cloud in both the SMB space and in the Enterprise space, disrupting how other partners have done business for years and representing a new competitive element.

Through all of this, while a large number of partners are aggressively moving into the Cloud, many partners are still unsure how to proceed. We are embracing both the new partners to Microsoft and helping our traditional partners adopt online services into their business models.

Take Action
There is no better time than now to adopt the Cloud in your business, position yourself for the future, and start evolving your business model as a Microsoft partner. Many of our Cloud partners are willing to share their insights and best practices.

WPC 2013 in Houston will be a great opportunity to make these connections at the conference and/or online in our Digital WPC Community. I encourage you to join Cloud Essentials, use our online services, and start selling and earning today!

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By: Josh Waldo(@joshuawaldo), Senior Director of Cloud Partner Strategy

http://channelnomics.com/2012/12/05/microsoft-introduces-cloud-deployment-program/

Microsoft Partner Network - Winning Together

Invest in the Cloud even if your market is not ready just yet

Upselling: a way to be profitable in the age of Cloud

Investing in the Cloud regardless of infrastructure barriers

How a partner is leading schools into the Cloud and making money from it

The question of the times: How do we make money in the Cloud?

Why social media is important to your business

Interview with IAMCP Chairman Ulises Aguilar Nahle

Greatest value of transitioning to the Cloud with Microsoft? Integrated solutions.

The Value of Intune: Deploying Office 365 and Transitioning to the Cloud

Transform into a Cloud business: Opportunity for greater profitability and increased customer success