At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Los Angeles earlier this week, Microsoft executives Steve Ballmer, Kevin Turner, and Jon Roskill addressed the 15,000 Conference attendees, providing them with a roadmap for the coming year, plus vision and strategies for business direction, upcoming product launches, the partner opportunity, and more.

In his keynote on Wednesday, July 13, Jon Roskill, the Corporate Vice President of the Worldwide Partner Group, outlined four key areas in which the Microsoft Partner Network provides resources, and advised partners to make sure they are taking full advantage of what Microsoft has to offer them.

  • Marketing: The new U.S. Ready-to-Go Marketing website is easier than ever to use, and offers you resources to run a marketing campaign, put together in-person and online events, expand your reach and generate leads, and keep your website updated. This month, the Ready-to-Go team announced the ASPIRE Award, and will recognize ten partners who are using Ready-to-Go tools creatively and effectively.
  • Learning: The U.S. Learning Plan Tool website lets you search for training by Product, Competency, Business Skill, Role, or Exam, and to customize a plan for yourself and/or your employees to help keep track of your progress. We also bring you our recommendations for training according to your role and your company’s business model in this newsletter. This month, we provide links to Windows Azure Platform training.
  • Use Microsoft Products Internally: Utilize the software benefits available to you as part of your Microsoft Partner Network membership. For internal-use rights to Microsoft cloud products like Windows Intune, Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and Windows Azure, enroll in Microsoft Cloud Essentials. And as announced at WPC, U.S. partners with at least one competency are eligible for the new Windows Phone Discount Program.
  • Partner Technical Support: Services like Technical Presales and Advisory Services, as well as the Partner Online Technical Communities, are part of the core benefits available to qualifying members of the Microsoft Partner Network.

If you’d like to hear more about what Steve Ballmer, Kevin Turner, Jon Roskill, and other Microsoft executives shared with partners, visit http://digitalwpc.com. Next year’s Conference will be held in Toronto—perhaps we’ll see you there.

For more partner news, resources, and recommendations, visit us on the U.S. partner portal and Virtual Partner Concierge, and join us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Cheers,

Diane Golshan
Sr. Marketing Manager, U.S. Partner Team
Learn more about what I do at Microsoft.



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