A Blog Series for U.S. Partners by Jenni Flinders, Microsoft U.S. Vice President, Partner Strategy and Programs.

JenniFlindersMicrosoft invests in the success of its partner channel, spanning 640,000 organizations across Microsoft’s partner ecosystem in 170 countries around the world. Partners have been instrumental to Microsoft’s success over its 35-year history, and have built strong businesses with Microsoft products, technologies, tools, and resources, serving a broad set of global and local customers.

The Microsoft Partner Network is the premier partnering program in the industry today, and is the standard by which all industry partner programs are measured. Microsoft’s partner ecosystem has one of the most active and diverse networks in the world, with infinite opportunities for partners to build relationships with Microsoft, other members of the Partner Network, and customers. Are partners succeeding? The answer is yes, and the proof is all around us:

  • In the IT services and software sectors of the 2010 Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States, Microsoft partners account for almost half of the list. 
  • In the Fortune magazine list of 100 fastest growing large companies worldwide, Microsoft partners account for more than 50 percent of the technology sector companies represented.
  • On the Forbes 100 list of best mid-cap stocks, Microsoft partners account for an astounding 80 percent of the companies in the technology sector.

Regardless of geography or business model, the most innovative minds in the IT industry have demonstrated that partnering with Microsoft is the common denominator that defines their success. The Microsoft Partner Network helps partners build great and profitable businesses and the breadth of Microsoft’s innovative products unleashes their potential to create the unique and differentiated solutions and practices that allow them to compete and thrive (for more on this, read my post about the Microsoft competencies). Here are a couple of examples of business success fostered by Microsoft Partner Network:

  • NextDocs is a leading provider of regulatory document and quality management software solutions. It is among the fastest growing private companies in the U.S. and has bet its business on Microsoft, building technology on Microsoft SharePoint and leveraging the opportunities delivered by the Microsoft Partner Network.
  • Founded a mere five years ago, RBA Consulting is a Minnesota-based partner that provides both on-premises and cloud computing services. RBA Consulting ranked 219th on the 2010 Inc. 500 list of the nation's fastest-growing private companies. The Inc. 500 ranks companies by overall revenue growth over a three-year period and, through partnership with Microsoft, RBA Consulting has achieved a three-year sales growth rate of 1,341 percent.

Partners Succeed…

Microsoft’s significant, consistent investment in the research and development of its on-premise products to its cloud-based solutions and engagement models, combined with increased IT spending worldwide, indicates even great opportunity for the Microsoft to empower its partner ecosystem with the innovation, intelligence, and resources needed to succeed through the Microsoft Partner Network.

“Microsoft provides a tremendous number of products and solutions, and they’ve built a wonderful ecosystem of partners to sell and deploy, deliver, and support those products,” said Tom Cole, president of Microsoft partner RDA Corporation. “The Microsoft Partner Network provides an opportunity to differentiate the things that we really want to be great in, as opposed to other partners. It also allows customers to see us in the way that we want to be seen.”

Yesterday, on the one-year anniversary of the new Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group Vice President, Jon Roskill, posted a list of amazing statistics about Microsoft partners and the opportunities that lie ahead. Read Jon Roskill’s Partner Perspectives MPN Anniversary post.

Thank you for being a Microsoft partner, and helping us build and sustain the Microsoft Partner Network.

Sincerely,

Jenni Flinders
Microsoft Vice President, U.S. Partner Strategy and Programs

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Read the MPN Year 1 Reflections post published on October 11.

Read other Partnering with Precision posts on this blog.

Read Previous Posts by Jenni Flinders on the U.S. Partner Portal.