Exclusive Interview: Venkat Krishnan, Executive Director, Global Partner Solutions, Microsoft India

In an exclusive interview with DQ Channels, Venkat Krishnan, Executive Director, Global Partner Solutions, Microsoft India highlighted “How Microsoft is working with its partner network to add strategic value to cloud customers

What is the channel vision of Microsoft India and how is it evolving its channel strategy in India? How is Microsoft enabling its partner ecosystem with the right skills and programs to help customers in their cloud transformation strategies? Give us a brief on what’s new with Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.

Microsoft has developed the foundation for the largest technology ecosystem in the world. From simple apps to the most comprehensive global implementations, this ecosystem provides opportunities for partners across markets, industries, and continents to deepen their relationships with their customers, Microsoft, and each other. In India, we have a strong ecosystem of over 17,000 partners across more than 250 cities, inclusive of all partner business types - ISV, solution provider, systems integrator, advisory partner, OEM, or reseller.

We are of the firm belief that we succeed when our partners succeed. Today, more than ever, it is critical to collaborate and co-innovate to meet the customers’ needs. For Microsoft, it means ensuring our programs and offers are designed to help partners quickly bring their innovative solutions to market, scale, grow their business, and connect with more customers to solve unique needs. We are the only partner that supports cloud to edge to technology from end to end, which means creating endless, unique, and tailored ways for partners to be profitable and successful. Our robust offering enables partners at all levels in their lifecycle to build intelligent solutions, accelerate time to market, reach new customers, and be discovered in the Microsoft commercial marketplace by millions of customers. We offer the best co-sell opportunities for partners to engage customers worldwide, foster collaboration, and drive larger sales opportunities by tapping into our global brand, sales motions, and demand-generation capabilities. Microsoft provides partners with best-in-class incentives and reward programs to help them drive positive outcomes for customers, expand business opportunities, and accelerate growth.

We are committed to investing in tools and services that partners require to expand their reach, help customers unlock growth potential, and grow their businesses for customers across organizations and industries while offering a seamless and elevated partner experience. We are constantly working on new ways to ensure our partners have the resources, on-demand support, access, and capabilities, along with continually investing in our benefits program so every partner has a chance to participate in the opportunity to grow and accelerate. Earlier this year, as part of our investment in the cloud as a strategic lever for innovation and growth, and as a reflection of our continued commitment to partners, we renamed our partner program from “Microsoft Partner Network” to the “Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.” This change reflects the enormous and ongoing transition of business operations to the cloud, and how Microsoft intends to support partners in the future. This program is for all partners in our ecosystem, whether they build and sell services, software solutions or devices, and is focused on proficiency in six solution areas aligned with the Microsoft Cloud:

• Data & AI (Azure)
• Infrastructure (Azure)
• Digital & App Innovation (Azure)
• Business Applications
• Modern Work
• Security

We’re also evolving the way we categorize partner capability and measure success with two qualifying levels to help customers better understand a partner’s capabilities. These levels also provide a road map for helping build partner capability and guiding the way we invest in partners. You can learn more about Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, our three major commitment areas, and how we are evolving the way we categorize partner capability and measure success at Evolving Microsoft Partner Network programs for partner growth and customer success - The Official Microsoft Blog.

How is Microsoft working with its partner network to add strategic value to cloud customers?

Microsoft’s focus on driving digital transformation through technology has created numerous opportunities for its partner network to achieve success and help customers stay resilient. Microsoft Cloud is the foundation for the sustained growth of its partners as they build, co-sell, and go to market with Microsoft.

Through a variety of global programs, local offers to support market needs, and opportunities for reinvestment, Microsoft empowers partners to build and grow their businesses and profitability. The depth of our cloud offerings and the breadth of our technology portfolio give partners the power to build innovative products and services that enable virtually any scenario or function, for any customer, anywhere. Whether they build software, services, or devices, partners can leverage our technology and cloud investments to deliver successful solutions to customers, faster. This ensures that they can compete and lead in their respective industries. Microsoft also helps partners develop a greater understanding of Microsoft platforms and hone new skills to identify growth opportunities and deliver solutions that provide better business outcomes for customers. 

We’re committed to investing in and delivering what partners need to innovate, grow their businesses, and deliver on the promise of digital transformation for customers across organizations and industries. This partnership built on trust is key to designing and delivering thoughtful, customer-first, partner-led initiatives and programs to help partners meet the needs of customers today and innovate to lead them into the future.

Which sectors in India see more traction in Microsoft cloud solutions? Can you provide any specifics?

India’s public cloud market is expected to reach $10.8 billion by 2025, growing at a CAGR of 24% from 2020-2025, and end-user spending on public cloud services in India is forecast to grow by 30% in 2022 - the fourth straight year of double-digit growth. These statistics clearly reflect the cloud being foundational to accelerating the country’s digital transformation. Moving to the cloud is the best way for organizations to do more with less today - align their spending with uncertain demand, mitigate risk around increasing costs and supply chain constraints, be more energy efficient and optimize their build. Our priority is to proactively help every organization to optimize or do more with less.

Today, Microsoft is the No.1 end-to-end public cloud provider in India. We are partnering with governments and organizations in every industry to accelerate their transformation. We more than doubled our cloud capacity in the last two years to support hybrid work and living. We now have three data centers in India, Availability Zones in Central India, and more than 60 datacenter regions around the world. This is more regions and locations than any other cloud provider. We also announced our intent to establish India datacenter region in Hyderabad, Telangana. Across every industry and sector, Microsoft’s solution areas are powering cutting-edge innovation and growth at scale.

Which Microsoft solution has seen a spike in demand over the last couple of years? How did Microsoft's channel ecosystem function to address this demand?

We are partnering with governments and organizations in every industry to accelerate their digital transformation journey, with our solutions powering innovation and growth across all industries and sectors. For decades, Microsoft’s partner ecosystem has been at the center of how we bring our technologies and innovation to customers in India, and around the world. And this continues to be a driving force as we work to empower every organization to achieve more. Microsoft and our partners share a common goal – to help our customers scale and innovate to deliver new solutions that enable differentiation and drive business success and digital transformation. The strength of our stack and the expertise of our partners—these qualities make our goals achievable, our offerings unique, and our impact undeniable.