Microsoft Partner Network is our endeavor to help partners transform their business

Taking into account partner feedback, the new Microsoft Partner Network

will offer far reaching incentives and rewards for its network of partners.

Noakes elaborates on the roadmap for this program

Microsoft announced the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) program in

November last year. So why have you been so low key about it?



Yes, we announced the launch of the MPN program at the Worldwide Partner

conference in November. The launch of the program was a conscious decision as to

why you are hearing about it now, we were keen to test the it first. Then we

realized that were more things that we wanted to add to it and so from October

till now we have been making changes in the program, tweaking it a bit. Now that

we have seen the results of the pilots, one of which happened in India also, you

are going to see the launch of new wave of MPN in October 2010. The relaunch is

the reason why at the moment we are visiting all our important subsidiaries

across the world and telling them about the changes we are going to bring about.

We are also meeting partners and telling them about why Microsoft is a great

company to partner with.

Why the decision to revisit MPN and what are the changes that you have

done?



Since the launch of MPN in November last year, we have spent a lot of time

listening to our partners and talking to them about what they think of the

partner program and would they like to see any changes in it. As a result of

these interactions with our partners, we have made certain changes in the MPN.

Basically when we talked to our partners they said that a metal rating for

partner classification really does not help then when they go to their customers

for business. So keeping that feedback in mind, we have done away with the

Platinum, Gold or Silver partner classification and we have now added

classifications based on new skills and competencies. Plus to encourage partners

to go in for specialized competencies we have aligned the advanced competency

with sales incentives.

So tell us more about these new set of competencies, and how will they

impact a partner revenues?



The new MPN is a result of the changing business models across the world.

This is Microsoft's endeavor to help partners transform their business. Keeping

that in mind some of the new competencies that have been added include

virtualization, digital marketing and web development. There will also be

enhanced focus on already existing competencies for medium and small business.

By aligning these competencies to sales we are ensuring that our partners will

be eligible for far reaching incentives and rebates. Since this is like starting

off on a clean slate, in the first year a partner will commit to a revenue via

their local Partner Sales Manager and will work towards attaining that to gain

rewards and rebates from us. From the second year onwards, these things will be

calculated based on past performance. Apart from this Microsoft will continue to

train partners and give them the required skills, invest with them, which will

help them in getting customers.

You mentioned running a pilot of new wave MPN in India. So, what was the

reaction that you got?



Well India is Microsoft's number one subsidiary worldwide and an important

market for us and one of which we are very keen on. The pilot program that we

conducted here was hugely successful. Basically the whole thing about partner

programs is that you need to get the rebates right, and the success of India

test gives us strong reasons to believe that we have managed to achieve the

rebates balance right.

With the advanced competencies coming into play with the new MPN are you

also looking at increasing your partner base in India?



Well it depends, adding competencies does not necessarily mean that we need

to add partners. We might we need to actually tone down the numbers. To put it

simply the focus will not be to add partners left, right and center. There are

some areas where we have too many partners, whereas we have too few in some

verticals, so we are now looking at balancing the scale. We are, becoming

stricter when it comes to appointing partners. For example, in order to partner

with us for business intelligence, one must have a business intelligence

background and already be an established player in that field.

The MPN was launched when the recession was pulling down the world

economy. What was the kind of reaction that you got initially?



One would expect that the recession would have affected one's plans. But, on

the contrary, partners were looking forward to a new program. There's a tangible

interest about it as the registration date nears. It actually depends on the

product or the service that you are launching. If you remember, we had launched

Windows 7 right in the middle of the recession, and that has gone on garner 20

percent marketshare worldwide. In the process it has also become the fastest

selling operating system ever. We're hoping MPN will garner a similar response.

Shivangi Yadav and Madhura Mukherjee



shivangiy@cybermedia.co.in
madhurak@cybermedia.co.in