Microsoft Inspire 2017-Partners to play a critical role in $4.5 Trillion Transformation Opportunity

Microsoft has kicked off Microsoft Inspire in Washington, D.C. where the company unveiled Microsoft 365, a new set of commercial offerings that draws from the best of the company’s commercial products across Office 365, Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility + Security. Microsoft 365 is designed to empower all companies and all workers, recognizing that people are at the heart of digital transformation. It puts people at the center, giving them flexibility to work where and how they want, and giving them new ways to collaborate with others.

Microsoft introduced two Microsoft 365 offerings. Microsoft 365 Enterprise is the evolution of the company’s Secure Productive Enterprise offering, and includes Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Enterprise Mobility + Security. It provides customers with the latest and most advanced technology for empowering employees.

Microsoft 365 Business, available in public preview starting August 2 is designed to give small-to-medium sized businesses a complete productivity and security solution, while streamlining IT management. It includes Office 365 Business Premium, security and management features for Office apps and Windows 10 devices, all managed in a centralized console for deploying and securing devices and users in one location.

To fuel Microsoft partners’ success and help meet the company’s goal of a $20 billion cloud run rate by 2018, Microsoft announced with hardware partners, Dell EMC, HPE and Lenovo, that Microsoft Azure Stack is now available to order. Azure Stack is an extension of Azure that brings the agility and fast-paced innovation of cloud computing to on-premises environments and enables entirely new hybrid cloud scenarios.

Azure Stack offers a truly consistent hybrid cloud platform, providing an ideal fit for customers who want flexibility without having to build applications in a different way. From Azure data centers to the edge of the cloud - whether miles underground in a mine shaft, away at sea on a ship, or on a factory floor dependent on continuous real-time operation - Azure Stack enables modern cloud applications that meet all business and regulatory requirements. A truly consistent hybrid cloud helps customers execute on their cloud strategy faster, and in a way that makes the most sense for their business.

Microsoft also announced two new ways it is helping partners connect with customers and bring innovative solutions to market. Last year, Microsoft piloted a new Azure co-sell program to provide comprehensive sales and marketing support for partners building solutions with Azure. In its first six months in market, this program helped close more than $1 billion in annual contract value for Azure partners, created $6 billion in Azure partner pipeline opportunity and generated more than 4,500 partner deals.

To build on this incredible momentum, Microsoft is making additional investments to accelerate Azure co-sell over the next 12 months. Microsoft is also creating a new dedicated Channel Manager role in Microsoft that will be 100 per cent focussed on supporting partners go-to-market efforts, helping ensure their solutions reach new customers and integrating with Microsoft’s co-sell motion.

Microsoft is also making it easier for partners to modernize existing business applications, and build new ones, with a new program called ISV Cloud Embed. Through this new program, partners can purchase core Dynamics 365, Power BI, Power Apps and Microsoft Flow capabilities as embeddable “building blocks” at discounts of up to 50 per cent. In the same way that partners today build their apps on Microsoft Azure, they can now also use Microsoft’s business applications platform to easily add sales automation, service line and operational backend functionality to their own apps.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and partners bring that mission to life every day with customers. Microsoft partners employ more than 17 million people around the world, and IDC estimates that Microsoft and its partner ecosystem will generating almost a trillion dollars in revenue in 2017.

To help partners innovate more, go to market faster and connect with the right customers at the right time, Microsoft is transforming how the company engages with its partner community by bringing its partner facing roles into one organization. Microsoft has aligned all partner-facing roles to three primary functions: Build-with, Go-To-Market, and Sell-with. This will help simplify and optimize engagement, drive increased collaboration, and foster a culture of work that puts partners first.

Microsoft Inspire will gather more than 17,000 people for Microsoft’s most important partner event of the year. More than 145,000 meetings take place during the event, and past exhibitors have experienced a 30-per cent year-on-year sales increase. Tune into the live stream keynotes to hear what the buzz is all about. In a world where transformation is inevitable, the opportunities for Microsoft partners are endless.

Tags: Microsoft Inspire 2017, Microsoft 365, Office 365 Enterprise, Windows 10 Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Business, Microsoft Azure Stack