Microsoft is now rebuilding their partner program? Yes, the company is setting a recertification procedure for the 400,000 that support the selling of products and services worldwide. According to Rodney Clark, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Channel Sales and channel chief that this change will be reflected in the Microsoft investment as they consider the cloud as a strategic growth area and it is required to align partners with evolving requirements of the customers.

Clark said in a press conference, “While we've delivered on this promise of customer value in the past, the reality is that this has shifted, especially in the last two to three years. It's no longer us — Microsoft and our [partners] — leading our customers on this tech-intensity journey of innovation and ongoing development. It's very much our customers that are directing us based on their emerging needs.”

Microsoft Cloud Partner Program is a new program

The statement the Clark means that the company will now modify their partner program network and is now known as the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program. The program will be now focused on six distinct areas:

• Azure Infrastructure
• Azure digital and app innovation
• Azure data and artificial intelligence
• Business application
• Modern work
• Security

The reason for making such changes is to present a unified cloud front. The partners have to take certification and this model develops a competency-based model. This program is rebuilding intending to check the proficiency of the partners aligned with Microsoft Cloud. There will be no baseline member status with Silver and Gold competencies and “advanced specialisation”. The two new levels are beyond the baseline named:

• Solution partner
• Specialist

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Things will be changed for partners

The two-level program is up for all the partners of Microsoft including resellers, systems integrators, managed services providers, device partners and independent software vendors. Microsoft has changed them under cloud expertise and experience to customers. Although, partners are anticipated as the critical part of Microsoft's success and the company credited them with 95% of the commercial revenue.

The partners of Microsoft have driven incredible results - $28 billion in partner co-sell value in the past four years. Nick Parker, Corporate Vice President of the Global Partner Solution states that the company will refine and enhance sales motion with partners by the 37% of the revenue growth.

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Differentiate the two levels

The first level is known as the partner qualifying level with a “solution partner” designation. Under this, the partners meet specific requirements of all the six areas. The partner capability score includes – technical skills, performance based on certification, new customer added, and overall growth. The entire calculation is based and calculated in Microsoft’s Partner Center portal. Moreover, there is a need to earn 70 points out of 100 and partners can access the portal to check progress towards the goal. The second new level includes specialisation and is now known as advanced specialisation. These partners have deep technical expertise and experience.

Clark additionally said that “It's important to know that as part of this evolution, we're not removing any benefits that partners receive today. We're increasing investment in our program by more than 25%.”