Microsoft announces new tools and resources for cloud profitability 13 July, 2010 By Mark Cox

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Roskill laid out to partners "how we together are going to make the transition to the cloud, in a way that makes you highly profitable," breaking his keynote into three parts --- the partner opportunity, advice from partners who have already walked the path of change, and the means of change that Microsoft is providing partners.

The first two parts reiterated themes that have already been pressed forcefully at the event -- that the market opportunity for cloud computing is now, and that forward-thinking partners are already doing well with targeted cloud opportunities. Roskill introduced seven partners, who each described how their businesses successfully made the transition to the cloud.

Roskill then got to the meat of his presentation, detailing new tools, resources and sales support that Microsoft is rolling out to help partners plan and build profitable businesses in the cloud and advance their cloud knowledge.

Roskill said there were four key additions to their cloud support strategy: "To help you plan to build your business before you jump in; to build a brand around your business; to get you the tools you need to support customers in transition; and to get you the tools you need to succeed running your business in the cloud."

Two key tools for partners to plan their transition are Business Builder for Cloud Services and Cloud Profitability Modeler.

"Business Builder for Cloud Services addresses four partner opportunities in four key markets, small business, medium business, the enterprise and the public sector," Roskill said, with each going into detail in each market about opportunities by specific partner type.

"These are ready right now," Roskill said.

The Cloud Profitability Modeler provides financial estimates of new business opportunities -- including revenues cost, margins ROI and investment analyst forecasts.

"It's also available now, and is important in understanding the transition to the cloud," Roskill said.

The Microsoft Cloud Essentials Pack and Microsoft Cloud Accelerate two key new branding additions to the Microsoft Partner Network, both of which are coming later in 2010.

The Microsoft Cloud Essentials Pack provides a free one year subscription to provide training, testing and marketing resources. It includes Internal Use Rights, pre-sales and technical support, and marketplace participation.

"With Internal Use Rights, you get 250 licenses for internal use for BPOs (Business Productivity Online Standard Suite) and CRM Online," Roskill said. "BPOS alone for 250 licenses is 25,000 bucks. We are doing this because we want you to be running on our latest software, to be able to go out and evangelize."

Roskill said Microsoft Cloud Accelerate was designed for the most cloud-committed partners, who would be rewarded with this premium brand for meeting specified criteria. They will qualify for a Cloud Accelerate Badge, priority listing in Marketplace, and more. The intiative will be formally rolled out in November, but Roskill said that current active partners can qualify for the badge even earlier.

Roskill then announced numerous programmatic additions for partners to manage customers in the cloud. This includes BPOS readiness work shops, to provide sales and deployment training to partners, BPOS practice accelerator, designed for Cloud Accelerate partners to shorten their time to market, and best practices, delivered through Live Meeting. Pre-Sales and Break Fix support are also being beefed up with online pre sales support, and phone support, which Roskill said will allow partners to position BPOS solutions.

Deployment support is also being expanded. Cloud Accelerate partners, for example, will receive deployment support based on the size of the deal, starting at 500 seats and 40 hours of support.

Roskill also expanded on three tools that give partners the means of change.

"Order on Behalf ensures you will be the partner of record," he said. "It creates a marketing link so that when customer clicks on a link and starts a BPOS trial you are automatically recorded as the partner of record."

"BPOS Sales Dashboard makes it easier for partners to manage their sales pipeline." It tracks quotes you have out there, what stage they are at and followup actions. Roskill concluded by noting that in each prior IT transformation in the 80s and the 90s, Microsoft has emerged stronger than before, something he expects will also be the case with the move to the cloud.

"The transition we are on right now has never been clearer to me," he said. "Each transition in the past, we have gained share. Together we will succeed in this transformation to the cloud."