We’re excited to kick off a new blog series that will take a deeper look at the partner journey. When you join the Microsoft Partner Network, one of our first recommendations is to familiarize yourself with the general journey each partner experiences on the path to success. Understanding the different stages a partner goes through as they build innovative apps and services, take those solutions to the marketplace, and engage in selling, can be immensely helpful as you navigate next steps and future plans. 

While gaining a basic understanding of the partner journey is a great place to start, many of the tools, platforms, and resources available to partners are highly customizable. You’ll often receive different information, recommendations, and access based on your particular organization—and even your job role within your company. This means that high-level overviews and guidance are a helpful place to start, but by no means should you stop there. 

Because every partner’s experience is tailored to their specific situation including where their organization is in its partnership with Microsoft, as well as where their organization is in its lifecycle, it’s important to explore the specific resources that are available to you. In upcoming posts in this series, we’ll include tips and examples from Microsoft subject matter experts to help build awareness of the steps you can take to set your organization up for long-term, sustainable success. While this guidance won’t perfectly apply to every partner, we hope you’ll look for examples that you can adapt to your own organization—both now, and as you continue to build your business. We’ll explore topics including: 

• The resources that are available to partners 

• How to build and differentiate your organization 

• How you can maximize sales opportunities with Microsoft, as well as with other partners and sellers 

We hope that taking a closer look at these elements of the partner journey will help you identify potential opportunities that you can pursue throughout each stage. Consistently incorporating the right resources and guidance into your strategy can give you the edge you need to stand out in the market and meet the evolving needs of your customers. 

The tech intensity generated by the blistering pace of digital transformation isn’t going to ease up anytime soon, which will continue to create incredible opportunities for the entire Microsoft partner ecosystem as customers turn to partners to help them evolve. By learning to unlock the full power of the Microsoft Partner Network—including the resources, guidance, tools, differentiators, and platforms available to you—you’re positioning your organization to thrive both now and in the future. 

Thank you for your continuing partnership. We encourage you to check back every couple of weeks for additional installments in our partner journey series. 

Read part two of our partner journey series here.

Read part three of our partner journey series here.