Our guest contributor for this blog, Lisa James, is a Senior Partner Strategy Manager (Azure Infrastructure) in Global Partner Solutions. Lisa leads Azure Virtual Desktop strategy for all partners across all 3 management solutions (1^st party, Citrix, and VMware).  

As more organizations move to hybrid work, desktop and app virtualization emerges as a critical partner capability to create growth, continuity, and connectivity for all organizations.  

At Microsoft, our priority is to empower organizations and partners with the ability to quickly deploy virtual desktops and applications to enable secure remote work from virtually anywhere. This includes key integrations with Citrix and VMware that allow partners and customers to leverage existing Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) knowledge and investments as they migrate to Azure. 

Microsoft partners make more possible. Together, we have an opportunity to support hybrid customer work and application needs, shaping the future and accelerating desktop infrastructure migration. Strong partner programs are designed to support your lead generation, sales conversations, and proof of concepts and desktop infrastructure deployments. 

We see strong overall growth and accelerated uptake in our Azure Virtual Desktop business and partners are key to our momentum with many obtaining the Azure Virtual Desktop advanced specialization. Virtualization is useful in many key industries and scenarios:  

Gartner forecast data estimates the number of users for Desktop as a Service (DaaS) will grow by over 150% between 2020 and 2023. ¹ 

With this growth and partner prospect in mind, we are excited to share the new Azure Virtual Desktop partner campaign resources to help you create opportunities and accelerate engagement in the customer journey. 

Journey: create, accelerate, and grow 

Create opportunity with Azure Virtual Desktop campaign resources available to all partners in the Partner Marketing Center (PMC) and Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC). The assets provided span all three management solutions (1^st party, Citrix and VMware), include Windows 365 content, and provide flexibility for your campaign design. Using our ready-made collection of specific resources and tools, you can drive demand for your desktop virtualization solutions.  

• The Partner Marketing Center (PMC) campaign includes assets such as an introduction, sales guides, pitch deck, and infographics. Download the assets and use them to educate your sales team and integrate into customer campaigns to generate leads. Available now. 

• The Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC) Modernize VDI to Azure Virtual Desktop 12-week campaign (launching in early November) includes assets such as sales resources and customizable to-customer marketing materials including social assets, emails, infographics and gated content and more in a highly prescriptive format. Select the campaign and each week you will receive a set of assets. Designed to help you connect with more customers and generate leads, you can post to your social media accounts, blogs, website and launch email campaigns directly within the Digital Marketing Content OnDemand platform. If you are not yet signed up for Digital Marketing Content OnDemand, sign up here. Once signed up, you will have access to the Modernize VDI to Azure Virtual Desktop campaign.

Accelerate adoption with Azure Immersion Workshop for Azure Virtual Desktop. These partner presented workshops help multiple customers develop their understanding in one-day workshops on Azure Virtual Desktop which include detailed hands-on labs. Partners with the Azure Virtual Desktop advanced specialization can request to deliver future workshops to customers at AskAIWAVD@microsoft.com.  

Accelerate engagement with Azure Migration & Modernization Program (AMMP) and benefit from investments and resources to accelerate demand, revenue, and customer success for qualified customer opportunities including all three management solutions (1^st party, Citrix, and VMware). 

Partners worldwide have leveraged AMMP to help customers move forward with confidence and get help at every step.  

Grow the value of your business by differentiating your technical capability to deliver virtualization solutions, expand your customer reach, and distinguish your skillset from competitors with the Azure Virtual Desktop advanced specialization. By earning an advanced specialization, partners gain access to associated benefits that help expand their customer reach and drive customer confidence in their validated capabilities. We offer you the new Azure Virtual Desktop exam (AZ-140) for measuring your team skills. Make sure to join the Azure Virtual Desktop partner forum to learn about the product roadmap, integrated tools, partner programs, and connect with the community and Microsoft engineers.  

Partners play a critical role in all stages of the customer lifecycle. We encourage you to take advantage of the comprehensive Azure Virtual Desktop investments, programs, resources, and campaign assets to fuel greater customer success by bringing incremental value to them throughout their desktop virtualization journey and empowering them to achieve more. 

Key resources: 

• Azure Migration & Modernization Program (AMMP) 
• Azure Immersion Workshops 
• Advanced Specialization for Azure Virtual Desktop 
• Azure Virtual Desktop partner page 
• Azure Virtual Desktop Partner Forum 
• Secure Remote Work Partner Playbook 
• Partner Incentives page 

¹ Gartner®,  Predicts 2021: Digital Workplace Infrastructure & Operations, Stuart Downes, Dan Wilson, Nathan Hill, Michael Silver, Chris Silva, 12/7/2020

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