The partner network: driven by the pace of change and transformation

This blog was bylined by Gavriella Schuster in her former role as Microsoft Channel Chief.
Now more than ever, the ability to evolve with the pace of change and transformation is a key differentiator. Along with many of you, we’re seeing digital transformation being fast-tracked by organizations around the globe; for some companies, and even industries, this change will mean navigating a steep learning curve and facing the challenge of mass adoption of an entirely new work culture. Helping organizations adapt and innovate quickly is critically important. At Microsoft, we have always embraced the evolution of technology—it’s what fuels our desire to always stay one step ahead of what’s next so we can continue creating opportunities that allow our partners to thrive through unpredictable, sometimes seismic shifts.
Like many of our partners, Microsoft is going through a digital transformation. We’re committed to the technology and our partnerships, and working together to continue evolving our programs, tools and resources to ensure we have the right mix in place today and in the future. I believe the power of the partner ecosystem lives in that shared commitment and collaborative spirit. Transformation isn’t a one-and-done action—it’s fluid and driven by agile and nimble strategies informed by shared learnings and insights. This is why Microsoft continues to invest and innovate to help drive success and digital transformation for our mutual customers.
This continuing and constant investment reaffirms our ongoing commitment to positioning Microsoft and our partners for growth. We will continue to reward partners who drive strong results for customers, and collaborate with them to bring our joint technologies to customers. I’m inspired by the innovations within our partner ecosystem and the opportunities and solutions these provide for partners and customers across markets, industries and continents. Whether they are partnering with Microsoft or with other partners—or selling directly to customers—organizations can grow their business and bring value where it’s needed most.
The shifts in those needs have never moved faster than they have in recent months, which is why it is vital that we work together in order to deliver and implement the most relevant technologies for customers. I am proud of how frequently we co-innovate and co-develop solutions with our partners. Working together, we develop a deep understanding of our partner and customer needs and can deliver better results, build trust and grow partner businesses. I see the power of these collaborations every day, like with Insight, a software and cloud solution partner. Over months of conversations and collaboration with teams at Microsoft, Insight has created a connected platform that uses the company’s sensor-driven solutions—like temperature control for restaurant food safety or lighting and camera solutions for security—and packages them up into a single end-device system for the customer. And with its unique Azure-based solutions, Insight can help customers in multiple industries, like healthcare, retail, entertainment, and beyond.
Other Microsoft partners such as Rescale are rapidly spinning up new programs to tackle COVID-19 head-on and try to accelerate the development of a vaccine. As part of the Tech Against COVID initiative, Rescale, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure are teaming up to donate cloud-based high-performance computing resources to any researcher working on COVID-19. This enables them to run complex simulations regardless of their physical location or budget constraints.
This shared commitment to customer centric solutions isn’t new. It has been built, refined and optimized over many years. We continually seek feedback from partners and listen to the community to better tailor our programs and services to meet and exceed expectations, which ultimately drives profitability and business growth. And we place value in how these insights help keep us agile and able to continually evolve.
At Microsoft, we believe partners make more possible. It’s a phrase you’ve heard—and will continue to hear—often. This belief is truly at the core of why we continue to invest in our partner ecosystem, to ensure we’re adding value, visibility and relevance for partners. And it’s the inspiration behind many of the programmatic changes we’re working on this year and for the future. These changes are designed to directly address the rapidly evolving market landscape and customer needs that our partners are being challenged with daily. I’ll be sharing more in the coming weeks and months, with several details discussed during Microsoft Inspire. I believe the evolutionary changes we’re making will unlock huge opportunities for all of us and reaffirm our absolute belief in the power of partnership.