According to a recent article in Redmond Channel Magazine, “” by , Microsoft Partners are indeed finding ways to adapt to changing business models. As many businesses prepare to make the leap into the cloud, they are leaving behind the traditional business software model, licensing, and vendor-customer relationships. Microsoft Partners have always enjoyed a special relationship with their customers, and one might suspect that the changeover to the cloud would harm that relationship. But instead of allowing this new technology to damage customer relations, Microsoft Partners are finding ways to adapt.
In order to meet customer demands, Microsoft Partners have developed more cloud-friendly services. Examples of this are the managed services that many partners now offer. They monitor Dynamics and SharePoint servers and applications and customers pay monthly service package prices. This eliminates the need for the customer to have IT staff to manage the system, leaving more resources and personnel to actually use it.
Other partners are introducing vertical solutions that offer “repeatable implementation, configuration, and reporting”. Customers can enter vertical markets, making use of Microsoft Dynamics packages tailored to meet their very specific industry needs.
Some of the other ideas Microsoft Partners are using to keep the revenue flowing are: fixed fee project pricing utilizing ), repeatable workflows that function as-needed out of the box for customers, SQL Reporting Services (SRS) that have been modified to comply with industry and government reporting requirements, and Industry-specific Dynamics CRM configurations.
"We've developed middleware to connect line-of-business applications with GP to provide ). There's no need to build the functionality on GP if you can successfully partner with someone else," said
Successful Microsoft Partners understand the underlying reasons behind a customer’s desire or interest in the cloud and properly address those concerns with workable business solutions. In doing so, they help customers get the most out of the technology they have and also plan for the future, whether that is in the cloud or in a more traditional setting.
By CAL Business Solutions,
