Last week was a whirlwind of information and activity at Microsoft Inspire. We had a great time at the conference, from working in the D.C. community to being honored by Microsoft. It was an amazing week meeting with Microsoft, our partners, and our peers.
Now that we’re back in the office, we’re ready to get to work with all the new information presented during the conference. Microsoft announced widespread changes to their sales organization structure. As CRN put it:
“[Microsoft] CEO Satya Nadella and other executives unveiled an avalanche of changes to how the company will work with partners from now on. By all accounts, the moves represent a momentous shift for the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant, which is enacting the changes to accelerate an already fast-growing business. Microsoft is continuing its all-out push to become a company focused on enabling digital transformation — through technologies including cloud infrastructure, SaaS, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things — but the difference now is that partner needs are factoring even more heavily into the go-to-market calculus, executives and partners said.” – The Top 10 Partner Takeaways From Microsoft Inspire
Tony Pagnusat, Perficient’s Senior Alliance Director, spoke with CRN about the positive impact of these changes:
“It’s now easier to figure out who to engage with. We know that if we talk to the CSM team, they’ll be interested. … I think Microsoft is making the right investments to focus around deployment.”
In addition to organizational changes, Microsoft also unveiled Microsoft 365 – a platform that brings together “Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility + Security to deliver a complete, intelligent, secure solution that can empower employees.”
“[Microsoft 365 is] one of those hockey stick growth opportunities for partners.” – Tony Pagnusat, The Top 10 Partner Takeaways From Microsoft Inspire
As we move into Microsoft’s fiscal year 2018, we’ll continue to analyze what these changes and announcements mean for the Microsoft community, our customers, and our partners. If you’d like to weigh in on the conversation, feel free to let us know in the comments.
