Microsoft does not detect that there will be a slowdown

“When a crisis is about to take place, SMEs and consumers are the first to contain expenses and investments. At the moment, due to the behavior of SMEs and consumption, we do not see that there will be a slowdown.” This is how he sees the current economic situation, the former director of operations and marketing at Microsoft and current head of the company’s partners, Antonio Budia, during a meeting with the specialized press in which he outlined the main lines of the channel strategy .

The manager explained the good situation in which the company is and has stressed the importance of the channel in the smooth running of Microsoft. With just two months in office, Budia has undergone a complete renovation to establish new synergies with its channel that will allow it to maintain Microsoft’s strong position in certain markets and promote others such as Telcos.

Of all the markets, the one that has given the company the most success has been the cloud and the firm commitment to it that it has made since the arrival of Satya Nadella as the firm’s director. A success that has also meant significant revenue for its channel and that will continue to increase given the constant increase in companies that have opted for strategies focused on the cloud and digitization. As stated at the meeting, their investment in technology has allowed them to promote flexibility and security, improving both their position in the short term and their competitiveness.

Due to the behavior of SMEs and consumption, Microsoft does not foresee that, at the moment, there will be a slowdown

Given the situation that has been experienced since the outbreak of the pandemic, Budía has been very satisfied with the involvement and commitment that its parties have shown to be able to provide a rapid response to the needs that their clients have had so that they can continue with your business.

a new structure

And to follow this positive path that benefits both partners and the company, there has been a small revolution in the Budía department in which he will be accompanied by Miriam Robredo, focused on Global System Integrators; Santi Oller, in the telecommunications sector; Manuel Cortizo, responsible for ISVs; Karine Regniez, technical manager of Strategy; Loreto Serrano, for the entire channel and Emilio López as head of Marketing for Partners.

This new team has designed a strategy focused on consolidating the channel structure to maximize synergies between the different types of existing partners, launching new business models adapted to market demands and boosting the impact of the channel.

During the past year, initiatives such as the Partner Pledge -which fosters the alliance with partners that share the same technological vision in terms of digital skills, responsible AI, diversity and inclusion and sustainability and has more than 100 adhered partners- have driven growth of the channel and the extension of the impact around these initiatives in the country. Likewise, in the previous two years, the company focused on increasing both its ecosystem and its cloud training.

Thanks to these changes, the partner ecosystem has continued to grow significantly: there are now more than 12,100 in Spain, 6% more than in 2021. In addition, to strengthen support for companies and partners in Spain, Microsoft announced the opening of a region of Data Centers to offer all cloud services in our country. An investment that supports the company’s commitment to empower its entire network to evolve in this environment of constant technological change.

“Through these initiatives we want to reward partners who are committed to our solutions and specialization plans in our technologies. Likewise, our objective is to boost their performance and recognition, since we make it easier for them to expertly accompany the client.“Budia explained.

Commitment to channel profitability

The partner ecosystem is of vital importance to Microsoft since all products, solutions and services are sold through its partner network. For this reason, Budía’s task will be to consolidate its channel structure and maximize synergies between the different types of existing partners, launching new business models adapted to market demands, promoting the impact of the channel and accelerating its resilience. digital. To this end, Microsoft has verticalized its cloud services, offering various sectoral clouds: Cloud for Healthcare, Cloud for Financial Services, Cloud for Manufacturing, Cloud for Retail and Cloud for Sustainability which, working on the Microsoft cloud, provide all the wealth of solutions offered by its ecosystem of Partners.

Likewise, Microsoft has reviewed the investments and incentives of its channel, helping to improve its profitability and creating opportunities around the entire customer relationship cycle. The partners will have benefits at each point, from the generation of interest -investments will be increased in the form of workshops, in addition to commercial and technical activities with clients; the sale -incentives will be offered in the form of discounts, rebates and marketing-; and consumption -through technical support, deployment activities and adoption campaigns-.

Furthermore, starting October 1, 2022, Microsoft will implement significant changes to its outsourcing and hosting terms. As a result, Software Assurance or license subscription customers will be able to move their workloads to partner cloud infrastructure, take advantage of shared hardware, run software on multi-tenant clouds, and ultimately have greater flexibility when it comes to to deploy their solutions. More information on this is available here.

According to Budia, “vWe are in four decades of certain optimism, where the main objectives of companies were efficiency and transformation, which is being achieved thanks to certified partners that accompany organizations on the digitalization journey. And in the face of this ‘digital optimism’, at Microsoft we have identified a new trend towards ‘digital perseverance’: the ability of the channel to prosper in the midst of uncertainty and risk, taking advantage of technology to boost its strengths, complete its offer of solutions and generate more business opportunities. Despite the rise in current inflation, digitization is positioned as a deflationary element: investing in technology allows companies to reduce their costs in the medium and long term”.