Inspire 2022 ended last week after 2 days of insightful sessions on the most diverse topics. As Microsoft’s partners, we would like to do our own proper wrap-up and share with you the key takeaways from Stellium’s perspective, being Microsoft new partner program the main highlight.
Starting with a quick reminder to note that all sessions from MS Inspire are available on demand for those who registered for the event, and we strongly advise you to dig into the ones you didn’t have the chance to attend.
We already wrote about it but it’s worth revisiting the main keynote hosted by Satya, Microsoft’s CEO, and the several announcements that took place including newly released features on some of the more popular Microsoft tools.
Here’s a recap of what’s new (also mentioned during the keynote):
- Viva Goals (yet to be released) is the new tool that allows employees to keep aligned on the business KPIs, and shared vision to work towards the same goal on a designated interface
- PowerPoint has new live reports
- Microsoft Forms now benefits from several new templates and is more mobile-friendly
- There’s an App for Microsoft Lists allowing employees to work on the go
- Teams was improved with a mobile notification drawer
Power Apps were also boosted with updates on Trust, Maker Productivity, and End User Productivity as you can read here.
Our preferred ones are:
- Improve monitoring of Dataverse plugins using Application insights
- Review feedback and ratings from your users
- Find your business data in Microsoft Search
- Power Apps on Windows generally available
Why adopting the Microsoft new partner program?
As Satya mentioned over and over, all updates and new releases have a common goal: they are all cloud-based following a cloud-first approach from Microsoft and aiming to empower collaboration in an increasingly hybrid world.
Being Cloud and Digital First is the basis of a broader strategy aiming to simplify and optimize Microsoft’s service and tool offering to improve clients’ and partners’ experiences. The latter is so crucial that the company reshaped its program to focus partners on value generation and capabilities.
Investing in a strategy focused on digital perseverance is also a priority, according to Microsoft’s experts. Enabling the community to become more resilient and prepared to withstand the crises and difficult times that are to come both at a personal and professional level is key for the company.
The Microsoft new Partner Program
Again, Microsoft new partner program – Cloud Partner Program – puts Cloud at the center and was built around it.
To simplify, the program went from 19 to 6 designations – 1 per solution area (that can be topped with another).
There are 4 main objectives behind this reshaping:
- Simplification
- Easier connection and communication
- Adjusted access to software and credits
- Higher differentiation
To land on a specific designation, partners must now prove to be fitted in all the listed below:
- Show skilling
- Enable customers to transition
- Drive customer success
Being a Microsoft recognized partner will now mean not only have skills but also demonstrate them continuously with customers via cloud transition support and adoption.
The changes will be effective in October 2022 (read all about the new program here) and Stellium is actively working on following that transition.
Stellium as a Partner
Our area of focus will be Modern Work, Business Applications and Azure since they are the three pillars of our service offering. Advanced specializations will follow on each of these solution areas to strengthen our commitment to be a reference in the Microsoft consulting business and empower clients’ success within their sector.
Specific campaigns to address the key pillars on which we provide Microsoft’s solutions to our partners will follow soon. With those, we will showcase how customers are evolving both internally and externally, backed up by Stellium, and how others can do the same.
