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Vuzion: What we learnt from Microsoft Inspire

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By Vuzion, Microsoft Inspire 2017 Headline Sponsor 

What a week of discovery, learning, networking and partner celebration!

 

As the Vuzion Team at Inspire, we've had a truly inspirational week. With so much going on and so much to take in, it's been hard to summarise what we've learnt in the space of a blog - but, below are our key takeaways.

 

  • Microsoft 365 is the new complete, intelligent, secure solution created to further empower employees. Unveiled by Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, at the Vision Keynote Monday 10 July, Microsoft 365 brings together Office 365, Windows 10 and EM+S (Enterprise Mobility + Security), with Microsoft 365 Enterprise (E3 and E5) available from 1 August 2017, and Microsoft 365 Business from autumn 2017 (preview from 2 August).
  • The Partner Center is going to be the single "pane of glass", with the Managed Partner List, Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft PinPoint and Partner Incentive Portal all moving the Partner center.
  • Bringing together disparate internal teams into one, holistic organisation and built on three pillars - Build-with, Go-to-Market, and Sell-with - Microsoft's new sales organisation One Commercial Partner (OCP) "harnesses our partner expertise and knowledge - technical, marketing, business development, and programs," Ron Huddleston, CVP One Commercial Partner.
  • The requirements for GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliancy (25 May 2018) represent a $3.5 billion opportunity for partners.

 

Craig Gordon, Head of Vuzion, comments, "Microsoft's commitment to the CSP (Cloud Solution Provider) programme was also evident. For example, all internal Microsoft teams are now incentivised on consumption, which suits CSP.

 

"It was also great news to learn that there will be an $80m investment in marketing in the UK for the channel, and that the UK has the highest percentage of consumed cloud services worldwide.

 

"And, for me, one of the major advantages for partners is that Microsoft CSP rebates are now tied directly to Microsoft accreditations. Our team is ready to help with any questions you might have about either gaining accreditations or how to get the most from the Partner Center."

 

It was also announced that in order to bring more industry relevance to partners, Microsoft would be focusing on prioritised industries:

 

Education Financial Services Government
Health Manufacturing Retail

and that Microsoft's focus for FY18 is on these key solution areas:

  • Modern Workplace
  • Business Apps
  • Apps and Infrastructure
  • Data and AI.

Craig Gordon, adds, "A key phrase we'll take away, is from the Office 365 CSP Pre-Day, 9 July and Simon Sinek's quote that people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it - that Microsoft is encouraging us to focus on the value proposition and fixing business problems - not selling products."

At Vuzion we'll be looking at all the announcements and topics in more detail in the coming weeks and at our post-Inspire event, Inspired, in London Thursday 10 August 2017, where Vuzion will be joined by Microsoft experts to discuss in depth these key learnings and takeaways.