Microsoft’s channel boost: vital for building real enterprise relationships
For some years now, Microsoft has been working hard to improve perceptions of it within “enterprises” – large commercial and public-sector organisations. These days, it’s doing more than ever.
One particular set of initiatives which the company is pursuing, concerns dialog with customers about the business value of Microsoft technology. The company is doing a whole host of things to try and maximise the likelihood of customers not only buying licenses for Microsoft software – but actually using those licenses in a way which helps them do quantifiably valuable things.
Bob McDowell’s “information worker business value” mission is one such effort: others include the architecture work being done by people like
Arvindra Sehmi and his team – which aims to help customers understand how they can architect systems using Microsoft technology so that they align to business goals.
But Microsoft’s business model gives it a severe challenge, even though it’s trying hard. Why? Because (here I think I once more have to name-check an ex-colleague,
Gary Barnett – I think I heard him use this phrase first) the business-focused audiences in enterprises which Microsoft covets so much, don’t buy products – they buy outcomes. But Microsoft is a product company – its partners fill the gap between the products that Microsoft offers, and the outcome that an enterprise wants. Microsoft can try as hard as it likes, but while it stays out of the professional services game, it can’t by itself “close the loop” on business value delivery – i.e. understanding what value is actually delivered (and how), as well as teeing things up before implementation commences. Microsoft architects can help enterprises understand how they can utilise Microsoft technology brilliantly: but a third party can come into the relationship subsequently, and make a complete mess of things. Microsoft may not know about such failures until a discussion about Enterprise software licensing months or years later.
The boost which Microsoft is
giving to its partners in terms of opening up more internal information, training and tools to the community, is the starting point of what needs to be an ongoing program of improvement if Microsoft is to reach its goal of being a “true enterprise grade supplier”. Redmond has an opportunity to build programs which encourage its myriad partners to not only take forward Microsoft’s own architecture proof-of-concept work with customers, for example; but to also feed back real information about what happened during implementation – and how Microsoft could help improve the success of future engagements. Without insight from the partners which really help enterprises create business value, Microsoft is operating with one hand tied behind its back.
