Unlock the power of Microsoft partnership

Unlock the power of Microsoft partnership

Welcome to your Microsoft partnership journey!

As with any new environment, it’s easier to navigate our partner ecosystem when you have a map. This friendly and easy‑to‑use guide to our partner resources will help you understand:

• How Microsoft can help you grow your revenue.• The key benefits of Microsoft partnership.• What it means to achieve Silver and Gold competencies.• Which tools can best help you achieve your unique goals.

Once you’re oriented, there are links at the end of this guide where you can access more detailed information.

Did you know?Worldwide, organizations are set to spend more than $7 trillion on digital transformation through 2023. A Microsoft partnership is one of the most powerful ways you can tap into that market, with all the resources of the world’s largest technology ecosystem at your fingertips. And with 95% of all our commercial revenue coming from our partner network, we’re committed to helping you succeed and grow. Whether you’re selling our products and services or developing your own solutions or services to take to market, Microsoft can help you win.

You + Microsoft = Power

Microsoft Partner Playbook

How do you want to grow your revenue?

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Boost your sales and revenue

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Your partner journeyIn the rest of this guide, we’ll explain all the most important resources you can access at different points of your partner journey. Click on a block if you want to jump to the relevant section of the guide.

The Microsoft Partner NetworkThe Microsoft Partner Network is where your journey with us begins. It’s free to join, and you can begin to access benefits immediately. Invest in an Action Pack to unlock additional benefits. Then, work towards achieving Silver and Gold competency status to prove your expertise to potential clients as well as enhancing the benefits you can access.

Partnership levels at a glanceBenefits All partners Silver Gold

Go‑to‑market support

Product licenses*

Product support 10 incidents 15 incidents 20 incidents

Technical enablement 5 hours 20 hours 50 hours

*You can download a detailed table of licenses here.

Unlock by buying an Action Pack.

Attain these competencies by passing required exams and skill validation, meeting performance requirements and paying the annual fee.

Once you have a Gold competency, you can deepen your expertise and differentiate yourself in the market with advanced specializations.

Partner Center is the hub where you can find the people, resources, and information you need to build and deliver successful solutions for your customers. Use your Partner Dashboard as a launchpad for exploring everything else our partnership has to offer.

Watch a 2‑minute video overview of the Microsoft Partner Network.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Solution WorkspaceFor us, winning together also means helping you develop and sell your own applications and solutions.

Solution Workspace is a personalized, step‑by‑step, self‑service guide with links to all the resources and tools you’ll need to build your solution from the ground up, take it to market, and grow your sales. Use it to reduce your time to market, reach customers, access Microsoft offers and rewards and grow your revenue.

Solution Workspace is for anyone building solutions based on Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and Business Applications.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Cloud Enablement DeskMany of partners are looking for ways to take their solutions into the cloud. Our Cloud Enablement Desk (CED) offers six months of personalized support from one of our cloud specialists, at no cost to you. Whether you’re looking for technical resources or sales support, this is the place to start.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Technical Pre‑sales + DeploymentHoning your technical skills makes for more effective sales and customer support, as well as enabling you to develop and launch your own apps and solutions. Your Partner Network membership includes unlimited access to our learning center, as well as consultation hours with our technical specialists linked to your competency level.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Commercial MarketplaceOur commercial marketplace, a catalog of solutions from our partners, is visited by more than 3 million motivated potential buyers every month. There are multiple access points for your customers, from Microsoft AppSource and Azure Marketplace to in‑product purchase experiences.

Access the Commercial Marketplace via your Partner Dashboard.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Co‑selling with MicrosoftCo‑selling is when we collaborate with you to:

• Build demand for your solutions• Plan sales • Share referrals and sales leads• Sell with and to other partners

The commercial marketplace is the first essential co‑selling step, allowing you to be discovered by customers around the world.

Every partner can co‑sell with Microsoft, with any solution, app, or service offering built on or embedded within the our three solution areas.

You can:

• Sell or resell a Microsoft solution• Collaboratively sell a service or IP offer with

another seller• Sell another partner’s solution

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Business Applications

Modern Workplace Azure

The Microsoft Solution Areas

Go‑to‑market resourcesAs a partner you have free access to a vast range of digital marketing tools to augment your own resources, from basic guides to co‑branded customer‑facing presentation, social media campaigns, co‑marketing resources, and more.

The Partner Marketing CenterResearching the best way to approach a new vertical? Need a presentation you can adapt in a hurry? Looking for product collateral to share with potential customers? Your Microsoft Partner Network membership gives you access to all of this via the Partner Marketing Center. There are thousands of documents and campaigns to choose from, so you can easily search or filter by product, location, industry, topic and more.

Digital Marketing Content on DemandGenerate demand with always‑on digital marketing content delivered once a week. Sign up for relevant channels, choose content and customize it. You can even schedule automated posting on the social media sites of your choice.

Our on‑demand content is supplied via ContentMX and you will need to sign up separately. Once you’re there, we recommend joining the “Welcome to DMC!” channel to help you get started.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Go-To-Market Resources and Offers All partnersSilver competency

and/or co‑sellready ISVs

Gold competencyand/or IP co‑sell

ready ISVs

Digital Marketing Content OnDemand: Make connections that move you forward. Connect with customers online and generate demand with always‑on digital marketing content delivered to you in weekly campaigns for use throughout your social media, company blogs, email, and more. Smart Partner Marketing: Develop your marketing skills with the latest industry research, market trends, partner best practices, and more. Regardless of skill level, we offer marketing professional development training to help get you market-ready. Sales Enablement Platform: Amplify your marketing presence to prospective clients, track customer engagement with documents, and gain insight into how customers interact with your marketing content and sales proposals with Qorus Content Hub. You can customize Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 content from within your Office applications. Partner Marketing Center: Find powerful solutions for a successful go‑to‑market plan when you explore our collection of customizable digital content and resources, including a comprehensive content library with sales presentations, infographics, web images, and more. Geo Expansion Webinar Series: Gain insight and best practices for growing your business and expanding into new markets when you sign up for this series of webinars. Guest presenters will include market expansion field experts, Microsoft leadership, and successful program partners. Geo Expansion Readiness Assessment: Initiate growth into new markets and drive scale of strategic solutions when you use this assessment as the starting point for your international expansion strategy. Profile Optimization and Referral Management: Increase your visibility with customers and capture their attention when your profile listing is optimized. You’ll get customized feedback and recommendations to ensure your profile listing showcases your solution’s features and benefits. Also included are guidance and best practices for managing referrals. How to Market with Microsoft Guidance: Accelerate your marketing efforts, get to market faster, and learn how to co-market with Microsoft through easyto‑follow recommendations. Partners with a Gold competency and/or IP co‑sell ready solution receive support from a marketing specialist. Partner‑to‑Partner GTM Assets: Create a joint bill of materials with another partner using our marketing asset template library to help accelerate customer conversations, generate demand for your solution, and drive sales. Co‑Branded Marketing Assets: Get professionally designed, co‑branded marketing assets to introduce your solution to new customers. You provide content for a solution one‑pager, customer presentation, and customer success story, and a marketing specialist will polish them with a professional review. Co‑Branded Social Marketing Assets: Get professionally designed social media content and images for publishing to your owned digital marketing channels. Partner Success Story: Share the success of your Microsoft‑enabled solution. You provide the details, and we’ll provide an editorial review and publish your success story to the internal Partner Evidence portal. Select stories are featured on our Partner Success Stories site. Press Release with Microsoft Executive Quote: Publicize your Microsoft‑enabled solution with a press release or blog post published on partner‑owned channels. You provide the content in our template and we’ll provide an editorial review. Includes an option for a Microsoft executive quote upon approval.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

Here’s a look at all the resources and offers available to partners—at no additional cost.

Cloud Ascent Our Cloud Ascent data engine uses machine learning to deliver customer opportunity reports tailored to your SMB customer base, so you can identify those who are most likely to buy, launch micro‑targeted marketing campaigns and identify cross‑sell and upsell opportunities.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

ISV ConnectThe market for independently developed business applications is booming – and by 2025, ISVs are predicted to have more than 50% of that market. Our Business Application ISV Connect program can help you:

• Get to market up to three times faster, thanks to the powerful tools available in Microsoft Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and the Common Data Service (CDS)—all on Azure.

• Unlock innovation and stand out from the crowd with AI and mixed reality.

• Expand your customer base with exclusive technical and go-to-market benefits.

ISV Connect operates on a revenue share basis.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

IncentivesAs a Microsoft Partner Network member, our investment in you includes marketing and sales incentives.

Sales incentivesWe offer a wide range of sales incentives to partners who drive sales or influence increased consumption of our products and services. To access these incentives, you will need to ensure that your customer formally records your involvement. To understand all your options and possibilities, we recommend working through the training material on our website.

Co‑operative marketingOur co‑op marketing fund may reimburse you for expenses ranging from print and digital advertising through telemarketing to events and training.

Microsoft Partner Playbook

All the links in one place

Learn more

Microsoft Learn is a skills portal for everyone.

Use the partner‑only Training Center to learn more about:

• Solution Workspace• Commercial Marketplace• Marketing best practices• Incentives• Cloud Ascent

Website Highlights

Read more about our Technical Presales and Deployment services

Read our blogs, starting with the Partner Essentials series

Connect with other partners in the Partner Community

PDFs to download

Co‑sell playbook

Business Applications ISV Connect guide

Action Pack license guide

Videos to watch

Microsoft Partner Network overview

Solution Workspace

Digital Marketing Content OnDemand

Deepen your engagement

Get to know your Partner Dashboard

Access new customer opportunities

Subscribe to a Microsoft Action Pack

Work towards Silver and Gold competency status.

Boost your marketing

Get to know the Partner Marketing Center

Access our Smart Partner Marketing resources

Use the Qorus Content Hub to easily create winning proposals

Sign up for Digital Marketing Content OnDemand

Sign up for special programs and services

Cloud Enablement Desk

Business Applications ISV Connect

Microsoft Partner Playbook