Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) will aggressively expand its cloud partner messaging from #Office365 toward #Azure cloud services during this week’s Inspire conference (formerly #Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference) in Washington, D.C. The Azure cloud partner pitch is expected to come from Microsoft’s key executive leaders — including CEO Satya Nadella and Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster. Moreover, Corporate VP Julia White will weigh in with Azure cybersecurity opportunities, sources indicate. Microsoft’s expanded cloud partner strategy — across Office 365, Dynamics 365 and Azure — has been several years in the making. The software giant initially stumbled with Office 365 when that service launched in 2011. But gradually, Microsoft added partner-centric billing and management services to the SaaS platform — allowing Office 365 to catch on with small, midsize and large customers. By about late 2015 or early 2016, Office 365 was a widespread success in the channel. The Azure partner push, however, involves several tricky considerations. While Office 365’s per-seat SaaS pricing is straightforward math for most partners, consumption-based Azure services can be more complex for partners to effectively sell, manage and monitor in a profitable manner. Meanwhile, rival Amazon Web Services has successfully recruited scores of MSPs into its AWS partner program, which is a central point of focus at the annual AWS re:Invent conference. Even Google Cloud Platform has been showing some partner momentum in recent months, signing on MSP-friendly players like itopia to promote WaaS on Google’s cloud infrastructure.
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