• Illustration: Partner Channel Builder Opportunity Profiles
• Illustration: Microsoft Partner Resource Directory

A new Web site and a series of events for Microsoft partners aim to foster partner-to-partner business relationships, giving partners access to other partners who can complement their strengths or to subcontractors who can help them win a specific engagement. The program, Partner Channel Builder, is open to all members of the Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP), although only Certified and Gold Certified Partners can post new information on the Web site.

Partner Channel Builder

According to Microsoft, more than half of all partner engagements involve more than one partner, so making it easier for partners to find other partners who complement their business—a systems integrator (SI) who can deploy an ISV’s product in new markets, for example—is beneficial to most partners.

Partner Channel Builder can be informally described as "speed dating for partners," a way for a Microsoft partner quickly to identify compatible partners from among the thousands of possible matches. Compared with the option of trying to locate partners through a Web search, the data that companies provide through Partner Channel Builder about their businesses and solutions will often be more detailed and better categorized than information on their corporate Web sites.

The program also benefits Microsoft: aside from the probability that partners can field more competitive offerings that sell more Microsoft products, the company wants to build strong partner communities around its products. In addition, because Certified and Gold Certified Partners can do more with Partner Channel Builder, Registered Partners—the lowest tier of the MSPP—have an incentive to upgrade their partnership level by acquiring more skills and experience on Microsoft platforms and products.

Partner Channel Builder consists of two major components: events held around the world and an online Partner Channel Builder portal.

Partner-to-Partner Events

Channel Builder events bring partners in a particular region together. Such events typically feature a keynote talk on some topic relevant to partners, but their primary aim is to get partners talking with each other. Microsoft typically invites a mix of its partners, including ISVs, consultants, integrators, and resellers to these events, and they may be organized around a conference that many partners are going to be attending anyway, such as a major healthcare conference. Attendees post information about their products and services on an access-controlled Web site, and partners can then browse through this information and arrange meetings with other partners. (A similar system, called RIO, is used at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference.)

Microsoft sponsored about 15 conferences worldwide in 2004 and plans to quadruple that number in 2005.

Partner Channel Builder Portal

The Partner Channel Builder portal provides an online partner-to-partner meeting service and lets partners see not only other partners but also specific software solutions, services, and sales opportunities.

The portal is built around three types of profiles that can be searched for particular properties or attributes:

Partner profiles are provided by partners as part of their membership in the MSPP and are mirrored in the Partner Channel Builder portal. They include basic information about a partner: its size, location(s), competencies, and level in the MSPP, such as Certified or Gold Certified.

Solution profiles include the following information:

• A description of the solution
• Solution type, such as hardware, service, or software
• Price of the solution
• Contact information for the solution provider
• The industry vertical (e.g., financial services) for which the solution is intended
• The solution's horizontal classification (e.g., a desktop productivity application)
• The target market by size, such as number of users
• Locations where the solution is available
• Distribution channels, such as whether the solution can be purchased over the Web or from a reseller
• Related services, such as support, installation, or customization for a software application
• Partner competencies to which the solution relates.

Opportunity profiles display information about either a general partner opportunity or a specific project opportunity, such as a request for quotation.

A partner opportunity can be posted when a partner is looking for a longer-term relationship, such as an ISV that can fill a technical gap (e.g., an RFID add-on for a manufacturing solution) or a sales gap (a European reseller for a Latin American ISV, for example).

Partners can also post specific opportunities online, allowing them to subcontract work to other firms. For example, a firm hired to refresh the desktop interface for a brokerage firm in New York might want to locate ISVs who can tie the desktop client into real-time tickers or an instant-messaging application. The firm contracted for the job can post the opportunity; other partners will see it when they view all new opportunities, search for opportunities that meet particular profiles, or receive e-mail notification of new opportunities that meet particular profiles. (For an illustration of opportunity profiles, see "Partner Channel Builder Opportunity Profiles".)

The portal also includes peer recommendations, which are posted at the discretion of the firm being recommended. Although a firm is unlikely to post negative responses, firms with many positive recommendations will stand out. Partners can also specify which partners can view new opportunities that it posts. This allows a partner to circulate new opportunities to a selected group of other partners.

Although any partner can browse through the Partner Channel Builder portal, many features are limited to Certified and Gold Certified Partners. Registered Partners cannot enter solution or opportunity profiles in the database, for instance.

Complementing the Partner Channel Builder portal, which has a partner-to-partner focus, is the Microsoft Resource Directory, which has a more customer-to-partner focus, although it can also be used by partners to locate other partners. It identifies partners that fit specific criteria, but does not provide specific information about solutions, such as pricing, and does not list opportunities. (For an illustration of the Microsoft Resource Directory, see "Microsoft Resource Directory".)

Execution Needed

Although the Partner Channel Builder program presents an attractive opportunity for partners, its ultimate success will depend on operational execution, particularly for the portal.

The most critical factor will be a peril common to all live databases: bad data. If partner profiles become outdated or few partners bother to post solutions or opportunities, the benefits of the portal will not be fully realized. In addition, partners will need some training to use the portal, and Microsoft partner managers will need to encourage partners to use it.

Nevertheless, the Partner Channel Builder initiative marks an important recognition by Microsoft that partner-to-partner relationships can do as much for the company as partner relationships with Microsoft itself. In addition, technologies such as the Internet are quickly changing the business landscape, and Microsoft can make use of technology itself to create self-service opportunities that were difficult to imagine only a few years ago.

Resources

The Partner Channel Builder portal can be accessed at https://partner.microsoft.com/global/channelbuilder. (Partner registration is required for access to this site.)

The Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP) is described at members.microsoft.com/partner/default.aspx and in "New Partner Program Readied" on page 32 of the July 2004 Update.

The Microsoft Resource Directory is at directory.microsoft.com/mprd.