Channel Builder Fosters Partner-to-Partner Contact

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.