ISV Programs Updated

More than 1,500 ISVs have been partnered with a Microsoft employee who could be an advocate on their behalf. The ISV Buddy Program may be useful for Windows software vendors who need to quickly find someone at Microsoft who can answer their questions. However, other recently announced program changes, such as an improved Royalty Program and access to the Windows Error Reporting program, could be equally important to ISVs.

ISV Buddy Program

Announced at the Microsoft Partner Conference in July 2004 by Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of developer and platform evangelism, Microsoft’s ISV Buddy Program is designed to match an ISV with a Microsoft employee who will serve as their advocate within the company.

The ISV Buddy Program is designed to show that Microsoft employees, including Chief Software Architect Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer, are actively listening and responding to Microsoft’s partners.

How well it will work remains to be seen. Although there might be a lot of interest in being paired with Gates, Ballmer, or another high-level executive, these “buddies” may need to spend too much time on corporate responsibilities to be truly effective. The best buddy will be someone who has enough authority to get quick response from others in the company, yet is willing to research and respond to their buddy’s requests in a timely and complete manner, willing to work across the various product groups and teams, and when necessary, willing to fight for their ISV within Microsoft.