Service Strategy Shifts

Microsoft will continue to take the lead in delivering certain kinds of services, including migration assistance to the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) and Windows 7 desktops, for its largest customers. At the same time, partners will play a broader role in the delivery of consulting services, aided by Microsoft training and other resources that support their services practices. The strategy, revealed at Microsoft’s annual partner conference in July 2010, could have a negative effect on larger systems integrators but could also clarify their relationship to Microsoft and its customers and create new lines of business for partners.

The Rationale for Services

Microsoft’s consulting services (not to be confused with online services) have always been a hot button for the company’s partners, since partners make relatively little direct revenue from software sales. Most of their revenue comes from planning, deployment, and maintenance services, and they have watched with alarm over the years as Microsoft periodically took bold steps to increase its services business, sometimes at partners’ expense. At other times, often as a result of feedback from partners, the company has backed away from expanding its services business.