Solution Finder Launched

An improved partner-to-customer site called Solution Finder aims to give customers better information about not only solutions that partners provide but also the partners themselves, providing partner rankings and the number of customer references that the partner has submitted to Microsoft. Solution Finder supplements (and will eventually replace) the Microsoft Resource Directory (MRD), an older offering created for Microsoft partners.

Ranking Solutions, Partners

The MRD tried to help partners reach customers by indicating their specialties and skills. Customers could search for partners by location.

Unfortunately, other than certifying the partner itself through its partner program, Microsoft had no way to confirm the skills that partners claimed to have, and some partners, wanting to cast the net widely, exaggerated their skills and competencies. Furthermore, customers could not use the MRD to search for specific types of solutions that partners might offer.

With the advent of the Microsoft Partner Program (MSPP) in 2005, which defined specific criteria for competencies, Microsoft updated the MRD to incorporate those competencies, but the MRD still focused on each partner as a company rather than on specific partner offerings. Microsoft said it would be developing a new Solution Finder to help customers identify useful partner-built solutions as well as local partners.