Microsoft Partner Network Benefits that Save Time and Money
The Microsoft Partner Network can raise the business profile of IT solution providers. It also has benefits designed to save its partners time and money, and thereby improve business development.
Benefits and Aims
Microsoft aims to help IT solution providers:
Membership Opportunities
To achieve these aims, the Microsoft Partner Network has a range of core membership benefits.
The opportunities cover community participation, subscription purchase, and silver and gold competencies.
Practice Accelerators
Microsoft Practice Accelerators go hand-in-hand with the opportunities. They enable partners to identify and analyze customer needs, and promote and deploy IT solutions.
Three popular Practice Accelerators include:
Others include Office 365 and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.
The "cost" for a company's involvement with each of the Practice Accelerators is 10 partner advisory hours.
Partner Exam Academy
The Microsoft Partner Network also provides access to the Partner Exam Academy.
The Academy is a preparation for Microsoft exams. Individuals within partner companies can use key resources and free online training. These help exam studies.
Microsoft offers regional training for a fee.
Enrollment
The enrollment process for the Microsoft Partner Network has three steps. An IT solutions provider must:
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Obtain a Windows Live ID
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Provide company details
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Agree to the terms and conditions
The process is straightforward, and could lead to a fruitful channel partnership with one of the most well-known IT companies.
Are you a member of the Microsoft Partner Network? Are you thinking of becoming a member? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
And to follow-through on the ideas introduced in this short post, be sure to download your free copy of the quick reference guide to the 13 IT Channel Partner Programs for Growing Small Business Computer Consulting Firms.
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