Getting started with the cloud competencies

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Clik here to view.Chinmayi Bhavanishankar
US Partner Experience Lead
Yammer

It’s been just over a year since the initial release of the Microsoft Partner Network cloud competencies. The importance of the cloud continues to grow, with customers spending more than half their IT budgets on cloud and managed services in the last year (IDC, 2015). We’ve learned a lot from partners over the past year about how we can make competencies more valuable, and recently implemented changes to competency requirements that help you meet cloud performance requirements more quickly, plus added a new cloud competency for enterprise mobility.

Fewer than 10% of our partners worldwide have attained a competency, and only a small percentage of those have met Gold competency requirements. A competency can help establish credibility with your customers and provide you with a way to distinguish your company from competitors.

“Competencies are a great way to demonstrate to current and potential customers both the scope of your expertise and the depth of your experience.” – Gavriella Schuster, General Manager, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group

The five cloud competencies

There are now five cloud competencies available, for partners with active practices around Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and Enterprise Mobility Suite. Specific requirements for each of the cloud competencies differ, but there are three common requirements: cloud performance; customer references and satisfaction; and technical exams. To learn about a competency’s specific requirements, click the competency name in the list below to go to its portal page, then select Silver or Gold.

Cloud Platform– for partners that specialize in delivering infrastructure and SaaS solutions on Microsoft Azure
Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions– for partners selling Microsoft Office 365 to small and midmarket customers
Cloud Productivity– for partners deploying Microsoft Office 365 for enterprise customers
Cloud Customer Relationship Management– for partners deploying cloud-based CRM Online solutions
Enterprise Mobility Management– for partners deploying one or more of the components of Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS), Microsoft Intune, or Azure Active Directory Premium

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Recent competency changes

At WPC 2015, Gavriella Schuster, General Manager for the Worldwide Partner Group, announced changes that allow for quicker achievement and accommodate the shift in focus from seats sold and revenue to active use and consumption:

Small and Midmarket Cloud Solutions competency – Reduction in seats of Office 365 sold and new Office 365 customers for both silver and gold
Cloud Platform competency – Reduction in the performance goal for silver; additional licenses of MSDN and Visual Studio 2015; improved Internal Use Rights benefit for Azure, as a single bulk annual credit
Cloud Productivity competency – Achievement is now through Active Entitlements (active users); you can meet the active user requirement across any Office 365 workload (Exchange, SharePoint Online, etc.) or with Office 365 ProPlus
For all competencies, there is no longer a requirement for unique MCPs per competency
For all competencies, sales and presales assessments are no longer required
For many competencies, new technical exam and assessment options are available

Read the blog post by Gavriella Schuster

Go to the What’s new page on the partner portal

Meeting cloud performance requirements

For partners working toward attaining or renewing a cloud competency, one of the most important requirements to understand is how your cloud performance will be measured and tracked. If you are not yet familiar with Digital Partner of Record (DPOR), I encourage you to utilize the resources below to understand how it affects your competency status and eligibility for benefits like incentives, support, and internal use.

As the Partner of Record, you will also get visibility to your customers’ cloud consumption and usage through the Cloud Services Partner Dashboard, which can help you identify cross-sell, upsell, and new solution and service opportunities.

The Digital Partner of Record portal page provides you with an overview of DPOR, step-by-step guidance and videos to help your customers add you as their Partner of Record, frequently asked questions, and more.

Go to the Digital Partner of Record page on the partner portal

Contact MPN Support for help with cloud competencies

Comments about this blog post, or questions about the topic? Let us know in the MPN 101 Yammer group.

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