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Departing Microsoft Channel Chief Gavriella Schuster Hints About New Job
Departing Microsoft channel chief Gavriella Schuster told partners where they can expect to find growth in the coming year. During a live webinar on Thursday, Schuster also indicated that she has lined up a new job.
Schuster didn’t elaborate, nor did she say whether it’s a role within Microsoft. In a vague hint, she shared that she’ll remain “heavily engaged” with the Microsoft partner ecosystem. For now, Schuster said she is focused on handing off her responsibilities to Rodney Clark, Microsoft’s new channel chief. Microsoft announced the channel chief transition in late March.
Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster
“Until I am done with that transition, I really prefer not to share the next path forward,” Schuster said. “But what I will share is that I do plan to be very heavily engaged with this ecosystem. I love this ecosystem.”
Schuster spoke for 45 minutes during the two-day quarterly International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) online briefing event.
“I will continue to be engaged with the IAMCP, with the Women in Cloud and with the Women in Technology Network. That’s the best part of the job that I have today, and it will be the best part of the job that I will have in the future.”
IAMCP’s international president, Sarika Malhotra, announced that the organization has selected Schuster as the recipient of this year’s Prometheus Award.
“The Prometheus award is typically awarded by partners to recognize Microsoft staff that have really gone out of the way to help them and support them in their journey,” Malhotra told Schuster. “Partners in different regions vote for the Microsoft person who supported them most.”
Malhotra also told Schuster that the IAMCP plans to honor her legacy in two ways. First, the IAMCP has created the Gavriella Schuster Parity & Equity seat on its IAMCP D&I Advisory Board. The board member it selects to take that seat will be someone “who has the same level of commitment and works with the community the way you have to promote equity and diversity and inclusion,” Malhortra said.
Second, the IAMCP has created the Gavriella Schuster D&I Partner of the Year award, an addition to the collection of awards IAMCP gives at each year’s Microsoft Inspire partner conference. Malhotra said the recipient of this award will be a partner that “has displayed exceptional exemplary commitment to D&I.”
Microsoft’s Priority Investments for Partners
As Microsoft’s next fiscal year approaches on July 1, Schuster told partners where the company is prioritizing its partner investments. While she didn’t provide details, saying that will come later, she outlined four key areas of focus:
- Skills: Programs will emphasize helping partners gain skills in new technologies in Microsoft’s advanced specializations. It will include enabling CTOs to come to embrace new ways of packaging solutions.
- Customer acquisition: A focus on securing new customers with digital transformation requirements and workload migration opportunities.
- Accelerating cloud adoption and consumption: Emphasizing the delivery of managed services.
- Co-sell: The program in which Microsoft’s sales reps bring partners into opportunities.
Focus on Partner Profitability
The most profitable services partners can offer are those that focus on digital transformation, Schuster said.
“Customers are willing to pay the most for digital transformation services,” she said. “These also tend to be strategic and long-term for a customer. What you’re delivering is very unique and tailored, although from your perspective, hopefully very repeatable in the way that you deliver that service.”
Packaged or custom solutions built on the Microsoft platform are high-value and highly profitable, Schuster said.
“It can be one-and-done unless [you pair it] with managed services,” she noted. “We recommend that you spend time to build your business model to deliver digital transformation services with package services.”
Managed services are profitable, though not as much as …
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I wanted to take the time to provide a correction to the article above.. Gavriella Schuster in NOT taking the “parity and equity” seat on the IAMCP’s D&I Advisory board. However, there will be a seat which will be called the “Gavriella Schuster parity and equity seat” on the IAMCP D&I Board. The seat is simply named in her honour, but as Sarika Malhotra mentioned, it will be occupied by someone with the same values, visions, and aspirations that Gavriella has aspired to for D&I.
Furthermore – Gavriella Schuster was NOT named as the association’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) partner of the year. Instead there will be a new award called “The Gavriella Schuster Diversity and Inclusion Partner of the Year Award” which will be awarded to a Microsoft Partner (an IAMCP member) who has demonstrated outstanding commitment to D&I. Again, this award is named in honour of Gavriella Schuster.
And whilst it wasn’t mentioned above, during the session, Gavriella was named as the recipient of the IAMCP Prometheus Award – a highly prestigious award that is given to those who have demonstrated a long and outstanding level of commitment to supporting partners and the IAMCP over a number of years. The award, along with a new IAMCP awards program, was created by Kelvin Kirby in 2012 (who was the IAMCP International President at the time) to show recognition to those individuals who have given extreme levels of support and has only ever been awarded to a handful of very special individuals who have shown exceptional dedication to the IAMCP and what it stands for. Only one such award is given each year, and in some years has not been given at all. Gavriella joins an elite and very select group of award recipients.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, Kelvin. We’ve made the adjustment to the story.