Microsoft’s Partner Strategy: Jon Roskill On the Record

As Microsoft begins the countdown to Worldwide Partner Conference 2012 (WPC 2012, July 8-12, Toronto), Channel Chief Jon Roskill sounds upbeat, confident and focused on channel-led growth across a range of products and services — including SharePoint, Exchange, Lync, Office 365 and the overall Microsoft cloud computing strategy. The VAR Guy’s reaction: What a difference two years makes. Here’s why.

Rewind to 2010. Roskill stepped into the WPC spotlight only a few weeks after being named channel chief. At the time, Microsoft was scrambling to answer Apple, Google, Oracle and other technology giants on a number of fronts. At the time, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner painted Google as The Evil Empire.

Fast forward to the present and many of Microsoft’s challenges remain — particularly in the Internet search and tablet markets. But if you take a closer look, Microsoft has made tremendous progress on several fronts — including business applications and cloud computing. The VAR Guy caught up with Roskill recently and asked for a sweeping channel update. Roskill delivered. Here are highlights from the conversation.

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference

“If you’re a Microsoft partner you’d be insane to skip WPC,” asserts Roskill. “You’re going to hear the strategy straight from the horse’s mouth.” And that strategy includes the biggest launch cycle in Microsoft’s history — including Windows 8 across tablets, desktops and servers; an Office upgrade; and continued advancements with Windows Azure and Office 365.

Microsoft also plans to tell the world that WPC will “go on the road” — hosting regional events in Germany, India, Australia and more. Blogs from the channel team also are getting organized — making sure Microsoft’s channel messaging aligns across face-to-face events and online discussions.

Business Applications and the Cloud

Here, Microsoft plans to make the case that the world’s biggest provider of cloud software is … drum roll, please … Microsoft.

“I’ve been pushing [Microsoft executives] to be more declarative about Microsoft being the leader in the cloud,” said Roskill. “A lot of people might say Google is leader in the cloud. They’re not really a cloud software company; it doesn’t produce much money. If you start to look at the revenue through all the related channels – from hosters to channel — at some point [Microsoft’s financial team] will be comfortable to declare ourselves the leader in cloud software.”

Within the next year or two, Roskill predicts, the world will wake up to realize that Microsoft has serious momentum because it has “cloudified” applications like Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and Dynamics. “They’re all doing extremely well,” said Roskill — and Microsoft’s financial results back up that claim.

 SharePoint: Still Delivering Value

As the “social enterprise” emerges, Roskill points to SharePoint as one of the biggest ongoing partner opportunities. During a phone call, Roskill offered a lengthy list of ISVs that have built profitable, growing businesses atop SharePoint. And down the road, as Microsoft upgrades the Office 365, ISVs will also be able to add more value to SharePoint, he predicted.

Lync: From Unified Communications  to the PBX

On the unified communications front, Roskill says Lync continues to attract Cisco and Avaya partners. And over time, Lync will evolve into a full-blown PBX in the cloud, Roskill reinforced. “If you look back five years ago, there were probably 50 people in the entire company who would recognize a PBX,” said Roskill. Today we have a complete consulting practice with voice background. Partners coming from a messaging or communications background should join the conversation and get in on Lync.”

Cloud Partners: What’s the Number?

Roskill said Microsoft now has 42,000 channel partners in the cloud. If you dig into those figures, the 80/20 rule likely applies — meaning that 20 percent of the partners are driving a large portion of Microsoft’s channel-related cloud businesses.

Roskill continued to point to Cloud Essentials as a low-friction way for channel partners to ramp up with Microsoft in the cloud. A more advanced partner engagement process, called Cloud Accelerate, is for VARs and MSPs that have done 3 or more cloud deals with more than 150 Microsoft seats. There are now “thousands” of partners in the Cloud Accelerate program, Roskill said.

Windows 7 and Windows 8

When asked about Windows 8, Roskill expressed optimism but shifted the conversation back to Windows 7. (It’s a familiar move. Peter Han, Microsoft’s U.S. OEM general manager, spent time with The VAR Guy today and focused most of the meeting on Windows 7 — more on that conversation soon.)

As for Roskill, he notes that Windows XP support will reach end of life in around 15 months. “We’ve moved the installed base to Windows 7 faster than any [Microsoft upgrade] ever. That said there’s still a substantial installed base of XP to upgrade. For a partner, you’ve gotta get a customer to Windows 7 before they go to Windows 8, for the most part, in business.”

Roskill pointed to classic upgrade scenarios — on desktops and notebooks — coupled with the “explosion” in Utrabooks and other form factors.

Cross Platform Commitment 

The VAR Guy asked if Microsoft will open its mind beyond Windows. For instance, will the software giant make sure Windows Azure and Office 365 work well with Apple iOS devices and Google Android devices?

Roskill took the discussion down a slightly different path, noting that Windows Azure has, “in some ways, the most amazing cross-platform story out there. It supports an incredible set of languages like Ruby and PHP and it’s very easy for partners from any ecosystem to move over into Azure.”

Roskill also noted that Windows Server and Microsoft’s back-end systems will continue to interoperate with a range of clients — including Android, iPad and Windows-oriented devices. He pointed to Dynamics CRM and it’s growing support for iPads and iPhones.

Successes and Challenges

The VAR Guy asked Roskill about Microsoft’s greatest channel victories and remaining challenges.

Roskill pointed to Microsoft’s progress working with Gold and Silver partners, which are seeing “great value” in Microosft’s partner program, which was overhauled about a year ago. He insisted that the changes and updates have allowed Microsoft to take share from VMware and Oracle. (Side note: The VAR Guy hasn’t seen any evidence of Microsoft taking share from VMware or Oracle directly, but he will look into it…)

In terms of remaining challenges, Roskill pointed to cloud computing. “Without a doubt we’ve got to continue making progress — both Microsoft and our partners — in cloud computing. It’s a multi-year journey. We’ve made incredible progress and I’m proud of what we’ve done. But there’s a ways to go.”

The journey — with perhaps another reality check — will continue at WPC 2012 in July.

Filling In the Blanks

Admittedly, the conversation with Roskill skimmed over certain topics. There wasn’t much talk about falling Windows license revenue, or the challenge to make sure partners understand profit models in the cloud. Nor did Roskill and The VAR Guy talk about potential managed services opportunities with Windows Intune.

But hey: It was one phone call. The chatter will surely continue at WPC 2012.