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Every year Microsoft holds a conference called Microsoft Inspire for its partner community. This exclusive event provides partners to gather valuable information regarding Microsoft’s plans for the next year, learn about the latest Microsoft technologies, establish connections, and facilitate networking, exchange best practices, showcase innovative products, acquire new skills and techniques, and acknowledge achievements by Microsoft partners.
This exciting annual event is open to all Microsoft partners. This year Microsoft Inspire will be held virtually on July 18-20, 2023. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Microsoft Inspire used to be held in a different city in North America each year, the last such event was held in Las Vegas in 2019. But now it takes place digitally giving an opportunity to partners all over the globe to join this event with ease. Registration for the conference is free. Click here to register for Microsoft Inspire 2023 or view existing registration details.
Microsoft Inspire includes a wide variety of events such as the series of keynote addresses by Microsoft executives, and breakout sessions on assorted topics which can help partners like you to explore new growth opportunities and gain knowledge and skills. Microsoft Inspire also features a range of awards to celebrate the achievements of its partner community in the past year. These are the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards (POTYA) which are awarded to partners in over 100 countries for their groundbreaking solutions using Microsoft technologies. There are a variety of awards for which partners can nominate themselves across solution areas and industries.
Why should a CSP participate in Microsoft Inspire 2023?
Whether you are a new or an experienced Microsoft partner, this annual event can bring several benefits to your Microsoft CSP business. If you are still pondering whether or not to attend Microsoft Inspire 2023, here is a list of reasons why you should consider attending the conference:
Gaining roadmap visibility
When you participate in Microsoft Inspire, you gain valuable insights into Microsoft’s long-term vision and product development roadmap. You get to listen to an impressive lineup of keynote speakers who are leading the way in technological innovation. This year in Microsoft Inspire 2023, you will get the opportunity to hear from Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, Nicole Denzen, Chief Partner Officer and Corporate Vice President, Global Partner Solutions, Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, and Nick Parker, President, Industry & Partner Sales. These industry leaders will share their knowledge, experiences, and future visions, providing valuable insights into the latest trends and upcoming technologies.
These insights can prove to be quite beneficial for your Microsoft CSP business. By leveraging these insights into Microsoft’s roadmap as well as the industry trends, you will be able to prepare your customers for any upcoming changes, plan your investments, anticipate customer needs, develop solutions that leverage Microsoft’s latest technologies, position yourselves as experts, etc.
Understanding Microsoft’s strategic direction can help you align your service offerings with Microsoft’s key focus areas and maximize the opportunities for success.
Exploring networking opportunities
Microsoft Inspire offers an unmatched opportunity for networking and collaboration. At this event, you can connect with Microsoft executives, industry professionals, and Microsoft partners from all over the globe. Apart from the keynote addresses and the technical sessions, there will be other opportunities throughout the 2 -day event for your to connect with the speakers and other participants.
By networking with other partners, you can explore opportunities for joint ventures, co-marketing, or co-selling, learn more about the innovative and cutting-edge solutions developed by these partners, gain practical knowledge from their success stories, and adopt best practices to drive business growth.
Nurturing these relationships will provide you with the opportunity to discover potential customers, access new markets, receive referrals for new clients, get feedback on your products and business from other professionals, and enhance your service offerings. All these can help you expand your market reach and drive business success.
Enhancing credibility and visibility
As a part of this conference, Microsoft recognizes the contributions and achievements of its partners. Being a Microsoft CSP, you have the opportunity to nominate yourself for a diverse range of awards covering a broad range of solution areas and industries.
These awards provide you with a platform to highlight your successes and innovations using Microsoft technologies. If you are the winner of an award or a finalist, it will lead to higher visibility for your company, demonstrate an exceptional level of knowledge and expertise, and result in more market recognition, media exposure, etc. Winning an award can improve your credibility, help you differentiate yourselves from the competition, and can also be used to market the product to existing as well as potential customers.
The participating categories for this year’s awards are Azure, Business Applications, Modern Work, Industry, Business Transformation, Social Impact, and Security. The complete list of awards can be found here.
This year Microsoft has added two new awards-
- The FastTrack Ready Award– this award honors partners who excel in helping customers in leveraging the benefits of the FastTrack Benefit for Microsoft 365.
- The GSI Growth Champion Award– this award acknowledges Microsoft GSI or advisory partners who have demonstrated outstanding growth in multiple solution areas, solution plays, industries, and regions.
You can read more about these two awards as well as download the POTYA guidelines here.
Learning new skills
One of the key benefits of attending Microsoft Inspire is the wide range of educational sessions and workshops you can attend. Industry experts and Microsoft professionals conduct these workshops and sessions. These sessions can help you enhance your technical skills as you can learn more about new Microsoft technologies and solutions and learn how to utilize Microsoft technologies to improve service delivery. By attending these sessions, you also get a chance to gain insights into the latest industry trends and their impact on the cloud computing market. The knowledge gained during these sessions can also help you understand the needs and demands of the customers. You can leverage this information also with industry trends to make business decisions, deliver innovative solutions to address upcoming business challenges and stay ahead of the competition. These sessions can also serve as networking opportunities to connect and build relationships with other partners, industry leaders, potential customers, etc.
15 Live and on-demand sessions Microsoft CSPs should attend
Microsoft Inspire offers a combination of live and on-demand sessions which cater to the diverse needs of the participants. Microsoft Inspire 2023 will focus on three areas-
- Fasttrack AI advancement with Microsoft– Explore the increasing possibilities for partners as Microsoft invests in AI innovation. Gain knowledge about the latest AI products and learn from the experiences of partners who have successfully used them to deliver solutions to customers.
- Achieve customer success with Microsoft- Deepen your knowledge of specialized sales techniques tailored for cloud solution areas and industries where customer demand is greater.
- Drive business success– Discover how the different resources that come with your membership in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program can benefit you in terms of enhancing profitability and driving business growth.
To help you explore Microsoft Cloud and enable you to leverage the opportunities and support offered by Microsoft to the fullest, 183 sessions over the 3 days have been planned. We have compiled a list of sessions below that can be useful for you as a Microsoft CSP.
Microsoft Inspire Keynote
The keynote address delivered by the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, and other senior leadership of Microsoft is one of the sessions you should definitely be attending. The keynote address will provide you with an opportunity to learn about updates on Microsoft’s latest products, technologies, and innovations. Gaining these valuable insights and having knowledge of Microsoft’s future roadmap will ensure that you are able to stay ahead of industry trends and deliver value to your customers.
Celebrate our Partner of the Year Award winners
Join this session as a live audience as the winners of the Partner of the Year Awards are recognized for their achievements over the past year.
Microsoft Cloud Partner Program: The road ahead
The Microsoft Cloud Partner Program has experienced significant growth throughout this year. The program is constantly evolving and with input from partners like you, Microsoft is developing the program in order to enhance customer service capabilities. In this session, Microsoft will be sharing the new offerings, specifically designed to address the unique requirements of partners across all types. On attending this session, you will be able to gain exclusive insights into upcoming changes and seize the opportunity to innovate with Microsoft.
Partnering to power AI transformation with the Microsoft Cloud
AI is grabbing attention and sparking excitement globally due to its potential to revolutionize our lives. This session will help you know more about how Microsoft is investing in AI across its Cloud offerings and how you can help your customers unlock business transformations using AI. With a leading AI platform and a trusted AI partner, your customers can gain great benefits.
Winning customers with industry-specific solutions and AI
This session can help you learn how to leverage key partner programs and industry-relevant technologies, such as AI, to drive innovation, efficiently scale your go-to-market approach, and attract new customers. You will also gain insights into Microsoft’s plans for industry growth and investments in the coming year.
Marketplace Opportunity for Services Partners
All partners within the Microsoft ecosystem have a chance to tap into the Marketplace opportunity. This session offered by Microsoft Inspire will help you learn about selling ISV applications through the Microsoft commercial marketplace and enhancing customer relationships by utilizing the marketplace. This session will also cover marketplace options for SMB customers through CSP private offers.
10-Step Master Class on Microsoft Partner Center by The Partner Masters
In this session, you will discover how to establish a durable foundation for your Microsoft Partnership using the Microsoft Partner Center. Learn how to enhance co-selling efforts with the Microsoft field, leverage customer insights for effective up-selling and cross-selling, and gain the essential building blocks to accelerate your journey toward a successful Microsoft Partnership
Accelerate customer success with partner incentives
The partner incentives portfolio offered by Microsoft can enable you to achieve business growth and deliver exceptional solutions. Discover the opportunities that partner incentives present, empowering you to deliver exceptional customer value and maximizing your earning potential in the upcoming fiscal year.
Getting started with the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program
If you are new to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, then you should attend this session. Here you will learn the best practices to be followed in the first 30, 60, and 90 days of your partnership that will help you drive business growth. Discover how Action Pack can support you in scaling your Microsoft CSP business.
Increase customer outcomes through enablement
Microsoft is introducing new partner enablement opportunities to support partner growth and success. Learn how to leverage these resources, including sales and pre-sales training, which contribute to the success of lead cycles. Explore curated skilling engines and digital-first training approaches that help you achieve Microsoft Cloud Partner Program designations.
Differentiate your services with the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program
Solutions Partner designations offer you the opportunity to showcase your range of capabilities and specialized expertise through specializations and Expert designations within the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program. In this session, you will gain valuable insights into the latest Solutions Partner designations and the benefits and incentives associated with them.
Cloud Partner Program: Win deals by co-selling your services
As a Microsoft CSP, you can help your customers overcome their business challenges through solution identification, design, and deployment. Partnership and collaboration between different Microsoft Partners are vital in delivering the best possible outcomes for customers. When you attend this session, you will gain a comprehensive understanding of the evolving co-selling approach for FY24.
Build your security practice
This session can help you discover strategies to enhance recurring revenue and profitability through security-managed services. Learn how to drive growth as a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) with Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Microsoft Defender for Business, and security partner services. With access to examples and resources, this session at Microsoft Inspire can assist you in developing effective security service offerings.
Capitalize on fast-growing Business Applications SMB opportunity
The market demand for business applications is skyrocketing. This session will help you uncover partner strategy, content, incentives, and programs that are designed to accelerate your business and capitalize on the immense opportunities within the SMB market.
Get your marketplace questions answered—from onboarding and more
Join this interactive discussion to find answers to frequent questions, discover effective best practices, or expand your understanding of how to navigate the marketplace. Whether you have technical inquiries or business-related concerns, you can take advice from a team of experts.
Apart from the sessions listed above, there are many more sessions that you can attend in Microsoft Inspire 2023. You can access the complete sessions catalog here and plan your schedule so that you do not miss any of the great sessions offered by Microsoft Inspire 2023.
Stay updated with the latest at Microsoft Inspire 2023 with C3
At C3, we understand the importance of keeping CSPs fully informed about any significant announcements made by Microsoft that could potentially affect you or your customers, whether directly or indirectly. Partner with C3 to access the ultimate Microsoft CSP billing tool as well as keep up to date with the latest announcements related to Microsoft Inspire 2023. Read our blog to know the latest announcements by Microsoft.
