How to build a successful Microsoft CSP business

Businesses are focusing on agility and automation to implement faster computation and market reach within their organization. As a part of the ongoing digital transformation journey, businesses are migrating from their on-premise workforce to the cloud and it has become the foremost of investment planning for businesses around the world. IDC predicts that by 2024, Microsoft partners will generate USD1.2 trillion in revenue from Microsoft technology. More and more companies are now born in the cloud while reducing both OPEX and CAPEX. Migrating your digital business operation and infrastructure on the cloud gives the flexibility to control costs while making it easier for the organization to manage various aspects of its business. The idea is simple, you pay for what you use. Microsoft has been empowering CSP partners and customers with success and growth through digital transformation. CSP program offers partners lucrative discounts on services which partner can further extend to their customers; everybody wins. Partners carry a wide experience with Microsoft technologies and can help customers through a seamless journey in the digital transformation and keeps the momentum going. Microsoft is constantly investing in its cloud development and frequently expanding to new regions every month. Microsoft partners can offer a wide variety of services to their customers through the constantly evolving services that are launched. Not only Microsoft services, but Partners can also sell their managed services and 3rd party products & services to help customers get the best. The widespread shift to remote work has accelerated this transition and years’ worth of digital transformation has been completed in just a few months. As per the IDC study, Microsoft partners indicated they are ramping up rapidly in the following areas:

• Customer engagement: 38% of Microsoft partners now perform very well in their ability to engage the customer lifecycle.
• Employee empowerment: 40% of Microsoft partners perform very well in their ability to hire and train a digital-savvy staff.
• Optimizing operations: 57% of the partners surveyed were able to transform their operations to be more adaptive and agile.
• Product transformation:46% of partners said they are differentiating their offerings with IP that is aligned with their customers’ digital requirements.

Microsoft is heavily invested in partner success by driving transformation through leading technology advancements that partners can leverage to successfully grow as a business while also helping their customers grow beyond expectations. Why CSP business is best for both partners and customers?

• Billing – Pay for what you use every month. With a Monthly billing system, customers can have transparency on how much they can expect as invoice and plan their operational budgeting accordingly.
• Flexibility – Add & Reduce licenses as per requirements. Customers are billed prorated for their consumption.
• Managed services – Create your custom offer. Partners can sell multiple combinations of Product + Product/ Product + services/ Services + services for better profitability. Sell your consulting/advisory/support services on top of the Licenses and Microsoft services that you sell.
• Plans: Different customers can have different pricing for the same services. It depends on the partner pricing contract with the customers.
• No year/multi-year contracts: CSP licenses can be procured on monthly billing cycles. While there are annual license purchase models which provide better pricing, it also works on proration and can be returned, it works for most of the license types.
• Order placing/license quantity changes: Partners place orders on customer’s behalf so that partners can check various internal business parameters like credit threshold, license optimization, etc. 3rd party CSP management solutions like CSP Control Center can be leveraged to extend self-service, analytics & reporting, invoicing and payment collection. With this, partners can now focus on acquiring more customers and boosting revenue streams.

It is a well-established fact that the acquisition of new customers is far more expensive than growing your already existing customers. Acquiring a new customer can cost five times as much as retaining an existing one. Additionally, the probability of lead conversion into a new customer makes it more pivotal that your customer servicing should be nothing less than great. Learn more about your customer contacts, their company’s brand and product offerings, understand how various departments inside the organization interact with each other. This will uncover opportunities to identify and meet additional needs, which can organically grow your footprint with these customers. If as a partner you genuinely try to understand customers’ pain points, it will enable you to optimize what you can offer as a solution leading to strong touchpoints and sales. For more dynamic customer needs, schedule regular Microsoft advisory/consultations to understand what better you can do as a solution provider that empowers every customer you serve.