In today's dynamic digital landscape, staying relevant means continuously adapting and using the best tools available. For partners focused on building their migration practice, Microsoft offers a unique opportunity to grow their business with a robust suite of resources and offers designed to streamline migration processes, enhance operational efficiency, and drive growth. In this blog, we discuss how you can best use these assets to enhance your services and drive success.
Generate customer interest and demand
Start by accessing Microsoft CloudAscent customer propensity lists in Partner Center to identify migration and security opportunities within the SMB sector. These lists help you target the right customers for your services. For managed partners, your PDM can download additional Enterprise and SMC-C migration propensity lists, providing key information about each account where you are the incumbent. These lists include Windows Server end-of-support (EOS) opportunity flags, SQL Server EOS flags, Microsoft Defender for Cloud consumption flags, and whether an assessment has been done on the account.
Next, use the campaign in a box assets and scripted campaigns to drive demand for Azure VMware Services (AVS) and Windows Server/SQL Server migrations. These resources are crafted to help you effectively market your services and attract new clients with updated content and messaging from our marketing experts; while also helping you position your company value front and center.
Whether you need ready-to-share Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC) or customizable campaigns from the Partner Marketing Center (PMC), we have assets to help you.
Digital Marketing Content OnDemand (DMC) scripted campaigns:
Partner Marketing Center (PMC) downloadable campaign content:
Develop your opportunities and take them to the next stage
The Azure Migrate and Modernize offerings provide numerous benefits for partners with the Infra and Database Migration to Microsoft Azure specialization and for Azure Expert Managed Service Providers (MSP)—including funding for assessments, access to Azure Migrate tools, technical guidance, and best practices for assessing infrastructure and databases. Partners also receive go-to-market support, training, advanced tools, and potential incentives, all designed to help you deliver high-quality assessments and facilitate efficient customer migration and modernization projects on Azure.
Incentives for deployment and forums for partners with specializations
For partners with specializations, Microsoft offers a range of targeted incentives and forums designed to enhance your business capabilities and drive growth. Azure Migrate and Modernize is tailored to provide additional support and opportunities for partners who are focused on secure infrastructure migrations, innovative solutions, and deepening their technical expertise. Learn how to earn a specialization.
In Azure Migrate and Modernize, the new Defender for Cloud incentive offers a 15% incremental uplift in payment to partners who drive secure infrastructure database migrations. Alongside this, Microsoft offers comprehensive sales enablement and skilling resources to equip partners with the tools necessary to effectively sell security solutions as part of their migration services.
Take advantage of the Migration Factory, which offers no-cost, hands-on-keyboard service delivery. This resource provides extra support to accelerate your migration work so you can meet client demands efficiently—and with cost savings for you. You can also tap into any additional incentives or investments from Microsoft. Submit your request.
Take a unified approach to cloud migration and modernization. Start your migration by discovering and assessing on-premises resources using the free Azure Migrate tool. Then, plan your move with technical and business insights into infrastructure, databases, and applications. Migrate to Azure in phases and modernize for faster innovation and a higher return on investment. Track and manage your cloud migration progress using a central dashboard for ease of management.
If you have the Infra and Database Migration to Azure specialization, Azure VMware Solution specialization, or if you are an Azure Expert MSP, you can join the Azure Migrate and Modernize: Infra Partner Forum to connect with other specialized partners, Microsoft subject matter experts, and members of the engineering teams. This forum provides valuable insights and resources to help you stay ahead in the migration space.
If you are working toward a Solutions Partner designation, you can accelerate your path to certification and master the intricacies of Azure AI, data science, infrastructure, and virtual desktop solutions by attending an Azure Certification Week event.
VMware migrations: capitalizing on the VMware moment
Due to the recent VMware changes, customers want guidance on their path forward. Migrating VMware workloads to the cloud can be a resource-intensive task, but with the right tools and strategies, it becomes a streamlined and efficient process. Microsoft offers a range of solutions specifically designed to simplify and accelerate VMware migrations for minimal disruption and maximum performance. With all the changes to the VMware partner and customer ecosystem, we can support you and your customers' need for solutions to lock in pricing with a fast and familiar path to the cloud: Azure VMware Solution (AVS).
Partners can enhance their AVS migration proposals with support from the Microsoft account team or Cloud Solution Architect (CSA). The AVS Express TCO Analysis generates detailed proposal information to share with customers, streamlining the process and strengthening your pitch.
The Azure VMware Solution (AVS) Go Big initiative offers a variety of valuable assets, including a partner opportunity deck that details the offers available to both partners and customers. This resource can be tailored to different customer needs so you can present the most relevant and compelling information for each AVS migration scenario.
Support and migration learning paths
Stay updated with the latest skilling and enablement paths to support your infra migration partners. Microsoft offers AVS Bootcamps, security skilling, and more to equip you and your team to handle any migration challenge.
Build proficiency with Microsoft partner skilling. Whether you are an engineer developing AI and cloud solutions or you are working directly with customers to sell these solutions, we have a course designed to improve your proficiency and overall knowledge, while also meeting Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program skilling requirements.
With these tools and resources, partners can significantly enhance their migration practices, drive customer satisfaction, and achieve growth. Stay competitive and unlock your potential by making the most of what Microsoft has to offer. The future of your migration practice is bright—take the next step today.
Related links
- Check out the great content from MCAPS Start for Partners, where you can discover our strategic investments, new priorities, and key program changes for the new fiscal year.
- Learn about skilling opportunities including Partner Project Ready Workshops, Certification Weeks, sales and pre-sales skilling, and Microsoft AI Partner Training Days.
- Access the latest Microsoft Cloud and AI innovation with evolved partner benefits.