New Microsoft Partner Competencies & Requirements
If you were at any of the Microsoft partner events in the last couple of years, you would know that Microsoft has been in the process of revamping the Microsoft Partner Program and its ecosystem. The changes officially started this past July when they renamed the Microsoft Partner Program to Microsoft Partner Network (MPN), partly in line with their effort to reflect and re-emphasize their reliance on the partner network. They also announced the new partner program requirements, and the revision of the competencies sets.
As far as the requirements, Microsoft is asking that in order to maintain the competency status current:
- Be an active member of the Microsoft Partner Network;
- Meet the appropriate individual or software certification requirements per competency;
- Meet the minimum sales bar as appropriate; and
- Submit at least 3 customer references of recent (12-months) completed work performed per competency
For the new competency rollout and the mapping to the old ones, as of this writing, only 3 out of the 29 competencies announced have been rolled out. Desktop Platform, Virtualization, Server Management and Systems Management.
The complete list (along with estimated launch dates) follows:
| New Solution Competency | Formerly known as | Launch date |
| Application Integration | SOA and Business Process | Mid-2010 |
| Application Lifecycle Management | not applicable (n/a) | Mid-2010 |
| Authorized Distributor | n/a | Mid-2010 |
| Business Intelligence | Business Intelligence Platform, Performance Management, Data Visualization |
Mid-2010 |
| Content Management | Enterprise Content Management and Forms | Mid-2010 |
| Customer Relationship Management | Microsoft Dynamics CRM | Mid-2010 |
| Data Platform | Data Management | Mid-2010 |
| Desktop Platform | Windows Desktop Deployment, Office Deployment |
Oct 2009 – DesktopMid-2010 – Office |
| Digital home | n/a | Mid-2010 |
| Enterprise Resource Planning | Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics C5, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics POS, Microsoft Dynamics SL |
Mid-2010 |
| Hosting Platform | Mid-2010 | |
| Identity Security | Identity and Secure Access, Infrastructure Security |
Mid-2010 |
| ISV/Software | ISV/ Software | Mid-2010 |
| Learning | Learning | Mid-2010 |
| Medium Business Solution Provider | Networking Infrastructure | Mid-2010 |
| Mobility | Mobility | Mid-2010 |
| OEM Hardware | Device manufacturing, System Building |
Mid-2010 |
| Portals and Collaboration | Office Solution Development, Portals and Collaboration | Mid-2010 |
| Project and Portfolio Management | Enterprise project Management | Mid-2010 |
| Search | Search | Mid-2010 |
| Server Platform | Active Directory, Storage Solutions |
Oct 2009 |
| Small Business | Small Business Specialist | Mid-2010 |
| Software Asset management | Software Asset Management | Mid-2010 |
| Software Development | Application Infrastructure Development, Smart Client Development |
Mid-2010 |
| Systems Management | System management | Oct 2009 |
| Unified Communications | IM/Presence, Messaging, Voice |
Mid-2010 |
| Virtualization | n/a | July 2009 |
| Volume Licensing | License Delivery | Mid-2010 |
| Web Development | Web Development | Mid-2010 |
Useful article related links:
