Microsoft initiates 15-city training program

CHENNAI, INDIA: Microsoft will be conducting a 15-city training program for channel partners across the country. Subject matter experts of Microsoft would be sharing insights into some of the products and solutions including right licensing options to customers.

Through this program, Microsoft is planning to generate greater awareness within the extensive partner community about its licensing solutions through OEM, Volume Licensing, etc.

They would also be offering the first preview of Windows 7 and engage with the channel community to drive home the advantages of selling original software.

“The key objective of this initiative is to help partners grow their business by using the Microsoft Platform and giving the right messages to the right partners at the right time. We will be reaching out to our channel partners cutting across multiple segments as one Microsoft to build their capabilities on our platform and equip them better so that they may be able to recommend the right solutions to customers,” said Rajeev Mittal, Group Director—Small and Medium Enterprise, Microsoft India

Throwing light on the training program, Vipul Sant, Director—Original Software, Microsoft said that this was the first time both the OEM division and Volume Licensing team are collaborating to jointly address the partner community in terms of communicating the right product to be sold to the right customers, as there are different products and licenses involved in Microsoft.

“Through this program, we want our partners to offer right products and licenses to their customers. Besides that this program will also introduce partners to new products from Microsoft. We will also sit down with the partners and discuss how we can improve the sales jointly,” Sant added.

Claiming that it is totally an initiative from Microsoft for its partners, Sant said that the 15-city program would have a huge reach among the partner community.

While Microsoft is conducting training programs in all the capital cities, the inclusion of Madurai and Coimbatore, the lone upcountry regions in the list comes as a huge surprise.

Refuting the fact that Tamil Nadu has got some extra attention due to Confed-ITA, Mittal said, “The way we look at the market is based on the current maturity of the market and the growth potential which the upcountry locations offer. We have focused programs for our mature market and also incubate in the upcountry locations to build the channel capability from the overall Microsoft perspective.”

When asked whether Microsoft would be conducting more such training programs, Mittal said, “In these tough market situations, it is imperative that every partner focuses on providing the right solutions to customers so as to help them meet their business needs. This is possible only if the channel has the capability to understand the customers’ business challenges, know the solutions available from Microsoft Platform and recommend optimal solutions to address their needs.”

He also pointed out that Microsoft has been executing training programs to build the channel competency in the past and will continue this journey in building their capabilities on Microsoft Platform.

“We will be delivering programs to address the channel audiences across sales, technical developers, architects and management professionals,” Mittal added.

Training program schedule

Cities                                         Date

Kolkata, Ahmedabad               April-14

Chennai, Jaipur                       April-16

Mumbai, Chandigarh               April-22

Delhi, Bengaluru, Cochin         May-6

Nagpur, Indore, Madurai         May-7

Hyderabad, Coimbatore          May-12

Pune                                       May-19