International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners India (IAMCPI) West Chapter recently held a partner meet at Microsoft Mumbai Office. There were two Keynote sessions. Topic of the meeting was “Accelerate business growth with a Microsoft Action Pack Subscription”. The second keynote was “Grow Your Business through effective Partnering using the P2P Playbook”. The speaker for both the keynotes was Suresh Ramani , CEO , TechGyan , and President, IAMCP India West.
The session started with a 60 second introduction by all partners. This was followed by a short presentation by Vimesh Avlani, Secretary , IAMCP India West . He outlined the areas where the IAMCP will focus namely Mobility, Cloud, Platforms and Productivity.
After the introduction, the first keynote on Action Pack was taken up by Ramani. He said, “We are living in a Mobile First, Cloud First World. It is a great time to be a Microsoft Partner.”He explained how the studies have proved that Microsoft Partners who are more focused on the Cloud are able to get a better Gross Margin and recurring revenue as compared to other Partners. He spoke how the Partners can start their Cloud Journey by making use of the Microsoft Action Pack which is packed with fantastic benefits. These include Free Software for internal use, Free Support incidents and Free Pre Sales help. It also includes Free Cloud seats for the partners. The annual cost is approx. USD 475. At the end of the first keynote, there was a Q & A where partners raised their queries. One partner Kshitij Kotak , stated that Action Pack has played a big role in his evolution as a Solution Provider.
Next the second keynote was taken up which was “Grow Your Business through effective Partnering using the P2P Playbook”. Ramani explained that IAMCP India West had taken specific steps to encourage Partnering and this has resulted in many success stories. The steps included having a model MoU and NDA , having a dispute settlement mechanism via Mediation and Conciliation . At the same time, IAMCP International was also working with Microsoft and IDC and the end result of this was a P2P Playbook which lays down the complete framework of Partnering and includes ready to use Templates and other tools. It classifies Partnering into 4 types Basic, Reactive, Proactive and Dynamic and gives exhaustive tools to Partners on how they can progress. During the course of the session the partners also did 3 self assessments. Ramani also mentioned that over next few months, IAMCP International & Microsoft will conduct a few more sessions on the P2P Playbook.
It was a houseful session and there were partners from even Pune and Delhi who attended the session. Next the Vote of Thanks was proposed by Nazmeen Ansari , Treasurer , IAMCP India West. This was then followed by Group Photos being taken followed by High Tea and Partner Networking.