DENVER — July 10, 2007 — At its Worldwide Partner Conference 2007, Microsoft Corp. today underscored its commitment to the Microsoft Dynamics™ ecosystem, announcing investments in technologies and initiatives to strengthen this ecosystem to deliver greater business value to customers and open new markets and opportunities for its partners.
In support of this commitment, Microsoft announced an investment of $20 million in several new initiatives that will help extend its award-winning partner program to be delivered through the next year. Along with these investments, Microsoft today also introduced Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur Solution, a new product designed specifically to help small businesses join the Microsoft Dynamics product portfolio early in their business cycle and achieve greater efficiency and better customer service, and Microsoft Dynamics AX Mobile Sales and the Microsoft Dynamics Mobile Development Tools, a new solution and tools for customers and partners to develop mobile applications that work with Microsoft Dynamics AX.
“Today we are celebrating the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem and the partnership we have built with our network of technology experts over the years to deliver real business value to our customers,” said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions. “With the announcements today, we are reaffirming our commitment to our ecosystem, enabling our partners to be confident in the opportunities created by Microsoft Dynamics. Our mutual customers can be assured of getting quality solutions to meet their specific business needs.”
Increasing Investment in Partners
Microsoft Dynamics partners, on average, are experiencing revenue growth that is twice that of their industry peers,* and Microsoft Dynamics continues to invest in programs to directly help partners meet the growing demand for Microsoft Dynamics solutions. In the year ahead, Microsoft will amplify its partner investments in the following:
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Training and Education
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Investing in training and education for 4,000 partner technical sales resources
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Investing in training and education for new hires secured by partners that are part of the Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club, a program that recognizes exceptional sales performance among Microsoft Dynamics value-added resellers and independent software vendors (ISVs)
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Increasing Partner Capacity
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Investing with our President’s Club partners to recruit and hire 1,000 professionals and building Microsoft Dynamics solution delivery capacity in partnership with selected global systems integrators
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Partner Benchmarks and Business Management
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Communicating the Microsoft Dynamics 2007 World Wide Partner Economic Report and introducing the Microsoft Dynamics Partner Scorecard and Partner Benchmarks to improve management and best practice sharing across the Microsoft Dynamics partner community
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Extending the Microsoft Dynamics Ecosystem
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Launching the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics program with the goal of building a strong portfolio of Certified for Microsoft Dynamics solutions by investing in partner marketing co-funding, with up to $10,000 available to the initial partners who complete the process of certifying their Microsoft Dynamics solution. The same partners will also participate in channel-building events and gain early access to pre-release products to accelerate the process of bringing new applications to market. In addition, a new logo is being introduced that Microsoft Dynamics ISVs may use to highlight their Certified for Microsoft Dynamics solutions.
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“Our decision to bet on the Microsoft® platform was the right one,” said Randy Forkner, president of Collins Computing Inc. “Microsoft’s commitment to its partners and ecosystem has been unwavering. The investments that Microsoft Dynamics has made over the years, and continues to make in helping its partners grow their capacity and provide opportunities, has helped me build a strong, profitable business that my customers have counted on since 1986.”
New Markets and Technology Innovation Fuel Ecosystem Growth
Today Microsoft is announcing Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur, a business management solution designed for small businesses to enable them to quickly get up and running with their business application. The new product, based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, offers ERP functionality within finance, purchasing, and sales and marketing. As these customers grow their business and require additional functionality, they can easily step up to the next level with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The global, phased rollout of Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur will commence later this calendar year with launches in four countries: Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The introduction of Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur also provides an opportunity to a new set of partners that focus on small, growing businesses to offer a solution within the Microsoft Dynamics family of products. There will also be new opportunities for existing Microsoft Dynamics partners as the business systems and IT needs of Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur customers expand. More information on the Microsoft Dynamics Entrepreneur Solution can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/entrepreneursolution.
Microsoft today also announced a new offering extending the Microsoft Dynamics AX business management solution to mobile clients to fulfill the promise of business applications that offer better value where the work gets done: on the shop floor, with customers and at other locations away from the office. These offerings include Microsoft Dynamics AX Mobile Sales, which enables salespeople and managers to place and track orders remotely, look up sales history and manage campaigns from their mobile devices while on the road visiting customers. Also included in this offering are Microsoft Dynamics Mobile Development Tools, which give partners the ability to extend the value of Microsoft Dynamics solutions to the mobile environment. This means partners have the opportunity to build mobile solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics that target specific business processes and roles critical to people on the move. As part of these mobile offerings, Microsoft extends its relationship with Motorola to marketing and channel activities to help channel partners provide a complete mobile solution, consisting of both applications and devices. Additional details on these new solutions can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/features/2007/jul07/07-10dynamicsax.mspx.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing specialized services, these integrated, adaptable business management solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline processes across an entire business.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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