3 Takeaways from Last Week’s Microsoft Start for Partners Event

Last week, Microsoft held its annual MCAPS Start for Partners event highlighting the strategic priorities for the new Microsoft fiscal year. For those who missed the event, you can visit this link. Below are key takeaways on priorities and, more importantly, how Partners can drive aligned execution and stay ahead.

AI Transformation

Microsoft’s core focus for the coming fiscal year is to accelerate AI transformation. This event highlighted their time, effort, and resource commitment to help the channel ecosystem drive this forward. I was especially intrigued by the overview of the MCAPS priorities and how Judson Althoff, Chief Commercial Officer of Microsoft, categorized the first three priorities as focused on growth and the last two on revenue, as outlined below:

This chart suggests that AI transformation will remain a key focus and opportunity for Partners in the near future, but the immediate revenue lies in building a strong foundation. This is understandable, because, as Judson Althoff echoed, “It’s about the value unlock we can have for customers. It’s pretty hard to go from on-premises data centers to AI transformation in one fell swoop.”

From MCAPS Priorities to MSP Execution

As Microsoft partners align their business priorities with those shared at the MCAPs event, it’s essential to note that all customers are on a path of AI transformation. The specific steps that need to be executed will depend on where they are in their journey. Below are the three phases that we recommend MSPs consider for the upcoming year:

For customers to start the AI journey, they must first be on Microsoft 365. Although the event emphasized migrations, it is important to note that many customers are still working on non-Microsoft services. In fact, there are still customers using Exchange servers for mail, and the upcoming end-of-life for Exchange Server 2019 can have serious consequences. The loss of support means customers will stop receiving critical security updates, patches, and technical support from Microsoft. This exposes systems to security risks, data loss, and compliance issues, as system vulnerabilities will no longer be fixed.

This urgency, driven by significant advancements like Copilot, which is only accessible in the cloud, highlights that the time to migrate is now. When migrating your customers to Microsoft 365, it is important to consider how customer data will be protected in the cloud. Data protection is essential, especially as your customers start to leverage more than just email by taking advantage of modern collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams and SharePoint.

To assist Partners in staying ahead, SkyKick offers free email migration and 12 months of backup for Microsoft 365 with the SkyKick Standard Bundle. This approach facilitates a smooth transition that minimizes downtime and ensures continuous data security through comprehensive data protection. Through the bundle, Partners can deliver a seamless and safe experience from Exchange 2019 to Microsoft 365.

Over the past decade, Partners have developed a strong capacity for leading Modern Work initiatives through numerous Microsoft 365 engagements. Partners are now looking to stand out from their competition by driving increased adoption of Microsoft 365 services and offering more value-added services to customers. This need to differentiate has increased even more through the recent NCE Partner-to-Partner (P2P) updates, which allow customers to switch their subscriptions to a different Partner mid-term. This change creates benefits for customer demand and opportunities for partners to grow their existing customer base.

A noteworthy highlight from the event was the statistic that 50% of Modern Work resellers are adding security to their offerings to stand out and stay relevant. This aligns with the increasing customer demand for security services due to heightened awareness of cyber risk. Moreover, compliance and cybersecurity standards are quickly developing across regions and sectors (such as NIS2), creating numerous opportunities to help customers develop a stronger security posture.

SkyKick introduced a new capability earlier this year called Security Navigator, which helps MSPs boost their sales and delivery of Microsoft 365 security services. Security Navigator provides Partners with detailed reporting about their customers’ security requirements, allowing for productive and data-driven conversations. This capability complements the existing Security Manager, which simplifies security implementation. Together, these tools make it easier to discuss and deliver security effectively. Moreover, when Partners add SkyKick Cloud Backup for Microsoft 365, they can not only safeguard data and drive usage across all new services (e.g., Teams, Planner), but also enhance their customers’ overall security.

Another interesting insight was learning that more than 23,000 partners are already selling Copilot today. With Copilot’s reach expanding to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) earlier in the year, it is exciting to see that Partners are already driving revenue. What I find appealing about the potential around Copilot is not only the chance to sell a new license, but also the additional services revenue that comes with it.

Additionally, as previously mentioned, AI may not be the immediate priority for every customer, but there is still a lot of foundational work to do in 2024 to prepare for AI. As Judson said, “The one thing AI can’t do is violate the simple rule that no system can be smarter than the data it uses. It is important to build the data estate for our customers because if they only invest in AI without fixing their data foundation, they will only end up with more confident errors than ever before.” This highlights that corporate data is a key component for generative AI solutions, and data risks can limit AI’s ability to generate the best possible outcomes.

The challenge for many MSPs is acute, as they need to make the AI-Readiness engagement work across multiple customers. SkyKick has developed a framework for segmenting your customers based on key criteria, including M365, security readiness, and data risk and resilience. Additionally, we have developed automation workflows within Security Manager that align with Microsoft documentation in a repeatable and scalable way. This, complemented by the additional Microsoft certifications for Data & AI, ensures that you are effectively engaging customers today and getting prepared for tomorrow.

Key Takeaways

The Microsoft MCAPS Start for Partners event emphasized the importance of AI transformation and strategic priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. It provides an opportunity for Microsoft 365 partners to review and align their wider business goals with the new strategy. The main insight from the event is that the foundational projects Partners have been working on with customers around adoption and security are now even more relevant through the lens of AI transformation. AI transformation will create numerous opportunities for both Partners and customers to innovate and add greater value.