{"id":24994,"date":"2022-03-24T01:33:34","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T00:33:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmileco.com\/the-productivity-takeaways-from-microsofts-partner-update\/"},"modified":"2022-03-24T01:33:34","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T00:33:34","slug":"the-productivity-takeaways-from-microsofts-partner-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmileco.com\/the-productivity-takeaways-from-microsofts-partner-update\/","title":{"rendered":"The productivity takeaways from Microsoft\u2019s partner update","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

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Disclosure: Microsoft is a client of the author.<\/em><\/p>\n

Microsoft presented some major changes to its partner program<\/a> this week, such as eliminating the old badging system (Silver, Gold, etc.) and replacing it with classifications tied to product verticals. This reminds me a lot of the way we measure progress in multi-player games, where levels are tied to skills. We know gamification, when done right, can increase productivity by establishing clear goals and a specific process tied to achieving them.<\/p>\n

In addition, while watching the presentation on Microsoft Teams, I noticed a feature that these collaboration\/conferencing products need, but do not yet have \u2014 one that would be easy to create and could be a game changer for people who must present on tools like Teams.<\/p>\n

Gamifying a partner program<\/h2>\n

I am a big fan of LitRPG fiction<\/a>. This is where an author uses game progression to describe how a protagonist and other characters move though a story. Even when I\u2019m not playing, I\u2019m thinking about where your level of powers, skills, and your character progress through a game, or as a hero progresses through a LitRPG story. Gamification is being increasingly used to motivate employees by providing similar mechanisms to help those employees decide how to advance in their company and careers.<\/p>\n

What Microsoft announced was a defined-leveling program for partners. The three levels are: Entry, Solutions Provider, and Expert Specialist. While less complex than the levels of actual games, these three are applied to six areas of expertise: Infrastructure, Data & AI, Digital and Applied Innovation with Azure, Business Applications, Modern Work, and Security.<\/p>\n

When a client is looking for a project, if they understand their own skill level (which they often don\u2019t) they can pick the focus area for that project and then the skill level they need. For instance, if they are already expert and just need someone to facilitate the relationship with Microsoft, they\u2019d pick a basic partner; if they are knowledgeable about the technology but don\u2019t understand how to integrate it or need a lot of help with the product, they\u2019d pick someone in the solutions class; and if they just want to move more aggressively with the technology \u2014 but are new to all aspects of it \u2014 they\u2019d pick an expert level partner. Given that each partnership level comes with an increase in cost, the partners are financially motivated to advance up the hierarchy of titles, much like a someone in the past would \u00a0advance from novice to journeyman to expert.<\/p>\n