Effective 3 October 2022, Microsoft transformed its partner program from “Microsoft Partner Network” to the “Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.” The new look program consolidates over 20 Gold Partner competencies into just six clear and distinct solution areas. It replaces the base minimum numbers for qualified consultants and sales achievement with a holistic approach to competencies that sets a new, elevated standard, and also emphasises achievement of desired customer outcomes with Microsoft technologies.
Kristy Brown, Fusion5’s Country Manager Microsoft, is delighted with the company’s achievement.
“It’s great to have our efforts recognised so quickly, but what’s best of all is that Microsoft’s new program makes it easier for customers to truly understand if a partner is skilled in a certain area, and able to drive their business outcomes. Microsoft has completely reimagined the old program, and the new scorecard approach makes it more relevant to what customers need to know to choose a partner they can trust to deliver.”
“It’s great to have our efforts recognised so quickly, but what’s best of all is that Microsoft’s new program makes it easier for customers to truly understand if a partner is skilled in a certain area, and able to drive their business outcomes. Microsoft has completely reimagined the old program, and the new scorecard approach makes it more relevant to what customers need to know to choose a partner they can trust to deliver.”
“And,” says Brown, “it certainly requires all Microsoft partners to lift the bar in terms of the number of certified consultants you have in the business, measuring customer outcomes, driving solution improvements on an ongoing basis, and meeting a minimum number of customer deployments. It’s never been more important to prove that you can translate your skills into an impactful solution for our customers.
“What's exciting for us is that we landed with all six solution areas the day before the program launched on 3 October, along with two specialisations, the highest standard available. This achievement resulted from us proactively evaluating and lifting our own performance and standards, and our efforts being perfectly aligned with Microsoft’s new expectations of its partners. We certainly wouldn’t like to be doing this from a standing start.”
The Solutions Partner designation demonstrates that Fusion5 has the technical capabilities, experience, and ability to deliver successful customer outcomes aligned to the Microsoft Cloud. Fusion5 attained Solutions Partner for all six solution areas: Microsoft Cloud, Infrastructure (Azure), Data & AI (Azure), Digital & App Innovation (Azure), Business Applications, Modern Work, and Security, along with Specialisations for Low Code Development (working with Power Platform) and for Windows and SQL Server Migration Services.
According to Craig Westcott, Director at Fusion5, “This puts our organisation in a unique position in the Microsoft partner community. We can offer our clients an end-to-end accredited full-service offering, which is very important for the surety of our clients.”
“This is an outstanding achievement, not just for Fusion5, but for our customers, who will benefit from Fusion5’s investment in building such depth of knowledge and skill in cloud technologies. Having local partners of this calibre will give more organisations the confidence to migrate to the cloud, with everything that brings in terms of enhanced productivity, innovation and resilience, realising better outcomes for their customers. Congratulations to the whole Fusion5 team on this fantastic milestone.” Vanessa Sorenson, Chief Partner Officer, Microsoft ANZ.
Fusion5 has over one hundred and twenty-five qualified consultants in its New Zealand and Australian Microsoft practices, was Microsoft New Zealand’s partner of the Year for 2021, and earlier this year was awarded the prestigious Microsoft Business Applications 2022/2023 Inner Circle award. For Fusion5, this marks six continuous years in the elite group Inner Circle, which comprises the top 1% of Microsoft Business Applications partners worldwide.
About Fusion5
Fusion5 offers a full range of digital transformation business solutions, applications, consulting services, cloud, and managed services as well as first-class support and training. Their expertise covers all key functional business areas, including Enterprise Resource Planning, HR / Payroll, Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, Corporate Performance Management, Digital Enablement, Enterprise Service Management, Unified IT, and Enterprise Cloud & Security. They are also known for vertical-specific solutions developed across several key industries. Currently, the company has over 1000 customers, spanning multiple countries. Fusion5 is recognised as a leading partner for a range of global technologies including Microsoft, NetSuite, Oracle JD Edwards, and IBM.
