Today at Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, during his keynote speech, Doug Kennedy, Vice President Dynamics Partner Team, announced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to all Microsoft Dynamics partners.
So far, Sure Step has only been available to partners enrolled in a service plan, which was a big obstacle to smaller or new partner companies who saw investment in a service plan as a significant expenditure.
Here’s a part of the message of Doug Kennedy’s speech:
“One of the key benefits of the new, improved partner programs that we would like to announce today is the availability of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step to all our Dynamics partners! Customer engagement methodologies like Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step enable you to close the solution sale, implement dynamics solutions in a predictable, reliable manner and help manage a customer relationship for life. Considering we are raising the bar for our partners, we only feel that it is fair to provide you the best practices and tools to reach that bar.
This is the first investment of many that you will see as part of our partner program. Now it is up to you to take advantage of this resource, and drive your productivity, improve collaboration and ensure customer delight with you and the Dynamics experience. Today we already have more than 42% of our partners using Sure Step actively on pre-sales and implementations.
With the introduction of certifications later this year, and the availability of Sure Step to all, we would like to ensure that you have the competitive advantage out there against our competition; and we remain equal partners in your investments.”
This is really a great news, especially in smaller countries and markets, where small partners didn’t have opportunity to access Sure Step, yet they had to compe with fierce competition who used Sure Step every day. With Sure Step being available to all partners, every Dynamics partner will be able to achieve the same level of sales and implementation methodology experience and skills.
You can access Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step by clicking here.
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Great news. Guess I wasn’t the only one complaining.
Hey Vjeko,
That’s great news. And really I don’t understand why they would invest so much in the method and then not release it everywhere.
@Boštjan: no – you haven’t been the only one complaining, I’d say that anyone not having access to Sure Step was. And all of them were totally right.
@Erik: I also didn’t understand the reasons behind not releasing Sure Step to all partners, but I can’t comment on Microsoft’s strategic decisions. IMHO, the inavailability of Sure Step to all partners did Microsoft more harm than good, because smaller companies and those who couldn’t afford to pay for Sure Step were forced to invent their own ways, and weren’t able to draw from best practices, not necessarily, but most likely delivering inferior services and/or struggling with project management issues. In the end, this probably resulted in a lot of unsatisfied customers.