Tyler Bryson, Author at Americas Partner Blog

Get to know Nina Harding, the new Microsoft GPSUS CVP

Tyler Bryson — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 23:03:05 +0000

Hello US partners! You may recall that, since July 1, I have led our U.S. Health and Public Sector Industry organization while continuing to lead our Global Partner Solutions, United States (GPSUS) organization. Today, I am thrilled to share that Nina Harding has been named the new leader of GPSUS! Click here for Nina’s LinkedIn profile.

Nina Harding, CVP, US Global Partner Solutions, Microsoft

Nina came to us from Google where she was the Chief of Global Partner Strategy & Programs for Google Cloud. She led a worldwide organization that drove Google Cloud’s partner strategy and program across the ecosystem of all partners that sold, serviced, and built with Google Cloud. She also spent 13 years at SAP as Vice President of Global Business Development and Sales Program building SAP PartnerEdge for their expanding partner ecosystem. Previously, she held partner and customer leadership roles at Cacheon and Oracle.

I am very excited to hand over the reins of GPSUS to such an excellent leader. Her background and experience will help us continue to support and grow our Microsoft partner community. I had a chance recently to sit down with Nina to ask her a few questions I thought may be of interest to our partner community. Continue reading to see how she responded.

You’re joining us during a season of economic headwinds. As a veteran of the partner space, what is your perspective on the current market?

Nina: Where there is uncertainty, there’s opportunity. As we fortunately come out of the pandemic, sorting the supply chain, managing the changing workforce demands, and grappling with inflation, we must ask ourselves what we can do to help our customers innovate and do more with less during this time. This is where we, together with our partners, shine. Our combined knowledge of industry needs along with trusted, deep expertise in cloud technologies like AI, IoT, and machine learning offer unparalleled agility, efficiency, security, and innovation.

What excites you most about your new role?

Nina: Innovating and imagining the possible with our partners. We truly are better together at delivering specialized services and solutions that transform customer businesses. We can deliver the power of the Azure cloud, and with our partners we can tailor it in a bespoke way to deliver exactly what our customers need to exceed their goals.

Please help me welcome Nina to the Microsoft partner community. I look forward to what we will be able to collectively accomplish under her leadership. I can’t think of a better person in the industry to take over leadership of GPSUS.

This is not goodbye from me. In the interim, I will be working closely with Nina to ensure that her transition is smooth. Once the transition is complete, I look forward to continuing to work with our partners through the lens of the Health and Public Sector industry. We have the best partner ecosystem in the world, and I have appreciated working side by side with all of you these past few years. I am and will continue to be a huge advocate and champion of our partners.

Healthcare trends & key takeaways from HIMSS 2022

Tyler Bryson — Wed, 04 May 2022 17:30:33 +0000

Healthcare worker burnout is a real concern that has the potential to impact all of us. It poses a potential risk to patients and healthcare organizations alike. It is costly, and it exposes critical healthcare organizations to increased security vulnerabilities which could lead to disaster.

As virtually every industry continues to build momentum around digital transformation, this momentum is especially critical in the healthcare industry where worker burnout is prevalent. The way we rely on and access care has changed rapidly over the past few years, with Microsoft stepping up from the beginning to support healthcare organizations and providers by utilizing our technology, partner network, and influence to help meet the urgent needs of communities around the world.

As frontline workers have been facing unprecedented burnout across the industry due to staggering workloads, chronic understaffing, and the physical toll, Microsoft has worked to maintain open channels with our healthcare customers and healthcare industry partners. This has allowed us to respond quickly to meet emerging needs in the field.

To relieve some of the pressure, Microsoft and our partners have applied AI and automation to reduce such essential and time-consuming work as transcribing patient records and provide virtual assistance – freeing up time for providers to focus on their core priorities where they can make the most impact and streamlining communication and patient care throughout the process.

This is really what gets us excited about what we do, and we brought this energy to the HIMSS conference last month!

Key takeaways from healthcare partner listening sessions at HIMSS

In March, Carlos de Torres, Vice President, Partner Management Industry & ISV here at Microsoft and I along with additional members of our Microsoft team had the pleasure of representing Microsoft at HIMSS, a global health conference attended by nearly 29,000 people in Orlando, Florida. We joined over 1,000 companies to demonstrate the future of health digital innovation, and how to reimagine health and wellness for everyone, everywhere.

Our booth was filled with Microsoft partners focused on the healthcare industry, and it was great to once again be able to meet with them face to face. I only wish I could have had more time to see all of their amazing demos! Our team participated in a range of speaking sessions, lunch-and-learn opportunities, partner engagements, customer meetings, and both in-person and virtual booth tours. I also had the chance to hold 1:1 meetings with seven of our partners: UST, EPAM, Teladoc, Hillrom, Innovaccer, Nuance, and Silk.

Looking back at these valuable interactions with partners and customers, my team and I identified four main takeaways:

1. The value of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare is landing with customers and partners

At HIMSS, we had the opportunity to speak directly with customers and partners about Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, a consolidation of capabilities across Microsoft 365, Azure, Dynamics 365, Power Platform, and the partner ecosystem that offers a full range of end-to-end healthcare solutions designed to meet the most pressing needs of our healthcare customers.

As more organizations make the shift from on-prem to cloud, Azure’s reputation for security, compliance, and trust has been a notable differentiator for helping partners answer the questions of healthcare organizations around HIPPA compliance, deidentifying patient data, and so forth.

We’re thrilled to hear how more partners are recognizing and sharing our excitement around leveraging this framework to deliver value faster, focus on tightly tailored solutions, and strengthen last-mile industry execution to transform the experience of care teams and patients alike.

Our vision for FY23 is to continue to leverage these strengths and momentum to build a robust portfolio of partner offerings that customer organizations will be able to seamlessly plug-and-play right out of the box, extending the value of Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare for customers and providing scalability for partners.

Learn more about what you can do with Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare.

2. Partner solutions for healthcare are finding resonance in other verticals

Several times over the course of the conference, we were approached by partners who had discovered exciting intersectionality between a solution they designed for a specific healthcare need and applications in other industries. Built on the versatile foundation of the Microsoft Cloud, they found that their IP played into multiple spaces, opening the door to growth into other markets.

For example, one partner who designed a virtual team collaboration solution to help alleviate caregiver burnout through customized and secure communication channels, streamlined case collaboration, and virtual visits, found that their solution can also be configured for public safety and justice use cases within the judicial system. In another case, a partner with a solution aimed at helping patients maintain their care plan by providing data-driven insights for coordinated care management was able to extend the same technology to help students stay engaged with their education by empowering digital counselors to predict and prescribe student success.

It’s exciting to see that whether a partner is innovating for the healthcare sector or an adjacent vertical, they continue to discover new opportunities for growth.

3. Partners are actively seeking out strategic partnerships within the ecosystem

In fact, another takeaway was the excitement around establishing partner-to-partner (P2P) relationships. This is something we’ve been encouraging for a long time, and it was really encouraging to have multiple partners approach us about getting introductions to other partners doing complementary work.

For example, a large, long-time SI partner asked for an introduction to two young, up-and-coming ISV partners as a pathway to moving beyond a services and advisory role. They recognized that working together presents opportunities to upsell current customers or partners, by offering a more comprehensive and stronger overall solution.

We’re thrilled by this trend since we see P2P as a key driver for sustainable partner growth and as a mechanism to bring the full power of the cloud to more customers going forward. It is important to note, however, that we observed that a partner’s enthusiasm for making these connections oftentimes didn’t consider the diligent planning and coordination required up-front to be successful.

Check out the Partner-to-Partner (P2P) – Channel Transformation video series for an idea of what to expect and best practices.

4. Microsoft’s acquisition of Nuance is an incredible win for the ecosystem

As we saw at HIMSS, the digital transformation that we expected over the next 10 years is happening right now, with the application of AI transforming the healthcare industry. Leading the way is Nuance, which is providing a whole new range of outcome-focused AI solutions that scale easily on Microsoft’s secure global platform.

Partner enthusiasm grew as we had the opportunity to share the full impact that the Nuance acquisition will have on the ability for partners to deliver a reimagined patient-provider experience to customer healthcare organizations, and the ability to access a whole new customer base.

Learn more about Microsoft + Nuance.

Other exciting trends to watch for

The above takeaways are just the beginning. If you were at HIMSS or are a part of the ecosystem of partners supporting this industry, you know that there is a ton of buzz around the almost limitless opportunity to help healthcare organizations and their teams embrace digital transformation.

The trend toward the consumerism of healthcare, for example, will be the catalyst for necessary changes in how providers meet the needs of patients, whether it’s greater ownership over patient records, enabling transparency into healthcare costs, or imagining the broader applications for telehealth and telemedicine.

In fact, indicators such as 50% of Gen Z preferring to access health care at mini-clinics versus primary care providers demonstrates how providers will need to adjust in order to maintain relevance. We’re even seeing non-traditional companies like ride-hailing services and big box electronics stores recognizing how their unique capabilities can be extended to healthcare.

The depth and breadth of innovation in healthcare is truly unimaginable! But we – Microsoft and our partners – have the great privilege of being on the front lines of shaping and enabling the next generation of health. We hope you’ll join us in digging into the opportunities available within this exciting industry.

Ways to build your Healthcare industry practice

Get started: Learn more about Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare
Understand the opportunity: Industry Clouds are a robust launch pad for partner innovation
Become a P2P powerhouse: Partner-to-Partner (P2P) – Channel Transformation video series

Where Microsoft and Retail partners are headed 2022 and beyond

Tyler Bryson — Tue, 15 Mar 2022 19:45:43 +0000

We kicked off this year doubling-down on Retail. With the recent launch of Microsoft Cloud for Retail and a focus on helping retailers move to a digital-first economy, we have invested in resources to help partners grow into the expanding Retail market opportunity.

As we continue to invest in Industry Clouds as a launchpad to greater industry-specific partner innovation, we are striving to understand what you, our partners, need to deliver value, create tightly tailored solutions, and strengthen last-mile industry execution.

My passion is for partners and, as the leader of Microsoft’s Global Partner Solutions team in the US, it is critical that I deeply understand your challenges and work with you to find solutions. That’s why my team and I have planned a series of listening sessions where I meet with partners to discuss their experiences working with Microsoft and the Microsoft ecosystem. These listening sessions are invaluable, helping us understand what we need to continue doing and what we need to change in order to be the best technology company partner, for our partners.

Earlier this year, as part of my listening strategy, I hosted a roundtable for a cross-section of our Retail partners, and I would like to share with you what I learned and highlight some of the trends we discussed that underscore the retail cloud opportunity in 2022 and beyond.

Key takeaways from Retail partner roundtable

During our recent Retail partner roundtable, I was joined by O9 Solutions, Amperity, Theatro, NCR, Flintfox, and Bamboo Rose. During this roundtable, I had the privilege of learning directly from these partners about what they felt was going well in their relationship with Microsoft, where they encountered friction, and where they saw the opportunities and challenges within the Retail industry.

One of the biggest themes was around ideas for further improving our co-sell motions. This included identifying ways to improve tooling to streamline, sharing of customer deal details to identifying signals to help sellers and partners more naturally come together to explore opportunities.

What was very clear is that the co-sell motion is gaining momentum. It’s been great for initiating conversation and presenting new opportunities for both partners and Microsoft to do more together – but there is always room for improvement! We recognize that some partners have felt the growing pains of change. Making sure our partners and customers feel supported means improving our go-to-market approach together. We’re working with the help of our partners to get our Microsoft field team pivoting around our partner solutions so that the solutions we drive are the very best options for our customers – our highest shared goal.

I was encouraged to hear from these Retail partners that they feel they have good access to Microsoft and industry leadership. This is the foundation of our success together and a critical element in our shared mission to lead the retail industry toward digital transformation. Meeting with these partners reinforced for me the incredible experience and expertise within the Microsoft partner ecosystem. This was clearly on display as the participating partners touched on many of the trends being forecasted by Retail industry experts. The following are just a few of these trends.

Retail technology trends to watch for

Challenges for this sector have created uncertainty, but with uncertainty comes great opportunity. Retail industry trends point to sustainable opportunity for cloud growth and, by extension, growth opportunities for partners poised to engage side by side with Microsoft.

In response to significant and abrupt changes in the retail landscape since early 2020, organizations have accelerated their investments in digital, with more than half the global economy now based on or influenced by digital¹. As the U.S. and other global economies emerge from the constraints of the pandemic, increases in inventory and deferred demand are expected to drive above-trend growth.²^,3

Retailers who were able to weather the storm now face continued pressure to digitally transform to meet the demands of today’s consumers. Same-day delivery, even for an added fee, and easy and instant product returns will be key differentiators for retailers in 2022^4,5. Retailers will also invest in technologies to efficiently process, refurbish, and restock that inventory⁴.

Whether operating brick-and-mortar shops, digital storefronts, or a hybrid of both, experience and expedience will dominate retail success,⁶ and data will continue to be the key. In fact, more data will be generated in the next three years than in the past 30⁷. Zero and first-party customer data will be mission-critical for marketers in 2022,⁴driving retailers to invest in solutions that can unify customer data across sources.

In the next year, businesses will increasingly redesign their operations into a seamless, interconnected operational fabric that encompasses front- and back-office functions, leveraging their ERP systems as the data and transactional hub of their industry-based ecosystem.⁸ Investments in supply chain automation to overcome chronic worker shortages and order management software will be an area of focus to boost productivity, inventory velocity, and customer experience⁹.

Industry clouds, like Microsoft Cloud for Retail, will be a differentiator for businesses taking the next step in their digital transformation. According to Lee Sustar, principal analyst, and Lauren Nelson, vice president and research director at Forrester, cloud buyers will be drawn to industry-specific clouds that “[deliver] compliance while enabling application developers to do their jobs faster and better in their specific vertical.”

Microsoft Cloud for Retail is a launchpad for partner growth

With these challenges and trends in mind, we have accelerated our efforts to support and co-innovate with our customers and partners, both in the present and in the long term. Microsoft Cloud for Retail embodies that evolution and provides an advantageous launchpad for further innovation.

By bringing together disparate data sources across the retail value chain, Microsoft Cloud for Retail enables retailers to realize the true value of their data by enriching core business processes and turning data into actionable insights. It is modular and deployable both in end-to-end scenarios like curbside pickup or standalone composable services like recommendations. All of this is built on one unified data platform with industry-leading AI to reason over that data and drive more meaningful insights.

There are limitless opportunities for our partner ecosystem to extend the value of the platform with industry specific solutions to address the industry’s most urgent challenges and help retail organizations future proof for what’s next.

Similarly, there are limitless ways for Microsoft Retail partners to align and scale, build, enrich and unlock opportunities for growth with Microsoft Cloud for Retail. The opportunities are strong as evidenced by the latest IHL Group study highlighting which solution providers retailers will be increasing their IT spend with this year. Microsoft tops the list with 48% of retailers surveyed indicating they will increase their spend with us, greatly exceeding the next highest vendor in the survey. Our growing partner solutions make this possible!

% of Retailers Increasing Spend with Vendor: 1) Microsoft – 48% 2) Google – 40% 3) Amazon – 30% 4) Oracle – 29% 5) Cisco – 26% 6) Salesforce – 25% 7) Zebra – 25% 8) HP – 23% 9) NCR – 20%

Looking forward

As we forge ahead on this exciting journey of helping our shared retail customers digitally transform, I want to thank partners like O9 Solutions, Amperity, Theatro, NCR, Flintfox, and Bamboo Rose who took the time to help me and my team understand and feed knowledge back into Microsoft.

Microsoft is on a never-ending journey to become the technology company with the greatest partner experience and the best value for customers. Learn how to deepen your engagement with us and how to build your Retail practice with Microsoft Cloud for Retail.