The retail industry has been through massive changes over the past five or so years, including global supply chain disruptions, shifting priorities for in-person and online shopping, and—no surprise—the integration of cutting-edge technologies like AI. This means BIG CHANGES to the industry! So, what are some of the biggest challenges and opportunities retail is facing? I had a great conversation with retail expert and President of IHL Services, Greg Buzek, to find out.

Omnichannel to unified commerce model

When looking at the state of the industry, we both agreed that one of the major retail trends of 2024 is unified commerce. Right now, many organizations run multichannel operations, meaning customers can access a company both in person and online. This level of access can expand a company’s reach to a wider audience but often leaves data siloed and customer experiences disconnected. Luckily, organizations have the tools to improve this system and shift from multichannel operations to unified commerce.

In essence, this approach connects the silos formed in a multichannel method, providing businesses with a single, overarching view of their operational data and offering a seamless, consistent experience to both employees and customers. Take Lucky Brand as an example, working with Amperity on Microsoft Azure, which utilized this approach to unlock the power of its data. Using Amperity, Lucky Brand uncovered valuable data hidden within 12.7 million records, allowing them to attribute $192 million in lifetime value to 1.5 million previously unknown customers!

The impact of this sort of transition can often be felt across an organization. Simpson Strong-Tie, with the help of Microsoft partner Optimizely, has seen significant benefits from unifying its data for B2B e-commerce. This solution powering sales to big box retailers brought with it a monthly average of $100,000 in sales and an 18% increase in unit sales.

Not only does this approach transform operations end-to-end—from supply chain to fulfillment to the physical storefront—but it also merges the shopping experience for customers across all platforms. It’s why DICK’S Sporting Goods worked with Microsoft to develop a more consistent experience between online shopping and its 850 physical storefronts. Whether a user is ordering from an online shop or checking out in person, unified commerce ensures a consolidated, frictionless transaction. As Greg succinctly put it: “It’s not just e-commerce, it’s just commerce.”

Our partners and customers are turning to unified commerce to empower their employees, delight customers, and prepare for future growth!

Generative AI as part of digital transformation to unified commerce

One of the major technological developments on many retailers’ minds? Generative AI. These solutions can transform retailers from end-to-end, offering everything from increased efficiency to enhanced personalization and operational agility.

When you consider what retailers have been facing the last several years—a pandemic, supply chain delays, and ongoing political unrest across the globe—it’s no surprise that a tool like AI would make it into the toolbox of any organization looking to adapt to whatever 2024 (and beyond) throws at them!

One notable (and previously mentioned) area ripe for AI integration is unified commerce. Since unified commerce is about gathering data in one place for easy access, AI capabilities help exponentially enhance those data sets. You’re basically giving an AI solution access to an “all-you-can-eat” array of data, which provides improved insights across operations.

When considering how to leverage AI, our customers often find it easiest to start with small deployments and thoughtful experimentation, which can go far in the long run. I love Greg’s advice: “When you think through it, you want to start with the best data. You want to start where you can achieve the best bang for your buck.”

As for AI in action, you better BET our partners and customers have been jumping at the chance to harness this phenomenal technology! Recently, Walmart teamed up with Microsoft to integrate generative AI into its search function, helping consumers reduce the time they spend every week managing shopping and general household planning. Meanwhile, the largest pizza company in the world, Dominos, is harnessing solutions like Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to modernize storefronts, empowering employees and customers alike!

As technology rapidly evolves, I’m sure we’ll see even more incredible examples of digital transformation at work in the future.

Making More Possible

Technology is transforming our industry landscape, and customers look to Microsoft and our partners for guidance. I’m proud of the collaboration with our partners to empower clients with AI and cloud solutions to meet their needs across the entire retail process. From boosting efficiency to enhancing user experience, unified commerce really is the retail solution of the future!

Want to learn even more? Explore industry trends and expert insights from some of our influencers, including Brandon Rael, Chris Walton and Anne Mezzenga, Ron Thurston, Incisiv, Cathy Hotka, and more from the wonderful Greg Buzek! You can also follow Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President of Global Industry Solutions at Microsoft, for gems like this post on #MSPartner Domino’s, and listen to Ricardo Belmar’s The Retail Razor Show podcast.

Whether you’re just starting your digital transformation journey or are in the middle of development, we’re here with the support and resources to help you reach your goals:

• Dive into Microsoft retail developments.
• Discover the power of Microsoft Cloud for Retail.
• Find a Microsoft partner.
• Learn how to become a Microsoft partner.

The education industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, with technology playing a crucial role in transforming the way students learn and teachers teach. In today’s digital age, technology is an integral part of education as students of all ages leverage the latest innovations to augment their studies and advance progress across important fields like bioscience, agriculture, climate science, and renewable energy. The rise of digital transformation and cloud technology has unveiled new modes of education coupled with some challenges. Microsoft and our partners understand this and are working to provide innovative solutions to help schools, colleges, and universities meet the evolving needs of students and educators.

Personalized learning experiences are now the gold standard in education. By leveraging data analytics and machine learning, teachers can identify the unique needs and learning styles of each student, allowing for personalized instruction and improved student engagement. In addition, cloud technology can help streamline administrative tasks, allowing educators to focus on teaching and learning. Tasks such as grading, attendance, and scheduling can be automated, freeing up valuable time and resources for teachers.

Our partners have been at the forefront of creating solutions that facilitate collaboration, communication, data access, and efficient record keeping. I welcome you to explore some of these stories that showcase how Microsoft partners are innovating with customers in the education industry.

Planet Technologies helps UNC Greensboro deliver personalized learning experiences
UNC Greensboro (UNCG) wanted to deliver better resources to students, faculty, and residents of the surrounding community. Through the campus-wide cloud migration and the launch of the Technology and Data Institute for the community, UNCG has become a model for what North Carolina academic institutions and communities can accomplish together through technology.

Through joint efforts, they were able to provide access to high-speed networks and offer robust computing capabilities to their students, faculty, and the community. The solution leverages Azure to deliver personalized learning experiences to students through data analytics and helps administrators by automating administrative tasks like course scheduling and registration. Through this project, tech leaders and businesses can now derive insights to make data-driven decisions about using public resources to meet the community’s needs. As a result, UNCG has seen improved student retention rates, increased student satisfaction, and streamlined administrative tasks while the surrounding community is able grow and advance their own technology infrastructure through cloud migration. Read the customer story.

DataON is helping Colorado State University enhance research capabilities
Colorado State University (CSU) is a higher education institution that serves over 34,000 students. The university wanted to enhance its research capabilities by creating a platform that could store and process large amounts of data. To achieve this, CSU turned to Microsoft’s partner, DataON, to implement a solution using Azure.

The solution created a research platform that can store and process large amounts of data with lower complexity than their prior system. The reduced complexity allows their small technology team to manage the system more easily. It also provides researchers with the tools they need to analyze and visualize the data. As a result, CSU has seen improved research capabilities, enhanced collaboration, and increased efficiency. They also have a system that is future-ready and able to scale as its needs change in the coming years. Read the customer story.

Connection helps Texas City Independent School District with enhancing classroom collaboration
Texas City Independent School District (TCISD) is a K-12 school district that serves over 8,000 students. The district wanted to enhance classroom collaboration and improve communication between teachers, students, and parents. To achieve this, TCISD turned to Microsoft’s partner, Connection, to implement a solution using Microsoft 365.

The solution provides teachers, students, and parents with a collaborative platform for learning. It also provides teachers with tools to create and share lessons, assignments, and assessments. As a result, TCISD has seen improved student engagement, enhanced collaboration, and streamlined administrative tasks. Read the customer story.

Delivering solutions together

The education industry is currently undergoing a metamorphosis, and Microsoft’s partners are at the forefront of fueling innovative solutions that address its unique challenges of connection, scale, proximity, special needs, and socio-economic offerings. Together, Microsoft and our partners are focused in concert with our clients to provide a future-ready infrastructure, improve student achievement, streamline routine tasks, and support the entire education ecosystem. With their expertise and Microsoft’s technology, and the creativity and ambitions of our clients, together we’re creating a better future for students and educators alike.

Next steps

Interested in learning more about our partners and customers in the education space? We’re excited to be showcasing our technology solutions alongside many of our partners at the upcoming premier higher ed event, the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, October 9-12, 2023, in Chicago. It’s an exciting time within the education space and we’re working with our partners to help customers accelerate learning, improve efficiencies, and simplify and secure their IT investments.

Find a Microsoft partner.

Learn how to become a Microsoft partner.

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Join the conversation

Want to explore this and other topics you care about with Microsoft and other US partners? Head over to the Microsoft US Partner Community on LinkedIn.

The professional services organizations that partner with Microsoft are of vital importance for driving innovation, new business models, and digital transformation for our customers. They have industry market expertise, joint commitments to co-sell, and continued innovation of their technical capability. They go to market with Microsoft driving demand for their solutions, built on Microsoft platforms to capture customer opportunities, accelerate growth, and grow share. Our partners differentiate through validated capabilities in high-demand cloud solution areas and receive badges signaling their specialization. Through our process we ensure the partners have the right expertise, specialization, customer success, and commitment to deliver high-quality solutions and services to Microsoft customers. This, in turn, helps us maintain a strong and successful partner ecosystem that can drive customer success and accelerate digital transformation.

The professional services industry includes a dynamic and broad range of businesses that provide specialized support to customers. It is facing several trends and challenges including increased competition, increasing speed of business, rising client expectations, digital delivery of services, and the need to adapt to rapidly changing technological advances. Many customers are looking for services providers to help co-imagine the future with new business models and novel approaches to serving them.

In response to these trends, professional services providers are increasingly turning to technology to deliver cost-effective and tailored solutions. Automated software tools and virtual consultation platforms are streamlining financial processes and enabling remote collaboration between clients and service providers. Further, big data and artificial intelligence are being leveraged to develop customized solutions that meet the unique needs of each client.

Technology is also helping professional services firms assist clients in keeping up with rapidly evolving regulatory and compliance requirements by using sophisticated algorithms and analytics to stay ahead of changing regulations.

Microsoft and our partners are playing a key role in driving innovation by developing artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotic process automation. The cloud is making technological solutions more accessible and affordable for companies of all sizes, while also offering greater scalability. Overall, technology is enabling service providers to offer more cost-effective, personalized, compliant services, leading to better outcomes and enhancing the overall customer experience.

Microsoft truly values our partners and I wanted to share a few examples of how our partners are helping customers improve efficiency, productivity, and solve business challenges:

Prodyna helped Dematic cut warehouse design time
Dematic, a global supplier of integrated automated technology and software solutions, partnered with IT consultant Prodyna to accelerate warehouse design and deployment. Prodyna developed a cloud-based platform to provide a highly scalable, flexible, and secure solution for Dematic warehouse design processes. This platform helps Dematic reduce warehouse design time by up to 70 percent and allows them to handle multiple warehouse design projects simultaneously. The platform stores data from different sources and enables real-time monitoring of the warehouse design process. Read the customer story.

Rubrik helping Payette protect data and manage it more efficiently
Rubrik partnered with Payette, a Boston-based architecture firm, to modernize and protect their critical and complex data estate. Rubrik was brought in after Payette’s data was breached during a cyberattack to minimize the threat and drive reassessment of the firm’s on-premises data and compute environment. Rubrik’s Azure-based solution now allows Payette to manage their business-critical data more efficiently, reduce their storage costs, and improve their overall data protection and recovery capabilities. Read the customer story.

Acuutech is helping CHPK in their digital transformation
Acuutech partnered with CHPK, property and construction consultants, to modernize their IT infrastructure. Acuutech implemented a hybrid cloud solution to provide CHPK with a highly available and scalable on-premises infrastructure. The solution also replicates CHKS data to the Azure cloud for disaster recovery purposes. With Acuutech’s solution CHK can improve their IT infrastructures performance availability and scalability while reducing their overall IT costs. Read the customer story.

Esri is helping Impact Observatory manage its data for better efficiency
Esri, a global leader in geographic information system software, partnered with Impact Observatory, a data analytics company, to improve their data processing capabilities. Esri provided a cloud-based solution to provide Impact Observatory with a highly scalable and flexible data processing platform. The platform automates and accelerates data processing, allowing Impact Observatory to process large amounts of data quickly and efficiently. Impact Observatory has improved their data processing capabilities, reduced their processing time, and can provide more accurate and timely insights to their clients. Read the customer story.

Red Canary provides Ansys with continuous security coverage
Ansys, the largest engineering simulation company in the world, needed continuous security coverage with specific expertise in the Microsoft Defender suite.

Ansys has a high-performing security team internally, and they sought to maintain that quality of protection around the clock. Ansys turned to Red Canary, a Managed Extended Detection and Response (MXDR) provider, to provide unbroken threat detection, investigation, and response capabilities that leverage Microsoft Security technology. Red Canary’s automated playbooks help Ansys respond instantly when issues arise, and the partnership between Red Canary and Microsoft keeps Ansys one step ahead of the latest threats from across the globe.

For Dave Coughanour, VP of Cybersecurity at Ansys, Red Canary’s expertise applied to Microsoft Defender provides uninterrupted defense, less alert fatigue, improved threat coverage, and peace of mind: “The peace of mind we get from that expert, constant coverage helps us sleep better. That is why Red Canary is so critical to our cybersecurity.” Read the customer story.

Avanade helps Bain & Company build an intellectual property management platform
Avanade partnered with Bain & Company, a global management consulting firm, to improve their collaboration and productivity using Microsoft 365. Avanade implemented a cloud-based solution to provide Bain & Company with a modern and secure collaboration and productivity platform that provides employees with a seamless integrated experience across different devices and locations. Bain & Company has now improved their collaboration and productivity, reduced their IT costs, and enhanced their overall digital transformation efforts. Read the customer story.

Reimagine your business with these and other Microsoft partners.  Learn how:

Quzara and SOC Prime save more than 600 hours by optimizing Microsoft Sentinel–based detections

University of North Carolina Greensboro migrates to Microsoft Azure to elevate student and community experiences

Delivering solutions together

Microsoft solution technology and our trusted partner ecosystem enable professional services providers to address the trending challenges facing their industry. Advanced analytics and data management tools are helping companies increase efficiency, improve the quality of their offerings, and reduce costs. As technology continues to evolve, it is likely to have an even greater impact on the ways companies deliver tailored services to customers. Microsoft partners specialize in bringing cutting-edge technologies and services to our customers.

Find a Microsoft partner.

Learn how to become a Microsoft partner.   

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Get to know Nina Harding, the new Microsoft GPSUS CVP | Microsoft

Join the conversation

Want to explore this and other topics you care about with Microsoft and other US partners? Head over to the Microsoft US Partner Community on LinkedIn.

Producing the goods that drive economic growth and development, the manufacturing industry is a crucial sector of the global economy. Technology has had a profound impact on this sector, and it continues to drive changes and improvements in the way products are made.

Increased global competition, rising labor costs, the skills gap, technological disruption, and vulnerability to cyber criminals are some of the challenges in front of manufacturers today. In addition, they face increased pressure to reduce their environmental impact and improve sustainability.

The power of Azure

Microsoft and our partners are helping address these opportunities and challenges with the power of Microsoft Azure. The advanced analytics and data management tools in Azure help companies collect and analyze data from multiple sources, including production lines and supply chains. With these capabilities, companies can track performance, spot bottlenecks and inefficiencies, and build strategies to improve performance across the manufacturing process.

As innovation has accelerated, many manual tasks are now automated, and manufacturing systems can operate continuously with a high degree of precision. This has led to increased efficiency and productivity while freeing up employees to focus on more strategic and complex business challenges.

The following are just a few examples of how Microsoft partners are helping our mutual customers address common business challenges.

Partner success stories

Split Software helps J.J. Keller & Associates increase speed to market

More than half a million customers rely on J. J. Keller & Associates for regulatory, safety, and compliance solutions. They help create safe working environments and simplify the complexities of regulatory compliance. J.J. Keller needed help to enable its development team to provide continuous integration and delivery of features that are most impactful for their customers. They enlisted Microsoft partner Split Software and its Feature Data Platform. Split Software’s integration with Microsoft Azure DevOps services brought increased visibility across teams, agile deployment and development, and granular control of the release process. J. J. Keller’s development team now releases updates biweekly instead of quarterly, and in minutes instead of hours.

Read the customer story.

Core BTS implements a new data foundation for Ernie Green Industries

Ernie Green Industries (Ernie Green) is a Tier 1 automotive supplier with a 40-year history of collaboration with prominent auto manufacturers. They had security concerns that were aggravated by aging technical infrastructure, production facilities with siloed, on-premises systems, and equipment that was nearing the end of its usability. To solve this, Ernie Green selected Core BTS, a digital consultancy and national Microsoft partner, to launch their digital transformation on Azure. Core BTS helped Ernie Green migrate their datacenter infrastructure across nine locations to a single cloud solution, using Azure services. In just 12 months, Ernie Green transformed their operations. The result is a more secure environment with better overall performance and infrastructure that’s ready for the data-driven future.

Read the customer story.

Reimagine your business with these and other Microsoft partners. Learn how:

• Accenture helps Dow break down data silos and accelerate digital manufacturing with Microsoft solutions.
• Velosio streamlines product service and increases revenue for Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) Cryogenics Group.
• KPMG helps CST industries to better meet their business objectives by optimizing Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Delivering solutions together

Microsoft solution technology and our trusted partner ecosystem enable manufacturers to address the trending challenges facing their industry. Automation, advanced analytics, and data management tools leveraging AI and machine learning can help companies increase efficiency, improve the quality of their products, and reduce their environmental impact. Microsoft partners specialize in bringing cutting-edge technologies to our manufacturing customers.

Find a Microsoft partner.

Learn how to become a Microsoft partner.

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Get to know Nina Harding, the new Microsoft GPSUS CVP | Microsoft

Join the conversation

Want to explore this and other topics you care about with Microsoft and other US partners? Head over to the Microsoft US Partner Community on LinkedIn.

As organizations continue to grapple with the impact and aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis, adaptation to a new reality is a necessary survival skill to ensure business resiliency and accelerate growth. In the financial services industry, the push to modernize infrastructure creates an opportunity to address challenges that have long plagued the industry.

The growing demand for mobile and online banking is making it easier for customers to access financial services from wherever they are. Greater industry regulation intended to protect consumers is another common practice. Additionally, there’s a shift toward consolidation, with larger financial institutions acquiring smaller ones. These directional movements are likely to continue in the coming years, as the industry continues to evolve and adapt to changing market conditions.

The power of cloud computing

Key to keeping up with the pace of change is a move away from legacy and monolithic technology, migrating to cloud architecture to break down data silos and connect disparate systems. The power of cloud computing fuels successful financial industry businesses. Cloud computing provides scalability, reliability, cybersecurity, and the ability to harness insights from data through AI—resulting in an improved customer experience.

Now let’s explore how Microsoft is collaborating with our trusted partners to innovate and challenge the status quo. Together we’re finding ways for financial services companies to modernize, manage their assets, and streamline their systems to improve efficiency, speed, and customer satisfaction.

Partner success stories

Fiserv

When financial services technology leader Fiserv wanted to help clients modernize and transform their payment process infrastructure, they leveraged Azure to achieve their goals.

“Banker’s hours” are a thing of the past. Payment processing used to take days for validation and security checks. Banks also used to rely on on-premises data centers and multiple systems to handle different kinds of payments. Complexity is costly and slow in a world that expects services to be available around the clock. Fiserv offers solutions that simplify and consolidate multiple systems to deliver advanced information and personalization services, with the reliability expected of financial institutions.

By using Azure, Fiserv is now able to provide modern, real-time payment processing, which simplifies payment operations and reduces costs for financial institutions.

Read the customer story.

BECU and Microsoft partner Amperity

BECU is a not-for-profit credit union that places a high value on the customer experience. When working with legacy siloed systems and business units along with significant quantiles of customer data held in different locations, they couldn’t assemble a holistic view of their customer. They wanted a more complete view, a centralized system, and a more automated way to manage data. As a highly regulated industry, they had to meet strict requirements for privacy and security.

BECU turned to Microsoft partner Amperity because of their seamless integration with Azure and other tools in their marketing stack. Amperity gathered customer records from previously siloed systems, delivering a dedicated database for BECU to leverage rich and detailed customer insights, while also saving time on weekly email dashboard reporting and monthly marketing execution.

Read the case study.

BlackRock and Microsoft partner Aladdin

BlackRock is a brand that’s widely recognized because of its stature in the financial services industry. It’s no wonder that Aladdin, the tech platform they built to manage their business, is sought after by hundreds of other companies.

Historically, BlackRock ran Aladdin on-premises from its own corporate datacenters. By owning the datacenters, they had fine-grained access control over all aspects of their infrastructure. But it was expensive, time-consuming, and difficult to respond to spiking demands in periods of market volatility. BlackRock started investigating the option of moving Aladdin’s technology to the cloud for increased scalability and flexibility. When it was time to choose a cloud provider, BlackRock had already established a long-term partnership with Microsoft and migrating to Azure was the clear choice.

BlackRock is already seeing the results. They can spin up a new client environment in weeks, instead of quarters; they can reach client segments that were previously out of reach; they can bring new solutions to market faster; and they have the ability to provide Aladdin for clients in regions where there wasn’t a local datacenter footprint—while still maintaining fine-grained access control of their infrastructure.

Read the customer story.

Betterment with Helix by Microsoft partner Q2

Betterment is a New York City-based investment firm that seeks to make financial savings and investments simpler and easier for consumers. Their core customers are millennial professionals, who consume financial services online. To meet the demands of their customer base, Betterment wanted a compliant, capable, secure, and robust way to host accounts in the cloud. They selected the Helix technology from Q2, a Microsoft partner. Helix is one of the industry’s only cloud-native banking cores, which was purposely built for finance. It runs on a suite of Azure services that facilitates easy and secure data sharing with cloud-based analytics, along with proactive alerts on balances and transactions.

By using Helix, Betterment was able to support a lighter, cloud-based version of the core banking ledgering system that was both cost-efficient and customizable. The result is a low-cost banking platform that doesn’t compromise security or quality of services. The low-latency services from Helix have helped Betterment increase user counts by more than 100 percent year-over-year (YOY), with no performance latency.

Read the customer story.

Drexel Hamilton with Microsoft partner Xerillion

When Drexel Hamilton was looking for efficiency in their IT spending, they learned that they could eliminate on-premises servers and gain increased functionality and capacity by moving more of their environment to the cloud. The big surprise was that they already had everything they needed through their existing Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft partner Xerillion helped Drexel Hamilton see how they could leverage the full advantages of their subscription and compound the value they were already receiving. Since migrating to Microsoft 365, Drexel Hamilton has experienced improved communication and collaboration, increased efficiency and productivity, reduced IT costs, and enhanced cybersecurity.

Read the customer story.

Reimagine your business with these and other Microsoft partners. Learn how:

• PwC is building a multitenant enterprise decision support site and solving more problems, faster.
• Duck Creek Technologies is using Azure Kubernetes to bring technical innovation to insurance carries.
• Apex Group is optimizing costs, safeguarding data, and unlocking value through Azure Virtual Desktop.
• Finastra is building an open platform that accelerates collaboration and innovation in financial services to create better experiences for people, businesses, and communities.

Delivering solutions together

Technology is making it easier and more convenient for people to access and manage their finances, while enabling banks to provide better services to their customers. The future of the financial industry includes technological resources that will deliver speed, security, reliability, compliance, and the personalized services that customers expect. The cloud is the fast track to delivering the resources financial services companies need. Azure is the most trusted cloud and our trusted partners are the key to the success of our customers.

Find a Microsoft partner.

Learn how to become a Microsoft partner.

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Financial Services – Microsoft Industry Blogs

Microsoft partners aid the healthcare industry with innovative solutions | Microsoft

Microsoft partners innovate to help meet the evolving needs of students and educators | Microsoft

Microsoft partners provide innovative solutions to challenges facing today’s professional services industry | Microsoft

Microsoft partners take on manufacturing industry challenges and deliver solutions with impact | Microsoft

Get to know Nina Harding, the new Microsoft GPSUS CVP | Microsoft

Join the conversation

Be a part of this conversation as it emerges – join Microsoft and other US partners in Microsoft US Partner Community on LinkedIn.

Registration opens June 14, 2022. Just about everything you need to whet your appetite—and catch up on anything you may have missed— is in the Inspire 2021 Session catalog. Of course, we know many of you are focused on specific industry solutions, so let’s walk through some helpful industry sessions from last year.

Healthcare

Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare makes it faster and easier to provide more efficient care and help ensure the end-to-end security, and compliance of health data. This session entitled, “Grow your Business with Microsoft Industry Cloud Solutions” offers insights into Microsoft’s pivot to industries, and the partner opportunity to implement, integrate, extend, and amplify Microsoft Cloud solutions, and Microsoft industry clouds.

Retail

Microsoft Cloud for Retail brings together different data sources across the retail value chain and connects experiences throughout the shopper journey using capabilities from Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365, and Azure. This discussion “Industry alignment and transcending M365, Business Application and Azure domains” focuses on how Microsoft partners are verticalizing their offerings to better align with Microsoft, and drive transformative customer outcomes. Product, GTM, and Co-Sell verticalization are discussed in the context of Microsoft Industry Clouds.

Financial Services

Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services provides a set of cloud-based solutions that help enhance collaboration, automation, and insights to streamline processes, improves customer experience, and delivers rich data insights. Get a first-hand partner perspective on how Microsoft helps realize the full potential of customer data in “Enhance the customer experience through data insights and Dynamics 365.”

Nonprofit

Microsoft Cloud for Nonprofit connects intelligent and integrated cloud capabilities of the Microsoft stack to the most common nonprofit organizational scenarios. “Microsoft Teams plus ServiceNow in your workflows and processes” helps provide nonprofit organizations with a roadmap toward a holistic, connected platform, empowering staff and volunteers to focus on the work that matters most—delivering their mission.

Manufacturing

Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing is designed to deliver capabilities that support the core processes and requirements of the industry. ”How are global companies creating value at scale in digital manufacturing?” gives voice to how global companies are reducing conversion costs; improving inventory, performance and quality, and making their workforce more efficient.

Sustainability

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability enables users to not only set industry-aligned sustainability targets but provides actionable insights and reduction strategies to expedite their sustainability journeys. “Harnessing digital solutions to win in a net-zero sustainable future” dives deep to show you how Microsoft is helping companies harness digital technology as a sustainability growth driver.

Don’t forget about the 2022 Partner of the Year Awards

Microsoft Inspire 2022 is the place to level-up your roadmap for the upcoming year of partnering with Microsoft, network and build connections, share best practices, experience the latest product innovations, and develop new skills by choosing from hundreds of sessions.

And don’t forget, Inspire is also when we announce the 2022 Partner of the Year Awards winners and finalists. These awards recognize outstanding successes and innovations from across the global and diverse partner ecosystem. There are a variety of categories that showcase the range of solutions built on Microsoft cloud and platforms, including two new awards that we’ve added this year:

• The Operational Excellence Award for partners who are committed to and recognize the importance of operational excellence to drive partner profitability, digital transformation, consumption, and customer loyalty.
• The Compliance Award for partners enabling customer success by delivering expertise through the technologies within the Microsoft Compliance product portfolio and advising customers as they navigate today’s compliance challenges.
• Learn more about the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards from Rodney Clark, Corporate Vice President, Channel Sales and Channel Chief.

• Not sure where to start? Find out about Microsoft Cloud for Industries.

However, shortly after their new ERP system was implemented, Agtegra began experiencing issues that affected their ability to operate their business effectively. “Faced with ongoing system issues, we needed to quickly find a solution that enabled us to serve our customers better,” explained Dan Rosenbaum, Chief Information Officer for Agtegra Cooperative.

Agtegra needed to expand upon their journey of digital transformation to modernize its finance and operations functions, selecting Microsoft Partner PwC to help them.

Streamlining finance operations with Dynamics 365

PwC identified the root causes of the cooperative’s challenges and recommended Microsoft Dynamics 365 as the best-fit solution on which to redesign its finance and supply chain systems to enable continued growth. With Dynamics 365 and powered by PwC’s Finance Ready solution, PwC helped Agtegra streamline financial operations including vendor invoice management, bank reconciliations, and other automated tasks.

“This freed up the finance team to focus on analysis, insights, and work closer with the business customers,” said Rosenbaum, which reestablished trust with their users. As a result, PwC and Dynamics 365 enabled Agtegra to achieve a 40% reduction in accounts payable processing costs, slash monthly book closing from 20 days to 5 days, and cut time spent on daily bank reconciliations by 50%.

PwC was able to deepen their industry expertise, specifically within agriculture, which helped accelerate Agtegra’s business outcomes in weeks rather than months. By maximizing the value of their digital investment, PwC has the potential opportunity to provide additional add-on services like application management and cybersecurity.

Build your Dynamics 365 practice

The Business Applications total addressable market is expected to surpass $213 billion by 2025, according to Microsoft commissioned research, with the market for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform increasing by nearly 50% in just the past year alone. According to a Forrester study, for every $1 in Microsoft Business Applications licensing margin, partners see $10 of service revenue, representing a significant business opportunity for partners who invest in building and growing a practice around Microsoft Dynamics 365.

Ready to get started? Learn more about building your Dynamics 365 practice.

We’ve heard from past winners about how being recognized as a Partner of the Year Award winner has led to greater business opportunities, boosted recognition throughout the Microsoft ecosystem, and given them an edge in differentiating in the market. We wanted to share more about these benefits in their own words.

Greater trust & respect among customers

Partner of the Year Award winners report receiving greater trust and respect among customers, thanks to the esteem of the awards.

“We all know that trust is the cornerstone of every relationship,” explained Matt Jackson, VP of Consulting at Insight, the POTYA winner for Migration to Azure category. “Trust is hard to build, which is why the Partner of the Year Awards at Microsoft are so important for our business.”

“Externally, not only do we have great customer references to share, but now we also have a proof point,” says Marcel Narish, VP of Sales & Marketing, Hitachi Solutions, the Dynamics 365 Field Services category winner. “That level of recognition from our partner, Microsoft, is invaluable when we’re in discussion with prospects.”

This trust also provides a foundation for deeper collaboration and customer retention at a time when customer mobility is at an all-time high.

 According to Mauricio Astacio, Senior Director, Cloud Partner Group with Hashicorp, Azure Open Source category winner, the impact of this recognition extends beyond the company itself. “It validates the choice that thousands of practitioners make every day to standardize on our tools,” he said. “The credibility that this award brings to Hashicorp within the developer community means that thousands of enterprises using our open-source tools on Azure can confidently make greater investments in both our solutions and their journey to Azure Cloud.”

Prestige & increased recognition across the ecosystem

In addition to strengthening relationships with customers, Partner of the Year Award winners enjoy increased recognition from Microsoft and the partner community. Winners point out that the prestige that comes with these awards opens the door to business opportunities.

Hitachi Solutions’ Narish sees it this way: “Microsoft continues to grow – that means more Microsoft team members to meet.” Holding the title of POTYA winner? “What a great introduction!”

“[The award] gives us that instant credibility that we can go into any conversation knowing that – whether it’s a client, a partner, or someone in the Microsoft field – that they can trust us with their most important business or technology challenge,” explained Jackson of Insight. “For us, it’s really that stamp of approval that builds trust instantly and allows us to grow our business.”

A powerful point of differentiation

The Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards represents the best-of-the-best across more than 100 countries and regions around the world. It’s no wonder, then, that recognition as a top partner in one or more of than 58+ categories creates a powerful point of differentiation in the market.

 “Being awarded healthcare partner of the year has validated our vision as a 100% dedicated Microsoft partner,” said Steven Balusek, Senior Vice President of Global Solutions Development with Quisitive, the Microsoft POTYA winner for the Healthcare Industry category.

“Our growth has been fueled by leading with industry-focused solutions and aligning those solutions with Microsoft’s industry clouds and field teams,” continued Balusek. “Our healthcare solution specifically built upon Dynamics 365 and Azure enhanced business operations across the care continuum to allow healthcare workers to do what they do best: treating patients.”

Greater trust among customers, increased prestige among the Microsoft ecosystem, and a powerful point of differentiation to stand on in the market – these and more are the benefits that come with claiming your place as a Microsoft Partner of the Year Award Winner.

Still on the fence? Marcel Narish of Hitachi Solutions has this bit of encouragement: “Have fun sharing your story this year. Whether any of us become finalists, it’s a great way to share successes with your community!”

Claim your place on the Partner of the Year Awards podium!

Your organization could be the next Microsoft Partner of the Year Award winner! With the submission deadline looming, don’t wait to submit your nomination to be considered.

Final submissions are due April 5, 2022 at 6:00 PM Pacific Time. This could be your year to be celebrated and recognized for your hard work, success, and innovation.

Hear more what partners had to say about winning:

• Hashicorp video
• Hitachi Solutions video
• Insight video
• Quisitive video

Advice, tips, and inspiration

For tips and inspiration to help you build a stellar nomination, check out the resources below for advice from past judges, storytelling tips from an expert writing coach, and details about past award winners.

• POTYA judge’s advice for a winning entry | Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards
• How storytelling defines winners | Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards
• Celebrate your social impact with Partner of the Year Awards and #BuildFor2030
• Get inspired by past POTYA winners

We look forward to receiving your nominations. Be sure to finish and submit yours today so you don’t miss out on the opportunity to be the next Microsoft Partner of the Year!