As of May 2023, Boxfusion was a Microsoft Gold Partner inside the Microsoft Partner Network. Shortly, however, Microsoft is preparing to launch a brand-new way of referring to their partners
In the coming months, the Microsoft Partner Network will morph into what is being called the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program.
All of the benefits of partnering with Microsoft remain, except companies will be referred to differently as the new Program moves away from Silver/Gold/Platinum partner levels and into role-specific designations.
In the new Cloud Partner Program, these are the six new partner designations:
- Solutions partner for Business Applications
- Solutions partner for Data and AI (Azure)
- Solutions partner for Digital and App Innovation (Azure)
- Solutions partner for Infrastructure (Azure)
- Solutions partner for Security
- Solutions partner for Modern Work
Boxfusion falls into the Solutions Partner for Digital and App Innovation (Azure) category, as they are an Independent Software Vendor. They will earn their new designation without doing anything extra as they are an active legacy Gold partner. And while there are certain requirements that must be met for the new designations, we have it on good authority from their Microsoft Partner Development Manager that Boxfusion should automatically qualify for the new designation requirements.
Why is Microsoft doing this?
In a word, “simplicity”. Microsoft has blogged that “This new program is for all partners in our ecosystem, whether you build and sell services, software solutions, or devices”, implying that the previous way of designating partners was not quite as inclusive, or descriptive of what each partner actually does.
For example, when a company is a Gold partner, that doesn’t say what the company does with Microsoft technology. They could be providers of networks, servers, software solutions, cloud migrations, just one of the above or all four. By giving each partner a very specific designation, Microsoft hopes to make it clearer to prospective customers of those partners exactly what they are Microsoft-certified to do.
As Microsoft says on one of its blogs, “We are implementing these changes to help you succeed. Our ongoing investments in partners are designed to help expand your capabilities to create value in the market, to connect with customers, and to win new business. Together, we will grow our ability to provide innovative, customer-centric, trusted solutions. Thank you for your partnership.”
That’s why Boxfusion’s designation is as a “Solutions Partner for Digital and App Innovation (Azure)”, because they develop their solutions based on Microsoft technologies and they are hosted in the Azure cloud.