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Microsoft Announces New Partner Innovations

Cloud
At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference today the company showcased new technology innovations that demonstrate an ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes, build the intelligent cloud and create more personal computing. Also discussed were investments the company is making in programs for their hundreds of thousands of global channel partners at the center of business transformation taking place in the industry.

As part of the company’s ambition to reinvent productivity and business processes, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella introduced Project GigJam, an unprecedented new way for people to accomplish their business tasks and transform business processes by breaking down the barriers between devices, apps and people. GigJam empowers business workers to summon information from their line of business and SaaS apps, spontaneously divvy up the specific information and actions needed to get work done, keep track of each part, and bring it all to closure immediately.

"We also announced the Cortana Analytics Suite, a fully managed and comprehensive set of services to help businesses transform data into intelligent action. The growing adoption of machine learning, big data combined with the power of unlimited storage and compute in the cloud presents a unique opportunity for organizations to anticipate what will happen and to automate business outcomes."

"The third area of innovation we showcased was around commercial momentum in response to HoloLens – the world’s first fully untethered holographic computing device powered by Windows 10. On-stage at WPC today, Satya showed how one of our partners, Autodesk, will use HoloLens to fundamentally change how design professionals create, communicate, visualize and work. HoloLens is already making an impact across a number of industries, examples include the work we are doing to help architecture and construction industry professionals through Trimble, working on Mars exploration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and helping Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Clinic transform teaching for the future. This is just the beginning of what holographic computing can help customers do more and achieve more."

"We know that many of our partners are investing in transitioning their businesses to the cloud, in part to take advantage of the types of cloud-based innovations as mentioned above. So, we’re making several partner investments to make their transition more seamless."

"We are expanding the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program to help partners continue to build and grow profitable cloud services businesses using Microsoft Cloud. Beginning today, Microsoft will expand CSP to additional markets, bringing the total number of markets in which CSP is available to 131. Additionally, Azure and CRM Online will join Office 365, Windows Intune and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) as available services in the CSP."

"In addition, as a result of the overwhelming interest from partners and positive feedback we’ve received from customers over the past two years, we are delivering on our promise to grow the opportunity for more partners to sell Surface – taking the number of resellers from a few hundred to a few thousand globally in the coming months. Surface is an integral part of our Windows strategy, and the expansion of this program coinciding with the upcoming launch of Windows 10 creates exciting opportunities for partners. We’re also investing in helping partners unlock customer mobility opportunities with new competencies for Windows 10 and Enterprise Mobility Suite (EMS) that will enable them to differentiate their expertise and grow their business."

"Today we’ll share that we are introducing a new premium Office 365 enterprise suite called E5 before the end of this year. E5 will encompass the core value of Office 365 productivity and collaboration capabilities, as well as significant new innovations, including newSkype for Business services such as Cloud PBX and Meeting Broadcast; Power BI & analytics features, like Power BI Pro and Delve Organizational Analytics; and new advanced security features, such as eDiscovery, Customer Lockbox, and Advanced Threat Protection. The E5 suite will provide a significant new opportunity for partners to build new service offerings around real-time communication and analytics, and to reach new customers with important new security features."