by Manveer Sahota, Partner Marketing Manager
In the US SMB keynote and session at WPC 2013 in Houston, we introduced the US SMB Champions Club. This program is designed for Microsoft partners serving the backbone of America—small and medium-sized businesses. The SMB Champions Club includes an extraordinary portfolio of benefits, which are incremental to those earned by Microsoft Partner Network members through the Microsoft competencies or the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription. Microsoft partners who are eligible for the SMB Champions Club will have the opportunity to access additional benefits through a tiered program model, with the complete portfolio of benefits available to Tier 1 partners.
This year, SMB Champions Club members will see benefits that provide increased support in marketing efforts through Marketing Development Funds, Bing Ad Credits, Strategic Marketing Offers, and Microsoft Community Connections Device Bar. In addition, they will have the opportunity to earn increased tiered channel incentives on eligible transactions, receive exclusive invitations to events, and have access to resources that help them develop their cloud business.
With the global cloud phenomenon becoming mainstream, the eligibility requirements for the SMB Champions Club are aligned with the Microsoft commitment to the cloud and also that of the industry. Eligibility is based on a Microsoft partner’s focus on driving customer acquisition, while managing a sound existing customer base in the US SMB segment. Eligibility for SMB Champions Club is through one of three routes, based on the partner’s sales portfolio mix of Microsoft offerings:
- Cloud – sales of Microsoft Online Services
- Hybrid – sales of both Microsoft Online Services and Microsoft on-premises solutions
- On-premise – sales of Microsoft on-premises solutions
By following the Cloud and/or Hybrid path, partners will have the opportunity to advance to higher tiers of the SMB Champions Club.
More information about the US SMB Champions Club is on the MPN portal. Microsoft partner eligibility and benefits for the US SMB Champions Club are subject to the program terms and conditions (sign in is required for access).