Insights for Microsoft partners
Attraction and retention
With cloud transformation services still in high demand, and new technological developments like AI and machine learning becoming more popular among businesses, Microsoft partners will no doubt continue to see a growing need for their services in the coming year. But with skills shortages constricting the ecosystem, and many skill sets difficult to come by, attracting and retaining the talent they need to deliver for clients will be top-of-mind for many partners and ISVs.
In this section, we’ll look at what attracts talent to careers with partner organizations, and find out what partners can do to lean into that appeal and source candidates from an industry-wide talent pool.
Motivation to work for a Microsoft partner
Almost two-thirds (59%, down from 67% in our last survey) of end user employees who responded to the survey would consider working for a Microsoft partner. Surprisingly, the potential to gain a higher salary is not the main reason these professionals would consider a switch to partner working. Instead, it was the appeal of broadening their skills portfolio that proved a bigger draw.
Factors cited as most likely to attract end user employees to a role with a partner include:
Those respondents who would move to a partner for the higher earning potential would want, on average, a 28% increase in their earnings to make the switch.
We also asked the 17% (up from 14%) of respondents who would not work for a partner why they wouldn’t make the move, with reasons including:
| I prefer working on one big project | 19% |
| I consider working for a partner to be stressful | 12% |
| I don't want to travel for work | 12% |
| I'm not interested in working for a partner | 8% |
| I don't enjoy the increased interaction with clients | 5% |
| Other | 5% |
| I prefer working on one big project | 19% |
| I consider working for a partner to be stressful | 12% |
| I don't want to travel for work | 12% |
| I'm not interested in working for a partner | 8% |
| I don't enjoy the increased interaction with clients | 5% |
| Other | 5% |
Conclusion
Though the number of end user employees who’d be open to working for a Microsoft partner may have dropped slightly since our last report, there is still ample opportunity for partners to attract potential candidates from the customer sector. Our findings show that the 59% of end user employees that would consider making the move to a partner are highly motivated to develop their skills and learn more about the products they work with.
Almost three-quarters of those amenable to such a change said it was the chance to expand their skill sets and experience with Microsoft solutions that appealed to them most. Coming in close behind was the opportunity for professional development and a desire to work on a diverse range of projects. There are clearly many professionals currently working for end user organizations that feel their ambitions may outgrow their current environment—and that is great news for any partner looking to hire ambitious talent. Partners can capitalize on this opportunity by highlighting the variety of projects they work on, and the support they offer for employee upskilling.
Investigate the motivations of partner employees considering the move to an end user.
How satisfied are partner employees?
Professionals working for Microsoft partners and ISVs are largely happy in their roles—69% say they’re satisfied with their job, down from 73% in our previous survey.
While 53% are satisfied with their salary, this is down from 62% in our last survey, and the proportion of professionals unhappy with their pay has increased from 13% to 16%.
Demand for partner services
How has demand for Microsoft changed in the last 12 months?
- Increased
- Stayed the same
- Reduced
- Not sure
- Increased
- Stayed the same
- Reduced
- Not sure
Expert Insight
David Johnson, Operations Director at 26-time Microsoft Partner of the Year HSO, shares his tips on the essential skills partners should look for in potential candidates
Cloud technology: analytics, the wider Azure platform and security and cloud application development are big-growth areas. All of those wrapped around master data management and interaction with data.
We’re seeing less demand proportionately for consultants in ERP and CE, and more around data scientists, analytics, and security to work out how we can take the best advantage of things like the drive towards AI.
However, that doesn’t mean that you don’t need that overall digital transformation that is driven by your big business applications. You are still going to need those historic skills, but architect skills and the defining of the journey will be more valuable than focusing on how to implement Dynamics 365 Finance within a specific set of process areas.
Head over to our blog to read further insights from David regarding the potential future direction of Dynamics 365
Top 5 Microsoft Dynamics 356 products that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
| 1 | Dynamics 365 Finance (formerly Dynamics AX) | 42% |
| 2 | Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) | 41% |
| 3 | Dynamics 365 Sales (formerly Dynamics CRM) | 31% |
| 4 | Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management | 30% |
| 5 | Dynamics 365 Customer Service | 23% |
Microsoft Power Platform products that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
| Power BI | 77% |
| Power Apps | 56% |
| Power Automate | 56% |
| Power Pages | 15% |
| Power Virtual Agents | 10% |
Top Microsoft Azure product categories that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
Top Microsoft 365 products that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
How has demand for Microsoft cloud migrations changed in the last year?
- Increased
- Stayed the same
- Reduced
- Not sure
- Increased
- Stayed the same
- Reduced
- Not sure
What are the potential project pitfalls when working with end user clients?
| Scope creep (changes in a project's scope) | 50% |
| Lack of communication from/between stakeholders | 39% |
| Reluctance from some employees to adopt the new technology | 36% |
| No clear objective from the customer on what they want from their Microsoft product | 30% |
| Data migration issues | 30% |
| Lack of training given to frontline staff using the product | 28% |
| Shortage of resource in the end user organization available to manage the product | 25% |
| Lack of appropriate skills in the end user organization to manage the product | 24% |
| Issues managing expectations around what is possible with Microsoft | 24% |
| The end user organization isn't ready for the business change | 23% |
| Difficulties migrating data from legacy system to Microsoft | 23% |
| Funding ran out/budgetary constraints | 21% |
| Lack of project goals and benchmarks | 17% |
| Price negation | 16% |
| Lack of stakeholder buy-in | 14% |
| None | 6% |
| Other | 2% |
