Insights for Microsoft partners
Whatever the Microsoft Cloud role, use our guide to benchmark your salary or contact rate, or to uncover what you should be paying employees in your team.
Attraction and retention
As demand for cloud transformation services remains strong and emerging technologies like AI and Machine Learning gain traction, Microsoft partners are poised to see increasing demand for their services. However, skill shortages and difficulty finding specialized expertise means that effective talent attraction and retention will be critical for partners and ISVs.
In this section, we’ll explore what makes partner organizations appealing to professionals and examine strategies to leverage that appeal to attract skilled candidates from a broad talent pool.
Motivation to work for a Microsoft partner
Just under three-fifths (57%, down slightly from 59% in our previous survey) of end-user employees surveyed would consider working for a Microsoft partner. Surprisingly, a higher salary is not the main reason for this interest. Instead, the appeal of broadening their skills portfolio 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 24% increase in earnings to make the switch.
We also asked the 16% (down slightly from 17%) of respondents who would not work for a partner why they wouldn’t make the move, with reasons including:
63%
34%
31%
I’ve worked for a partner previously, but I prefer the end user environment
| I don't want to travel for work | 22% |
| I'm not interested in working for a partner | 19% |
| I consider working for a partner to be stressful | 19% |
| I prefer working on one big project | 16% |
| I don't enjoy the increased interaction with clients | 3% |
| Other | 6% |
| I don't want to travel for work | 22% |
| I'm not interested in working for a partner | 19% |
| I consider working for a partner to be stressful | 19% |
| I prefer working on one big project | 16% |
| I don't enjoy the increased interaction with clients | 3% |
| Other | 6% |
‘Other’ reasons include not liking the hierarchy of partner organizations.
Conclusion
Although the percentage of end user employees willing to work for a Microsoft partner has slightly declined since our last report, there are still significant opportunities for partners to attract potential candidates from the customer sector.
Our findings show that 68% of end user employees would consider transitioning to a partner due to their strong desire to develop their skills and learn more about the products they work with. Close behind this motivation are the opportunities for professional growth and higher earning potential.
It’s clear that many professionals currently employed by end user organizations feel their ambitions may exceed their existing roles, presenting a promising opportunity for any partner seeking ambitious talent. Partners can leverage this by emphasizing the support they provide for employee upskilling and professional development.
Investigate the motivations of partner employees considering the move to an end user.
How satisfied are partner employees?
Of the professionals working for Microsoft partners and ISVs that we surveyed, 65% say they’re satisfied with their job, up from 56% in our previous survey.
We also found that 55% (up from 53% last time out) are satisfied with their salary, however the proportion of professionals unhappy with their pay has increased from 16% to 22%.
Demand for partner services
How has demand for Microsoft changed in the last 12 months?
-
Increased 44% -
Stayed the same 45% -
Reduced 9% -
Not sure 2%
- Increased 52%
- Stayed the same 35%
- Reduced 6%
- Not sure 7%
Top Microsoft Dynamics 356 products that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
| Dynamics 365 Business Central (formerly Dynamics NAV) | 38% |
| Dynamics 365 Sales (formerly Dynamics CRM) | 34% |
| Dynamics 365 Finance (formerly Dynamics AX) | 33% |
| Dynamics 365 Customer Service | 23% |
| Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management | 23% |
Microsoft Power Platform products that have been most in-demand with partners’ clients in the last year
| Power BI | 67% |
| Power Apps | 61% |
| Power Automate | 49% |
| Power Pages | 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 33%
- Not changed 35%
- Reduced 6%
- Not sure 27%
- Increased 37%
- Not changed 33%
- Reduced 5%
- Not sure 25%
What are the potential project pitfalls when working with end user clients?
We asked partner employees about the typical challenges they face when working with an end user client, so that you can plan to combat these in your next project—responses include:
| Scope creep (changes in a project's scope) | 53% |
| Lack of communication from/between stakeholders | 37% |
| Reluctance from some employees to adopt the new technology | 33% |
| No clear objective from the customer on what they want from their Microsoft product | 28% |
| Lack of appropriate skills in the end user organization to manage the product/solution | 26% |
| Data migration issues | 25% |
| Lack of training given to frontline staff using the product | 23% |
| The end user organization isn't ready for the business change | 20% |
| Issues managing expectations on what is possible with Microsoft | 19% |
| Shortage of resource in the end user organization available to manage the product/solution | 19% |
| Difficulties migrating data from legacy system to Microsoft | 17% |
| Funding ran out/budgetary constraints | 17% |
| Lack of stakeholder buy-in | 13% |
| Lack of project goals and benchmarks | 9% |
| Price negation | 7% |
| None | 11% |
| Other | 2% |
| Scope creep (changes in a project's scope) | 53% |
| Lack of communication from/between stakeholders | 37% |
| Reluctance from some employees to adopt the new technology | 33% |
| No clear objective from the customer on what they want from their Microsoft product | 28% |
| Lack of appropriate skills in the end user organization to manage the product/solution | 26% |
| Data migration issues | 25% |
| Lack of training given to frontline staff using the product | 23% |
| The end user organization isn't ready for the business change | 20% |
| Issues managing expectations on what is possible with Microsoft | 19% |
| Shortage of resource in the end user organization available to manage the product/solution | 19% |
| Difficulties migrating data from legacy system to Microsoft | 17% |
| Funding ran out/budgetary constraints | 17% |
| Lack of stakeholder buy-in | 13% |
| Lack of project goals and benchmarks | 9% |
| Price negation | 7% |
| None | 11% |
| Other | 2% |
