Microsoft technologies are the foundation of many solutions on offer across the Channel, with MSPs and resellers throughout the UK and Ireland finding success by building solutions with or around Microsoft products. For its own part, Microsoft has adapted its partner programmes over the years to foster joint success between the vendor and its thriving partner community.
With so many possibilities, there are countless ways resellers and MSPs can add value with Microsoft. Finding your niche and guiding businesses through their options can often require all or some part of Microsoft’s expansive portfolio.
“Microsoft’s ecosystem is a goldmine for resellers and MSPs, especially in voice calling and collaboration,” explained Gavin Jones, channel partners director, BT Wholesale. “Since its release in 2017, Microsoft Teams has become increasingly popular in the business world, thanks to its ease of use and comprehensive features. With over 300 million monthly users worldwide, it is a ready-made market for channel partners to tap into.”
Jones pointed out a few areas of opportunity for channel companies. He said, “Operator Connect gives businesses the ability to access external calling for Microsoft Teams using its cloud-based phone solution, Wholesale Hosted Communications (WHC). Built for the channel market, WHC Teams Direct Connect is quick and easy to deploy and doesn’t require specialist IT support.
“Phone calls are vital communication tools used by small businesses. WHC Teams Direct Connect allows access to Hosted PBX or Hosted SIP Trunking directly from within Teams. This gives businesses high-quality digital phone calls on all their devices, with all the usual benefits of WHC, including call recording and analytics.”
Jones added that demand for communication and collaboration software has “boomed in recent years”, and Microsoft Teams’ popularity in the market shows no signs of slowing down. He emphasised, “It makes sense for partners to capitalise on growing demands for collaboration solutions, with Microsoft products at the helm.”
Akshay John, principal customer solutions architect, Dstny for Service Providers, commented, “In the race to differentiate, both resellers and providers can use Microsoft to add additional layers to their propositions and set themselves apart from their competition, especially in the communications market.
“Users are flocking towards Teams in droves and even though Microsoft have a keen eye on Enterprise, it’s SMBs and verticals such as healthcare and education who are seeing the biggest impacts, and are now the biggest market for providers who play nicely with Teams.”
John highlighted the opportunities he is seeing around Direct Routing. He said, “Drilling down into this a little bit, we are seeing Direct Routing specifically giving channel partners the opportunity to successfully bring their voice services into Teams with its combination of extensive ease of use and lack of rip and replace.”
Ewan Haig, CEO, Callroute, also pointed to Microsoft Teams as a key opportunity. He said, “The reach of Teams is so vast that MSPs with value-add services and peripheral services would be unwise to ignore the opportunity presented in front of them. You must be agile to spot the gaps and adapt as Microsoft evolves. But end customers need help to navigate such a beast, and if you ensure you position yourself to catch the right waves, there is a massive opportunity. But agility is key and keeping it simple for the end customer.”
The upcoming retirement of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) is also opening the door to even more Teams Phone opportunities. Kristina Bennington, alliance manager for Microsoft, Giacom, said, “With the PSTN switch-off approaching, Teams Phone remains a massive opportunity for the Channel. Resellers and MSPs are well-positioned to help businesses navigate this transition, demonstrating how a modern, Teams-based communication solution can enhance flexibility, efficiency and collaboration.
“By leading the charge in Teams Phone adoption, channel partners can not only expand their service portfolios, but also reinforce their role as trusted advisors, supporting customers on their digital transformation journeys.”
Channel companies can also add value by building more analytics capabilities around Teams. Hilary Oliver, chief customer officer, Tollring, explained, “The big opportunities for resellers and MSPs around Microsoft products lie in adding value and differentiating their overall offering. Adding value to Microsoft Teams with Teams Phone and applications such as call analytics, recording and voice analytics enables customers to enhance productivity and efficiency, and maximise their investment in Microsoft technologies.”
James Buxton, managing director, iTEL, discussed the company’s unified communications adoption platform, known as ucSKILLS. iTEL has recently launched a solution for Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams.
He explained, “Microsoft partners offering Operator Connect will be aware of the significant opportunity to sell into the high-volume SME market. However, challenges such as product differentiation, reduced margins, and the need for comprehensive onboarding and support can complicate the process. iTEL’s digital adoption solution is designed to streamline the launch of Operator Connect for Microsoft Teams, helping to boost profitability, whilst enabling customers to become self-sufficient.”
Buxton said ucSKILLS can help channel companies to offer SME and micro-SME businesses a Microsoft-based solution. He added, “Many of these will already be considering switching to Microsoft Teams Phone once their current phone contract ends and will be looking for a provider. Others aren’t yet aware of how the Microsoft Teams Phone solution could help but will be open to marketing messages explaining the benefits.”
Unlocking AI
As with all areas of the market, recent developments within artificial intelligence (AI) are opening up new avenues for growth. Bennington, from Giacom, said, “Copilot presents a massive opportunity for the Channel. There is a lot of noise about AI in the market at the moment, so it’s the perfect time for resellers and MSPs to be upskilling and identifying AI opportunities within their customer base.
“Microsoft 365 Copilot provides the perfect foundation for partners to add high margin, value added services. Due to the nature of the product, there will be critical readiness activities that MSPs will need to conduct for their customers for data governance, security and compliance. There’s also the obvious training and adoption services to ensure customers are using the solution effectively and to its full potential. So, it offers some very lucrative options for partners to add to their product portfolio.”
Bennington also discussed Microsoft Fabric as another “big opportunity for partners in the AI space”, with this product giving the Channel access to advanced analytics and data management solutions for their customers. She commented, “MSPs can specialise in areas like business intelligence, data warehouse migrations and analytics, offering highly tailored solutions to meet customers’ needs.
“For MSPs that don’t yet have the resource or technical capabilities to offer Fabric, it’s still a viable opportunity as they can lean on the Cloud Migration Factory team at Microsoft to make it available for their customers. This is a programme that Giacom is heavily involved with, so we can support partners in delivering Fabric to their customers.”
Adam Wilson, director of strategic partnerships, Vonage, added, “AI agents and assistants are in high demand this year: MSPs and resellers can take advantage of this trend by integrating Microsoft Copilot products into their offerings. MSPs can help businesses to eliminate the common pain-points that come with deploying AI agents, like bias and hallucinations, by offering Copilot integration and training services for their customers.”
To the cloud
The ongoing shift towards the cloud is another area of opportunity within the Microsoft ecosystem. Vonage’s Wilson pointed to Azure and associated migration services. He explained, “Thanks to the continued growth of hybrid cloud solutions like Azure, there’s now a huge market opportunity for Microsoft partners to offer cloud migration and management services. MSPs can leverage their expertise to provide end-to-end Azure migration services - including assessment, planning, and implementation - to help customers optimise their IT infrastructure.
Giacom’s Bennington, said, “There is still a significant number of organisations in the UK with on-premise infrastructure, proving a lucrative opportunity for UK based MSPs to migrate their on-premises infrastructure to Azure, optimising their costs, improving scalability, and opening up new revenue streams for partners from solution sales and managed services.
Out-of-the-box solutions
From a distributor’s perspective, it can be important to offer partners solutions that will deliver results for end customers with minimal investment.
Antony Byford, vice president, IoT and collaboration, Westcon-Comstor, explained his organisation works closely with Microsoft alliance partners to achieve that. He said, “The Microsoft ecosystem presents a vast landscape of opportunities for resellers and managed service providers. With its comprehensive suite of products and services, Microsoft enables partners to deliver innovative solutions that drive business growth and enhance customer experiences.
“As a distributor, we’re working closely with Microsoft alliance partners to create proven solutions. We see that more and more partners are looking for out-of-the-box solutions that provide proven technology for limited investment and work seamlessly together with standard Microsoft tools.”
Byford pointed to the AudioCodes Live Platform, which he said works with native Microsoft Teams. Byford explained, “This provides Direct Routing, contact centre capabilities, compliance recording and AI technology to summarise meetings. Partners can easily provide this to their customers with no investment, as it is all hosted and serviced for them.”
Working with Microsoft
So, what is Microsoft like as a vendor partner? Bennington, from Giacom, discussed the company’s relationship with Microsoft with insight into what that means for Giacom’s partner community. She said, “Being a Microsoft partner comes with significant advantages. The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program offers exclusive tools, resources and support to help partners drive growth and deliver high-value solutions to their customers. Benefits include not-for-resale licenses, rebates and technical support, among others.
“Microsoft also works with a select group of partners, known as Indirect Providers, such as Giacom, to streamline license delivery to channel partners and enhance partner support. As an Indirect Provider, Giacom offers additional services including expert sales and technical support, marketing and sales enablement, and additional value-added services, empowering partners to sell cloud solutions more effectively and drive growth and success.”
Byford, from Westcon-Comstor, added, “Microsoft is renowned for its strong partner ecosystem, offering extensive support, resources and incentives to help partners succeed. The Microsoft Partner Network provides access to training, certifications and marketing resources, enabling partners to enhance their capabilities and deliver high-quality solutions. Microsoft’s commitment to innovation and customer success makes it a reliable and strategic vendor partner.”
Channel companies have long found success by identifying areas where they can add value, but where Microsoft does not seem to want to focus. John, from Dstny for Service Providers, said, “As a partner Microsoft is unique in what it does. It is engrossed in essentially everything that happens in IT on a global scale and, like it or not, any moves Microsoft makes often disrupt entire industries.
“What’s especially important for partners in the communication space to realise however is that, even though Microsoft is shaking things up, it isn’t looking to become the world’s most popular cloud voice provider.
John explained that Microsoft is instead encouraging third-party providers to bring their services into Teams. He pointed to recent figures that show that more than 40 per cent of the telephony-enabled users on the platform are using third-party call control.
John added, “From the devices and systems that the Microsoft suite is compatible with, to the ways in which it can be used and moulded around existing propostions, a lot has changed in how partnering with Microsoft looks and feels. Long gone are the days in which you needed Microsoft hardware to run a Microsoft programme using Microsoft systems and the freedoms that are now associated with working with their stack give providers all the power they need to grow, adapt and succeed.
“As long as you can keep up with Microsoft themselves that is. The good news is, with the right native integrations and the right partner this can now be achieved with minimal effort, time and expense.”
Young, from Infinity Group, offered an MSP perspective. He said, “Microsoft has been incredibly supportive of Infinity Group, and we have fostered a strong bi-directional relationship. As with any partnership, there are always going to be challenges, but the general direction and mutual belief in the technology’s transformative power is what keeps us committed to remaining a business that is solely focused on the Microsoft ecosystem.”
Infinity Group is an Inner Circle Partner which, Young explained, means the company can “plug into product development lifecycles” to get “valuable insights into how we can best implement nascent solutions for our customers”. Young added, “It also enables us to give honest feedback on the way the partnership programme evolves. The current incentives and funding routes really do help accelerate the sales cycle and the delivery of ROI for our customers.”
One challenge for channel companies can be to navigate changes made to Microsoft’s product ecosystem. The company is continually researching and developing new technologies and innovations, and partners might sometimes need to adjust their solutions around that.
Haig, from Callroute, explained, “Microsoft provides regular updates through its online presence, public earning calls and frequent in-person events. To fill these gaps, the Microsoft MVP community is alive and well, helping users, admins, partners and service providers with a wealth of technical and sales material. The biggest issue for me is actually the unpredictability of Microsoft.
“Many MSPs and ISVs build businesses to solve the problems where Microsoft leaves gaps. But then, out of nowhere, they announce the launch of XYZ, which can diminish the value of the solution. So, to dance with Micrososft, you have to accept that you need to be nimble and ready to adapt in order to stay relevant.”
Certifications
Certifications are an important part of Microsoft’s business and many channel companies find value in becoming certified. “Microsoft certifications certainly aren’t mandatory, but they’re a great way to showcase your team’s expertise and demonstrate to clients that your team can handle specialised project needs,” explained Wilson, from Vonage. “Certification also provides a simple and controlled channel for training employees. The certification process will help teams to understand the Microsoft products they’re dealing with in depth.”
In recent years, Microsoft has restructured this area of its business. Infinity Group’s Young discussed the initial reaction from partners and how things have settled. He said, “Though not welcomed by many partners at the time, the way Microsoft restructured its solutions designations and advanced specialisations was a great move. The old designations of Gold, Silver and Bronze were fast becoming less relevant and not specific enough. Now, partners are incentivised to invest in gaining the certifications that will truly upskill their employees and benefit their customers.”
Young emphasised what those changes have meant for his own business. He said, “Today, there is a clear relationship between achieving excellence and receiving Microsoft’s full-throated backing. As an example, Infinity Group today sits on the Business Applications and Modern Work Advisory Councils as a direct result of the investments we have made in upskilling our employees and achieving the requisite number of advanced certifications.”
Byford, from Westcon-Comstor, added, “In recent years, Microsoft has revamped its partner programme to work with partner designations. Microsoft certifications continue to be a key element, as they are crucial for validating technical expertise and demonstrating proficiency in Microsoft technologies. When partners don’t have the expertise in-house, it’s helpful and reassuring to be able to turn to the cloud solution provider for support.”
Certifications can also be a commercial necessity for channel companies. Bennington, from Giacom, said, “Microsoft certifications are more than just a badge of honour, they’re a commercial necessity for resellers and MSPs who want to be taken seriously by businesses. They validate a company’s proficiency and commitment to staying up to date with the latest Microsoft technologies and best practices, proving to customers that they meet Microsoft’s rigorous security, performance and compliance standards.”
The certification process can also help partners keep pace with Microsoft’s innovations, helping them achieve long-term success. Bennington added, “Beyond winning business, staying certified ensures that MSPs keep pace with Microsoft’s rapidly evolving ecosystem, unlocking exclusive partner benefits, API privileges and marketplace visibility that uncertified competitors simply don’t have. It positions them for long-term success, helping to capitalise on emerging opportunities and mitigate potential threats.”
This article was included in our March 2025 print issue. You can read the magazine in full here.