B Swaminathan
Mumbai, April 18: International association of Microsoft Channel Partners Association (IAMCP), the association of the Microsoft channel partners in West region is planning to increase more engagement with their vendor Microsoft India.
The association based out of Mumbai has 25% members from non Mumbai regions mainly Pune and Ahmedabad. Suresh Ramani (President) and Vimesh Avlani (Secretary) of the association with Cell IT for a quick interaction. “The IT World is moving at breakneck speed towards Cloud and Mobility . One major activity will be to help Microsoft Partners understand how they can adopt various Microsoft Technologies for Cloud and Mobility and thus remain relevant.”, the office bearers told.
Speaking on technical front , the duo is clear on partner enablement in the relevant Microsoft Technologies both from Sales and Technical Point of view. In terms of association , the forum is planning to ensure that partners see value in IAMCP . “Recently we helped partners get a very good offer on Microsoft Exam Vouchers . That was another example of adding value to partners.”, the association said.
Suresh and Vimesh terms the association ‘Glocal’. This means that while Association is Global, the local Board has lot of freedom to decide various issues. “The ad
vantage of being part of International Association is that we take part in many Webinars conducted by experts for all Chapters
. And we are able to exchange best practices . Once example was a recent webinar where we learnt from an expert how to leverage Linkedin. Microsoft Head Office also helps us with content from time to time.”
Some of the key plans of the associations are to create a vibrant partnering ecosystem where partners can collaborate readily and win business, increase membership and increase engagement with Microsoft India.The association has more than 30 members and the association is planning to increase the member count. On the expectations from Microsoft on the association front, they say that they look at support from Microsoft in terms of resources like speakers and special promos. However, IAMCP is clear that they will guide partners on correct licensing without getting into transactions.
Expansion Plans:
“West by itself is a big region covering Maharashtra, Gujarat , Goa , Rajasthan . So as of now first we need to increase our presence in all these regions . And yes, we will be looking at other regions also as only then we can increase collaboration across regions.”, the office bearers concluded.