Microsoft looks to expand partner ecosystem to tap India's digital transformation

NEW DELHI: Microsoft is looking at expanding its partner ecosystem – both in terms of numbers as well as domain expertise – given the huge potential of digital transformation in the country, Anant Maheshwari, president of Microsoft told ET.

It currently has the largest partner ecosystems with 9,000 partners across 250 cities in India.

He added that though the company has partners who have deep expertise in areas such as finance, human resource, operations etc, going forward they will also need the “breadth” and very deep domain expertise in sectors such as banking.

Microsoft, which already has 650 partners that are specialists in artificial intelligence solutions, is also looking at developing expertise in other emerging technologies such as Blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data etc.

According to a study conducted by Microsoft in partnership with IDC, digital transformation will add an estimated $154 billion to India’s GDP by 2021, and increase the growth rate by 1% annually.

“Digital transformation is no more a ‘if ’ question, it is a given. Countries have called out already that digital transformation will be a core part of their business as they go forward,” said Maheshwari.

He said since technology landscape is changing rapidly, if companies try to go with multiyear programmes, there is a risk of technology becoming outdated by the time the programme is completed. “So, real action is in micro revolutions, which allows you to keep doing things quickly, fail fast or learn fast, and build on what is working. And that is a very good recipe for success,” he said.

According to the study, some top challenges in the way of digital transformation are lack of skills and resources; siloed and resistant culture and finding right partners.

Maheshwari said Microsoft is focused on building the core of technology ‘seamless’ with its offerings around modern workplace, business applications, and infrastructure so that they can plug and play the point solutions around emerging technologies quickly through their partner ecosystem.

Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt. Ltd.