Each time Microsoft announces a new round of cloud computing wins for Office 365, Talkin’ Cloud asks the same question: Were any channel partners involved in the Office 365 deployments? Microsoft’s standard response: The company now has 42,000 cloud computing partners, up from 16,000 at this time last year.
That growth figure is impressive. But a bigger question remains: How many of those Office 365 cloud partners are truly active, engaged and winning multiple Office 365 deals? So far it’s impossible to say.
Back in March 2011, Talkin’ Cloud pinpointed Microsoft’s top 10 U.S. cloud partners for BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite), the precursor to Office 365. Those top 10 cloud partners had anywhere from 65 to 390 Microsoft cloud customers. Those figures, never directly confirmed by Microsoft, seemed to indicate a slow start for the Microsoft cloud partner community.
Microsoft’s Cloud Computing Statement
Fast forward to the present and Microsoft continues to make upbeat statements about its cloud partner efforts. The latest Microsoft statement reached Talkin’ Cloud earlier this week. It read:
“Partners are an integral part of many Office 365 customer deals and are involved in different parts of the product lifecycle. In the last 12 months, our partner ecosystem has more than doubled in size – from 16,000 to more than 42,000 partners worldwide. This partner ecosystem is roughly 10 times more partners than Google. These partners range from systems integrators and service providers to value added resellers and ISVs. They deliver services, training, consulting, support and applications that help customers get the most from Office 365.”
Give Microsoft credit. Partners are signing up to re-sell Microsoft’s cloud services. But we still have no idea if Microsoft’s cloud partners are driving hundreds, thousands or tens-of-thousands of deals.
Business Application Momentum
Microsoft’s latest earnings release, issued yesterday, lacked information about Microsoft’s cloud revenues. But there were some promising financial trends that could point to long-term Office 365 success. In the earnings statement, Microsoft said revenues from Exchange and SharePoint jumped 10 percent, while revenues from Lync and Dynamics CRM grew by more than 30 percent.
Those are impressive figures. And in the months/years ahead, a healthy number of customers will consider shifting Microsoft’s on-premise business applications into Microsoft’s cloud.
But the big question remains: How much of a role will partners play in those migrations?
The 
As a Microsoft Gold Partner we plan on playing a major role in the migration from on-premise Exchange to O365. We have a handful of clients using BPOS that need migration assistance to O365 and have more traditional on-premise clients asking us about O365 all the time.
Isaac: Please keep the Talkin’ Cloud team posted as your business continues to assist customers with Office 365. Curious to know how you generate the bulk of your revenues: Initial consulting, actual migration, or long-term residuals?
Best
-jp