Is Microsoft at War With Its Partners 2

No one wants to be uninvited from, and Okta is no different.

And so the news that Microsoft had uninvited the identity management vendor and long standing Microsoft partner from exhibiting a Microsoft Ignite made for one of the more the intriguing recent stories.

Initially, Microsoft said the action was due “broad competition between our companies in the mobility solution space.”

When the news got out, Microsoft quickly reversed course and invited Okta to and also to sponsor and friends.

This spat is the most recent example of Microsoft cutting out partners, but is by no means unique case. When the news got , Microsoft quickly reversed course and re-invited Okta to sponsors.

It’s My Party

Last summer, Microsoft announced major changes to its FastTrack cloud onboarding program. The offer to execute Office 365 migrations essentially cut or diminished the role of channel partners.

Even on the hardware side Microsoft demonstrated no reluctance cross red lines with the release of the Surface line of PC, directly competing with traditional hardware partners who were the lifeblood of Windows for many years.

According to Microsoft there are over 430,000 partners around the world (pd) and some estimate that partners generate nearly $9 in revenue for every $1 that Microsoft makes. Over the past two or so decades, a symbiotic relationship developed between Microsoft and its partner ecosystem which served both parties well and looks good after this thng.

From my experience, Microsoft has the past been very sensitive not harm partners or play favorites. With a typical three-year release cycle, wide gaps existed in many Microsoft offerings that partners addressed through both service and software offerings.