New Aite Report Slams Microsoft's Capital Markets Partner Program

A blog reader sent me this link to a new report by The Aite Group.

Below is a copy of the report summary from the Aite website. I will comment further in another blog posting.



Of vendors engaged with Microsoft's Capital Markets Partner Program, 55% rate Microsoft's overall satisfaction with the relationship as mediocre or poor.

Boston, MA, October 6, 2008 – A new report from Aite Group, LLC evaluates the effectiveness of Microsoft's Partner Program as a capital markets vertical strategy within a horizontal company. The report outlines what vendors engaged in a partnership with Microsoft can expect, best practices for other horizontal vendors looking to focus on capital markets, and ways in which vendors and capital markets firms can maximize their technology investment in Microsoft.

The report is based on interviews conducted with 21 partners in the Microsoft Partner Program who all offer capital markets solutions, as well as current and former Microsoft employees, customers, and non-partners working with Microsoft Capital Markets. Aite Group found that Microsoft's strategy of developing its vertical partnership program may have hurt its reputation, as 55% of partners in this program rate their overall satisfaction with Microsoft as mediocre or poor. Though Microsoft is criticized for its lack of knowledge of the capital markets vertical, it is viewed favorably for its architecture and engineering, as well as for its technical support. "While Microsoft's horizontal rivals, including IBM and Oracle, were busy building capital markets offerings through acquisitions, Microsoft maintained a partner program whereby it supplied the underlying platform upon which other software providers could build vertically specific solutions," says Adam Honoré, senior analyst with Aite Group and author of this report. "As a vertical strategy, Microsoft is not the feared giant it is perceived to be in many horizontal venues. Instead, Microsoft has much work to do before it is perceived as anything other than a mediocre performer in its vertical go-to-market strategy."

©2008 Marc Adler - All Rights Reserved.
All opinions here are personal, and have no relation to my employer.