Expert: Microsoft's Record-Breaking Valuation Driven, In-Part, By Partners

Microsoft briefly overtook Apple as the most valuable company in the world last month due partly to its Partner program, one of Canalys ’ chief analysts says.

Watch Microsoft Dynamics 365 MVP Rick McCutcheon 's full interview with Jay McBain below.

At the market’s close on Jan. 11, Microsoft was worth USD$2.89 trillion, edging out Apple’s USD$2.87 trillion market capitalization. During the session, Microsoft briefly reached a peak valuation of USD$2.90 trillion.

Microsoft’s recent USD$13 billion purchase of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI drove the company’s shares to record highs, while concerns over demand for Apple’s product line made for a weak start to its year. That’s not the whole story, though, says Jay McBain . He’s Canalys’ chief analyst of channels, partnerships and ecosystems.

“Microsoft says 96% of its deals are Partner-assisted,” Jay says, and 73.1% of the technology channel is “sold through, to and with Partners.”

Customers have, on average, seven trusted Partners. Jay suggests that Microsoft’s unprecedented growth can be attributed, in part, to its disproportionate representation among those seven.

For 19 quarters, for example, Azure, Microsoft’s public cloud, outpaced Amazon’s AWS. Jay ascribes Microsoft’s success to the likelihood that a customer looking to invest in a public cloud has surrounded itself with Microsoft Partners who evangelize the company's products.

And Microsoft’s Partner ranks are growing.

After all, a 2022 study by 国际数据公司 found that Microsoft’s service-led Partners make $7.63 in economic value for every dollar Microsoft takes in. Software-led Partners make $10.11 every time Microsoft makes $1.

Jay describes IDC’s findings as a revenue multiplier.

“The best thing (PartnerTalks’) audience can do is go meet the other six trusted Partners in their accounts,” he says. “It’s a team sport. If the customer outsources a little bit more than they insource, all boats rise.”

If that's the case, let's get all hands on deck.

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