At Citrix Summit in January, we talked with our partners & the Citrix team about our commitment to winning together with Microsoft. We outlined significant opportunities for our partners who are also Microsoft partners, to capitalize on the opportunity to increase their revenue by selling joint cloud solutions and earning incentives from both Citrix and Microsoft.
We were excited to further deliver against this commitment and build on our momentum last month at Citrix Synergy by introducing XenDesktop Essentials and XenApp Essentials, our new solutions available in the Azure Marketplace. Initial customer interest has been extremely positive with over 250 Azure Marketplace deals within the first few weeks of launch. At Synergy, we also shared more details about Citrix Cloud, which runs on Azure. The solution provides customers with new options to address their business needs, and channel partners the ability to realize faster time to market and access new revenue opportunities.
Today, I’m excited to share details about how we are continuing to work with Microsoft to further align in the field and develop tools to help our partners take advantage of the growing opportunity to sell joint Citrix-Microsoft solutions.
In April, Microsoft showcased our joint solution in one of the Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs). By the end of September we aim to have all of our joint solutions running in every Microsoft Technology Center across the globe including XenDesktop, XenApp, XenDesktop Essentials, XenApp Essentials and Citrix Cloud. This will make Citrix the first ISV to have joint solutions showcased across all MTCs. These centers are a great resource for partners to get educated, and accelerate existing opportunities. In the MTCs, partners also have the ability to highlight their unique value proposition by showing how they have built their own solutions to work with those from Citrix and Microsoft.
We encourage you to visit one of these centers later in the year. Find the Microsoft Technology Center nearest you. Get Educated! Schedule a visit! Take a customer!
Additionally, we have kicked off an effort with Microsoft’s Practice Development Units at a country-level to help our partners become more proficient in deploying our joint solutions on Azure. This work will help our partners who are looking to transition from selling and implementing on-premises solutions to cloud-based solutions.
For more information, please contact your Citrix Partner Account Manager to explore how to get involved and get up-scaled on Azure.
Finally, at Citrix Summit I encouraged our partners who are not currently partners with Microsoft to join their program and capitalize on the opportunity to earn incentives from both Citrix and Microsoft. I would also like to encourage any Microsoft partners that are not currently a Citrix Solution Advisor and would like to learn more about the value proposition to visit our Citrix Solution Advisor page. As a joint Citrix Microsoft partner, in addition to Citrix incentives, partners can qualify for Microsoft incentives including Azure consumption incentives, Azure credits through the Microsoft Partner Network Funds program, and Cloud Investment Funds. This enables joint partners to increase their profitability for all joint deals that land on Azure.
Again, contact your Citrix Partner Account Manager to get more details. If you’re not a Citrix partner and would like to learn more, contact us as well. Don’t miss the opportunity to double up on incentives!
We are excited about the momentum we have with Microsoft and the work we’re doing together to lower barriers, make the joint sales motion more profitable and shorten the sales cycle for our channel partners. Continue to look for more in these areas and more in the coming months.
To hear more, visit the Citrix booth #909 at Microsoft Inspire, July 9-13 in Washington, D.C.
