Microsoft sets hosted-services pricing, irks partners

But even if Microsoft knew some partners might be unhappy with their new, yet necessary, business model, the company certainly doesn't want to cut its loyal partner channel out of its services strategy, which is where it's new customer-referral model around hosted services comes into play.

Partners can offer Microsoft's hosted business productivity services to customers and receive 12 percent per user, per month, up front for a first-year contract, and 6 percent per user, per month, of the ongoing subscription fee, the company said. So in the first year, resellers of hosted services will receive 18 percent margins on the subscription value, and 6 percent for subsequent years, Microsoft's Kelly said.

Microsoft also is encouraging partners to add value to the sale by doing what they have always done best, offering integration, consulting and management services on top of any vendor products their customers buy, whether hosted or on-premise.

In an interview Tuesday after her keynote at the WPC, Allison Watson, corporate vice president for Microsoft's worldwide partner group, said Microsoft studied subscription-based partner models in other markets -- such as the mobile business market -- and did extensive work with partners to help come up with the margin percentages for its hosted services

"Not only are the upfront fees fair for the referral, but the follow-on fees allow [partners] to build a rich annuity stream," she said.

However, Watson did acknowledge that some partners are worried that by reselling Microsoft's hosted services in a referral program, they will be doing a lot of the legwork to secure customers and lose control by merely turning them over to Microsoft, since the company handles the support and billing for the services.

She attributed this to fear among partners that they will not be part of the ongoing relationship with the customer, which is not the case.

"The concern you've heard is valid and I hear that as well," Watson said. "But once we sit down and walk them through the user experience of the customer and partner interaction online, it will create good optimism about their ability to be a rich part of the solution."

For instance, for partners who manage current customer Enterprise Agreements with Microsoft, the company's hosted business productivity suite will be just another product SKU in that agreement, she said. This means that partners will get existing revenue margins on Microsoft hosted services that their customers purchase just as they would on any other product, and continue to maintain their relationship with customers, Watson said.