Microsoft Authorised Distributors

One of topics that has recently been discussed at both the SBSC user group meetings and amongst the SBSC PALs and user group leads, is around how Microsoft tracks the revenue generated by SBSC partners. 

It is very hard for Microsoft to truly reflect the revenue that our SBSC partners generate as we can only accredit revenue to an SBSC partner if they buy through an authorised distributor. This is because that sales data is made available to Microsoft. Obviously we know many of our partners do not buy solely through authorised distributors as purchasing decisions are often price based and partners choose to shop around. As such, we know there are times when partners buy through a "sub-distributor" or through retail. In these cases, as we cannot track who has purchased the products, the revenue generated is accredited to the the company the partner purchased from and not to the individual SBSC partners. 

I am not sure if there is much we can do to rectify this situation so long as SBSC partners purchase through channels other than authorised distributor. That said, we do intend to explore this further.

If you would like to see who Microsoft's authorised distributors are for UK and Ireland please go here. It also shows the types of licence authorised distributors can sell - Full Packaged Product (FPP), Open (OL), Open Subscription (OSL) and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) licences.