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Out of nearly 800 nominations submitted across the U.S., Microsoft has selected AppRiver as the winner of the 2022 Operational Excellence Partner of the Year Award. This achievement highlights AppRiver’s exceptional contributions alongside Microsoft to customers.

 Empowering Partners During Microsoft NCE Migration

As one of Microsoft’s top Indirect CSPs, AppRiver participated in the Microsoft New Commerce Experience (NCE) Working Group pilot starting in April of 2021, giving us a comprehensive understanding of how to best help partners make the transition. We are honored to be recognized for our laser focus on being a true champion of the program from the start, including working to ensure we maintained one clear and consistent message: Microsoft NCE can be complex, but the transition is manageable providing you have an indirect partner that can guide you.

AppRiver supported organizations' digital and business transformation by simplifying the number of steps it takes partners to migrate from a Legacy subscription to Microsoft NCE.To provide as much simplification for MSPs as possible as they looked to transition, AppRiver created a migration tool that featured a dashboard for partners that gave a comprehensive view of all Microsoft renewal dates for every client.

Through the migration tool, AppRiver transformed a process that previously took several hours for multiple customers down to just three clicks. This incredible time-saver for MSPs reduced nearly all manual steps to a few easy actions they can invoke. This gave partners the flexibility to decide when and how to migrate, making it easier for them to switch to Microsoft NCE by empowering them rather than dictating terms.

Continuously Innovating Training Practices  

What separates us from traditional Indirect Providers is our ability to go beyond just selling a product to focus on extensively training partners and ensuring they have the tools to transition successfully. AppRiver gives its partners access to tools that help them efficiently assess the state of their customers' technical environment to provide the solutions needed for the highest satisfaction and return on investment.

AppRiver has utilized the Microsoft NCE rollout to provide additional one-on-one time for partners to ensure they have all their needs met, including ensuring their Microsoft Partner Center account is fully operational and optimized. We designed a series of educational webinars viewed by over 5,000 partners and created custom NCE consultations that were requested by and joined by hundreds of partners to help streamline the switch to Microsoft NCE.

AppRiver's goal is to truly integrate and operate in the spirit of partnership with Microsoft to transform small to medium-sized businesses and the MSPs that serve them. We have focused on understanding and identifying partner challenges to deliver broad training, programs, communication and direct guidance to ensure partners succeed. We are committed to acting as an extension of the partner’s team whenever they need support, such as identifying which licenses they need to provide and how best to activate their customers.

Looking Ahead

From general education to building systems that simplify the process for partners, AppRiver hasn’t once lost track of its goal to maintain a consistent, disciplined approach to help its partners transition to Microsoft NCE. Now, as partners prepare to take on Microsoft’s new Cloud Partner Program (MCPP), we look forward to breaking down barriers and helping them navigate new program nuances to ensure our partners attain Solutions Partners designations while growing their businesses.

We look forward to celebrating the win at Microsoft Inspire 2022 (July 19-20). Are you interested in joining us at the event? You can register here.