MS Gold partner, worth it?

So is MS Gold partner worth the hassle? Their website is a tad bit confusing about it. I was told by the MS phone rep that for $1,450 (a month?) and 120 points (although I can’t really get a breakdown of the point system) that we can get access to the majority of MS software and 100 CAL’s to use in the office.

Supposedly this covers say, if I want to migrate from Lotus to Exchange, or upgrade my servers to W2k8.

Does this sound right to anyone or are they just blowing smoke at me?

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Comments

meadIT

pwjohnston wrote: »

So is MS Gold partner worth the hassle? Their website is a tad bit confusing about it. I was told by the MS phone rep that for $1,450 (a month?) and 120 points (although I can’t really get a breakdown of the point system) that we can get access to the majority of MS software and 100 CAL’s to use in the office.

Supposedly this covers say, if I want to migrate from Lotus to Exchange, or upgrade my servers to W2k8.

Does this sound right to anyone or are they just blowing smoke at me?

This page https://partner.microsoft.com/40013031 talks about an annual fee, so that $1450 is probably annual.

You earn points my having employees with certifications and by earning Microsoft Competencies. Here is a point estimator: https://partner.microsoft.com/US/program/managemembership/partnerpoints/estimator

astorrs

First question is what does your employer do?

dynamik

The Action Pack allows you to use MS software internally if you're a partner: https://partner.microsoft.com/40016455

Trailerisf

I am a gold partner... Has its benefits, thats for sure.

You get access to help 24X7 ... Not during the standard business hours like other peeps.

You get 5 non critical support calls a year.If you phib a bit you can make every call mission critical and never use one of the 5 up.I think I may have used 1 or 2 in 4 years.

It is a pain to maintain the 120 points needed.The customer satisfaction survey and the completed abilities are the best way. 8hrs of work and its done.

The rate quoted to you is annually. Also gives you access to the MSDN site for all downloads.

They give you CAL's for development... not PRODUCTION.

You get pretty much every MS product out there for free to play with.

Worth the money for me as we provide outsourced IT support. If I was a medium sized company in house tech, I don't think I would bother.

JDMurray

Besides the tech support, it sounds pretty much like the TechNet and MSDN Premium subscriptions. I always assumed Gold Partner status was something that a business had to quality for. I've worked with Gold Partners that certainly acted like it was an award from Microsoft, like a Microsoft MVP for a business.

pwjohnston

JDMurray wrote: »

Besides the tech support, it sounds pretty much like the TechNet and MSDN Premium subscriptions. I always assumed Gold Partner status was something that a business had to quality for. I've worked with Gold Partners that certainly acted like it was an award from Microsoft, like a Microsoft MVP for a business.

Well ya, anyone touts what they can to make them feel more important. It's all about ego and Computer Professionals are always the most humble bunch!

pwjohnston

Trailerisf wrote: »

I am a gold partner... Has its benefits, thats for sure.

You get access to help 24X7 ... Not during the standard business hours like other peeps.

You get 5 non critical support calls a year.If you phib a bit you can make every call mission critical and never use one of the 5 up.I think I may have used 1 or 2 in 4 years.

It is a pain to maintain the 120 points needed.The customer satisfaction survey and the completed abilities are the best way. 8hrs of work and its done.

The rate quoted to you is annually. Also gives you access to the MSDN site for all downloads.

They give you CAL's for development... not PRODUCTION.

You get pretty much every MS product out there for free to play with.

Worth the money for me as we provide outsourced IT support. If I was a medium sized company in house tech, I don't think I would bother.

So it's just the CAL's that are non production, because they seem to act like I could have up to 100 CAL's for use in the office for whatever I wanted to use them for. But I'm also sure they're just trying to reel me in too.

astorrs

pwjohnston wrote: »

So it's just the CAL's that are non production, because they seem to act like I could have up to 100 CAL's for use in the office for whatever I wanted to use them for. But I'm also sure they're just trying to reel me in too.

Partnering with Microsoft is not designed for end-users, it's designed for those who resell Microsoft products or who deliver services based on those products. While many people on the forums here have signed up as a partner on their own (maybe they do P/T work helping out small businesses on the side, etc), that is different from say a medical clinic or retail store signing up as a partner. In the past abuse of this and the Action Pack by small businesses (actually by VARs that were dealing to those businesses) that Microsoft has begun to tighten up it's partner program.

So while you probably could swing it and not get caught, it is most definitely in violation of the partnership agreement. Most companies try to stay legal...