Microsoft Dynamics Partner Management Update: VP Doug Kennedy Focusing on Enterprise

Microsoft has recently restructured its Microsoft Dynamics partner channel team's leadership to focus separately on enterprise and SMB partners. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that Doug Kennedy's role has shifted from VP of the Microsoft Dynamics Partner organization to VP of Dynamics Enterprise Sales and Customer Lifecycle Management.  He is also responsible for the existing customer support and services programs, including Dynamics' Customer Success Managers. Rich Wickham now has the role of "General Manager of Partner Sales, Microsoft Dynamics" and is responsible for Microsoft's partner strategy and for the SMB partner channel.  

Wickham has an interesting professional history, having served as a Judge Advocate in the US Air Force before entering private law practice. According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined Microsoft in 2003 working in their gaming division before joining the Dynamics team in 2009. 

Microsoft has made it clear that when it comes to Dynamics ERP and CRM, they will be handling enterprise differently from SMB, so an internal management team that reflects that view of the channel is no surprise.  But partners have suggested privately that the partners who straddle the enterprise-SMB line, especially those who sell and service Dynamics AX in the mid-market range, could still find themselves unwillingly navigating the new enterprise criteria and sales compensation structure and its CSA fees, which replace software sales margin for enterprise AX deals. 

The CSA fee approach presents a major challenge to those partners who have traditionally counted on software sales margin to cover their cost of sales - costs that can be considerable in the months-long sales cycle for ERP software.  There ...