Discusses the Latest Updates in the Microsoft Ecosystem with Eromosele Omomhenle

The ISV space is rapidly evolving, and emerging trends are shaping the industry in new and exciting ways. As ISVs become more intentional in driving industry expertise and repositioning their strategies to attract customers from targeted industries, Microsoft is positioning itself to take advantage of these trends.

The tech giant enables a customer-first approach by aligning its seller teams, partner teams, and solution priorities to industries. Additionally, as the proliferation of artificial intelligence continues to impact the ISV space, Microsoft is exploring ways to ensure that AI is ethically leveraged to improve business outcomes and help its partners grow their revenue.

To gain more insight into the potential of AI and the emerging trend of ISVs, we caught up with the Senior Manager of WW ISV Alliances and Partner Development at Microsoft, Eromosele Omomhenle.

Let Us Quickly Get To Our Expert's Point Of View

Question 1- How do you keep up with the latest updates and developments in the Microsoft ecosystem?

With a rapidly evolving ecosystem like ours and with an ever-changing business climate, we have to rely on the power of technology to keep up with the latest updates, developments, and trends in the Microsoft ecosystem.

I leverage the power of the LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn to stay up to date on our partners' business, rely on investor reports, and have intentional, regular communication with partners globally managed within the Business Applications ecosystem. I also keep connections with the senior leaders of our various partners irrespective of what solution areas they focus on – Azure, Business Applications, Modern Work, Data and AI, or Security.

Question 2: What are some of the emerging trends in the ISV space, and how is Microsoft positioning itself to take advantage of those trends?

We see many emerging trends, which are also rapidly evolving.

1. First, ISVs intentionally drive industry expertise and reposition their strategies to attract customers from targeted industries. This impacts ISVs that have hitherto employed a 'horizontal' go-to-market strategy. At Microsoft, we have enabled a Customer-First approach by aligning our seller and partner teams and Solution Priorities to Industries. We are also very excited about our Industry Clouds, which enable us to develop a predictable framework for our ISVs to build excellent industry offerings on the Microsoft Cloud and get recognition.

2. Second, we see many ISVs looking to partner with other ISVs that may have complementary offerings targeted at a specific industry, geography, or even different offerings. This is one of the areas I am very excited to continue to champion at Microsoft, and it is a very brilliant strategy as it allows not only System Integrators [SIs] and ISVs to partner but ISVs to work together to create an even more compelling value proposition built on the Microsoft Cloud. At Microsoft, we are constantly prioritizing our partner selection processes to ensure a right fit as we map the expertise of our ISVs to customer scenarios. This singular approach enables us to drive significant collaboration across multiple partners as they land Digital Transformation scenarios with our customers, working together with our Seller and Field teams.

3. Third, there is also a proliferation of Artificial Intelligence in the ISV Space as many ISVs are seeking ways to infuse feasible business scenarios into their product with AI. With our recent work on Chat GPT and Generative AI, it is imperative to continue to explore ways to ensure that AI is ethically leveraged to improve business outcomes and help our partners grow their revenue. Open AI is one of the ways we are enabling our partners to do more with less and enhance their product offerings with AI.

4. Fourth is the Commercial Marketplace. With the ever-rising costs of doing business and the macroeconomic conditions, partners are looking for ways to reach more customers with marginal increases in costs of sale. The Microsoft Commercial Marketplace allows our ISVs to publish their offers on the Azure Marketplace or AppSource. This helps our ISVs expose their offerings to the vast community of Microsoft customers and seller communities.

Question 3: What are some opportunities you would be looking at this year?

I expect to continue to help our partners transform their businesses and guide to help them with much-needed guidance to get the right levels of visibility with our sellers, field teams, and customers.

Question 4: How do you see the future of Microsoft evolving, and how do you plan to stay ahead of the curve?

Microsoft has and continues to evolve to become a platform of choice for enterprises. Microsoft continues to help provide the needed business outcomes for our customers and partners while maintaining the required confidentiality and privacy standards. As we continue to invest in Industry expertise, a rich Partner Ecosystem, AI, and the Commercial Marketplace, Microsoft is rapidly transforming from a Cloud Technology Provider to an Ecosystem-Driven Business-Outcomes Platform that empowers innovation at a personal level.

For me and all of us at Microsoft, maintaining a growth mindset and continuous learning will be critical for success. We will have to let passion lead as we resolve complex problems for our customers and partners.

Question 5: A piece of advice that you'd like to share with our readers?

I would like to share this with the readers: Invest your passion in projects and initiatives that can improve the quality of human life and simplify complex processes.

Get to Know Our Influencer

What is the best event that you attended recently? What were your key takeaways?

Microsoft Leadership nominated me to participate in the Leading the Future Cohort for Microsoft Future Leaders. It helped me shape my perspective and provide validation for a lot of personal convictions on the work that I do.

As a result, I came out of that 9-month training session with more clarity on what it becomes to be a true impactful business leader at Microsoft and with the confidence to take on even more complex yet unsolved projects while scaling through others to drive broader impact.

What's your success mantra?

He teacheth my hands to war so that mine arms break a bow of steel. “Psalm 18:34 KJV”