by Justin Slade, Senior Director, Strategy, Microsoft Global Partner Skilling
A new year is a natural planning moment. Partners are navigating various pressures and opportunities, including fast-moving AI, shifting cloud workloads, rising security expectations, and data becoming a bigger part of every solution motion. In that environment, skilling can’t be treated as an optional add-on. It’s a core business priority that supports what partners care about most: winning work and delivering it with confidence.
That’s the lens I’d encourage you to bring into 2026 planning. Not what courses should we take, but what technical and sales capabilities do we need to build so we can execute more consistently across sales and delivery.
How data makes the case for readiness and enablement
In December 2025, Forrester Consulting published a Total Economic Impact study, commissioned by Microsoft, on the partner opportunity for the Microsoft skilling and enablement offerings. The study modeled a composite organization based on interviews with partners who experienced the offerings.
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