Microsoft Lures Channel With New Rebate Offer

Microsoft channel partners that sell unified communications, Forefront, CRM, and Office Enterprise, and other products could earn rebates of up to 30 percent under a newly unveiled Open Value incentive program.

Open Value, a program aimed at small and midsize organizations with fewer than 250 seats, allows organizations to manage Microsoft software licenses under a single agreement, and includes Software Assurance maintenance and support. Open Value allows solution providers to act as technology influencers and receive commissions, while distributors are aggregators that execute the licenses.

Unlike the Open Value campaign Microsoft ran last year, which allowed partners to earn rebates of up to 10 percent on product sales, the new campaign enables partners to earn up to 30 percent off the estimated retail proce of certain products, according to Hany Adeeb, Microsoft's program manager for Open Value.

Microsoft has organized the campaign around three product categories: Green, Blue, and Orange. Partners can get rebates of up to 30 percent on Green category products, which include Microsoft Project, Visio, Management Server, Unified Communications, Forefront, CRM, Office Enterprise, OneCare, and the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack.

Partners are eligible for rebates of up to 10 percent on Blue category offerings, which include SQL Server and CALs, Windows Server and CALs, Exchange and CALs, Small Business Server and CALs, Windows client, and SharePoint. The Orange category, the lowest rung, includes Office Standard, Office Small Business Edition and Windows TS client access license (CAL), and offer partners a 1 percent rebate.

The new Open Value campaign applies retroactively to all sales agreements closed since Feb. 23 and will run until the end of Microsoft's fiscal year on June 27, and partners can expect to receive a lump sum rebate check by mail around the middle of August, Adeeb said.