Inner Circle Overview
The Inner Circle program trains, enables and engages specialized application life-cycle management partners worldwide who:
- Engage deeply with the Developer & Platform Evangelism ("DPE") sales and marketing field to proactively drive solution sales of Visual Studio Team System software development tools;
- Deliver one or more consulting/implementation/training service offerings to enable customers to improve their development capabilities and achieve ROI on their Team System tools investment, for example:
- Instructor led deep-dive training/coaching workshop services
- Customization, integration/extension, and deployment services
- Process design & Improvement consulting services
- Software Quality implementation/Testing services
- Proactively share engagement best practices/learnings with Inner Circle partner community
- Provide constructive feedback to advance adoption and sales of Team System products
- Commit to enrolling in the ALM Competency which will be created as part of the Microsoft Partner Program in 2010
VSTS Inner Circle has 3 key pillars:
1) Readiness; 2) Engagement; and, 3) Specialization. Inner Circle partners receive access to: early content via the Inner Circle portal, Team System training, online partner community discussions, invite-only briefings from Team System experts, additional Team System software license benefits, special awards and recognition, and engagement with the Microsoft sales field.
The sales and marketing field in Microsoft subsidiaries worldwide are responsible for evaluating and submitting partner nominations. Contact your local Sales & Marketing representative to evaluate participation eligibility. If your local Sales & Marketing representative decides that you meet eligibility, you can apply for the program at this site. Partner nominations will be reviewed and successfully enrolled partners will be notified via email.