What to look for when choosing a Microsoft Cloud Distributor

In the first part of this series, I talked about competencies, support, and skills. In the second, I built that out to practices, platforms and partnerships. In this post we'll look at the importance of choosing a CSP Distributor who role models the best use of technology, solicits frank and open feedback, and provides thought leadership through its people and its media. (If you're new here because Microsoft has moved you off direct-bill CSP, start with Part One; it sets the questions up.)

Part of the role we all have, from vendor through distributor down to the trusted advisor IT partner working directly with end customers, is to evangelise the benefits of using the latest technologies. Each of us, regardless of role, has an opportunity to influence people every day through the way we use technology. That's why this first topic is something I take very seriously.

Practicing what you preach

You're probably familiar with the phrase 'do as I say, not as I do'. Too often it's the unspoken mantra of the channel, with partners selling the future while running on dated technology themselves. I have some sympathy with the 'cobbler's children having no shoes' situation, but I don't accept it. One of the things I'd encourage you to look at is how seriously your prospective CSP Distributor takes its own IT, and its own adoption of the things it wants to sell you.

In 2026 that's an interesting and uncomfortable question. The current test isn't whether their offices look slick. It's whether they actually use Microsoft 365 Copilot day-to-day; whether their pre-sales teams build agents in Copilot Studio rather than just talking about them; whether they have a sensible posture on data classification, sensitivity labels, conditional access and Zero Trust; and whether they can show you what good looks like from their own rollout. If they can't, they have no business advising you on yours.

Here are some questions I'd ask to find out more:

1. How do you role model adoption of the technologies you sell, in particular Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio agents, and Microsoft Entra?

2. What have you learned from your own Copilot deployment (use cases that landed, use cases that didn't, governance choices, change management) that you can share with me?

3. How do you support your employees to experiment with Azure and Copilot? (Visual Studio subscriptions, internal use rights, sandbox tenants, prompt libraries, agent build environments.)

4. What's your own agent governance model, and how would you help me stand one up for my customers?

Taking a modern, regularly updated, forward-thinking IT stance should be the default for everyone (and I work in something of a tech bubble, I haven't forgotten that). With Microsoft 365 Copilot and custom agents reshaping how work gets done, and with Windows 10 end-of-support now behind us and a steady drumbeat of legacy platform retirements still to come, there's plenty for resellers to be busy with. Why would you sign up with a CSP Distributor who doesn't take care of their own systems the way you'd advise your customers to take care of theirs?

Are you listening carefully?

Microsoft takes feedback seriously. It surveys its employees regularly and places huge importance on the output. Surveys are sent to customers and partners alike. Executives thumb through verbatims, look at trends and spend a chunk of time learning from feedback so we can give our customers and partners better service. This feedback loop is critical to driving satisfaction. Yet, how many CSP Distributors regularly solicit honest and open feedback from you? Here's what I'd be asking if I were looking for a new provider:

1. How will you listen to my feedback and concerns, and how often?

2. What measures do you use as an organisation to track partner satisfaction and success (CSAT, NPS, retention, time-to-first-deal)?

3. What examples do you have of changes you've made to the way you operate based on feedback from your reseller partners?

A successful partnership is one with regular, honest dialogue. A CSP Distributor with a healthy interest in its customers (that's you) is more likely to provide excellent service than one who never takes the time to ask. People talk often about going on a journey, about continuous improvement. As an excellent person I work with regularly likes to say: "If you're going on a journey from A to B, it's a bloody good idea to know where A is to start with", and I think they're right. The way to find out is to get feedback.

What's next?

In meetings, I usually describe my role as a strategist as taking the 'firehose' of Microsoft products and services and focusing it down to the most important and relevant areas to help my partners and their customers succeed. To place the right bets. It's an important role, and one with significant influence over a partner's technology strategy. I see CSP Distributors as a sort of 'scale' version of that, across multiple vendors.

A CSP Distributor worth listening to is one who provides regular, insightful thought leadership: people who can inspire others to think about new ways to solve problems and new approaches to implementing solutions. People who can take the 'firehoses' of all their vendors, including the rapid drumbeat of AI announcements at Build, Ignite and beyond, and translate them into a coherent strategy for building repeatable, profitable and meaningful practices, solutions and IP. Here are my top questions:

1. Where can I follow your business and your people online to learn from them (LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, podcasts, GitHub)?

2. Do you have any Microsoft MVPs or Microsoft Regional Directors on your staff? Do you sponsor and contribute to community events?

3. How will you help me keep up to date with the latest technology trends, opportunities and advances, particularly across the AI Cloud Partner Program, marketplace, and the Frontier Firm narrative coming out of Microsoft's Work Trend Index?

Passionate people generally like to share their interests with others. It's infectious. Part of being an MVP is being an outstanding contributor to a community. CSP Distributors have big communities, and you should join one with a collaborative, sharing nature.

Conclusion

CSP Distributors come in all shapes and sizes. They got here following different routes. The one thing that unifies them is their status as a CSP Distributor. It's a great leveller. Reflecting on the questions I've posed in these three posts, I recognise not every CSP Distributor will have a great answer, nor will they take the same approach. The point of these posts is to show that there's more to working with a 'disti' than price, and more you should demand: especially now, as Microsoft pushes the Frontier partner agenda and as direct-bill CSP becomes the preserve of a smaller and smaller group of partners.

I hope these posts help you take a different approach to choosing a CSP Distributor. Find me on LinkedIn, let me know how you get on.