Why Public Policy Is Now a Growth Lever for Microsoft Partners
Welcome back to IAMCP Profiles and Partnership, the podcast where we spotlight the partnerships, strategies and real world collaborations that help Microsoft partners grow stronger together. I'm your co host Anthony Carrano. Every episode, we sit down with the leaders, innovators, and community builders who are shaping the future of the Microsoft partner ecosystem. So if you're new to the show, the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners, better known as IAMCP, is a global community built on one simple idea: partners succeed faster when they succeed together. So whether you're looking for new customers, new markets, or new solutions, IAMCP gives you the relationships, resources, and opportunities to accelerate your growth.
Anthony Carrano:Today's episode is a special one. We're exploring a dimension of partnership that often goes unseen but affects every partner listening public policy. And we're joined by two leaders who sit right at the intersection of technology, advocacy, and the Microsoft ecosystem. For Microsoft's US government affairs team, we have Mike McMahon, managing director of external affairs and the leader behind Voices For Innovation, Microsoft's public policy advocacy program for partners. And joining him is Marian Breeze, a member of VFI's advisory task force and an active Microsoft partner who brings the practitioner's perspective on why policy engagement matters.
Anthony Carrano:Together, we're going to unpack how laws, regulations and government leadership shape innovation, influence partner opportunity and impact the bottom line for every technology company, large or small. We'll explore how VFI empowers partners to stay informed, get involved, and even influence the policies that define the future of our industry. But before we dive in, consider this. How well do you understand the public policies that shape your business, your customers, and the entire Microsoft ecosystem? And even more importantly, what would it mean for your growth if you could influence those policies rather than just react to them?
Anthony Carrano:So settle in. This is going to be a powerful conversation about advocacy, impact, and the role every partner can play in shaping the tech landscape we all depend on. Let's get started. Mike, Marian, welcome to the podcast. I'm really excited to have you both on.
Mike McMahon:Thank you.
Marian Breeze:Thanks. Glad to be here.
Anthony Carrano:Yeah. Well, let's let's get into it. First, Mike, let's start off. Tell us a little bit about yourself. What's your background and, what's your role at Microsoft?
Mike McMahon:Well, Anthony, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. My name is Mike McMahon. I'm managing Director of External Affairs on the U. S. Government Affairs team based in Washington, D. C. The U. S. Government Affairs team is a part of CELA at Microsoft.
Mike McMahon:CELA stands for Corporate External and Legal Affairs and it's headed up by Brad Smith who's the Vice Chairman and President of Microsoft. What I do, what the team does here on the US Government Affairs team, is you work with like think tanks and trade groups and issue advocacy organizations on policy issues that are important to the tech sector in The US, to Microsoft, and by extension, the partner community. That's important because there are a number of organizations in town and across the country that are very engaged on policy issues. Members of Congress and state and local leaders, they're trying to determine how they might vote on something. They look for inputs.
Mike McMahon:They want to be really well informed. And so they look to their constituents. They look to their staff. They look to this think tank and trade organization community, issue advocacy organization for inputs. And so we want to make sure that we're talking to them, that we are learning from them, that helps shape our policy because they represent constituents around the country.
Mike McMahon:And we use that information and that engagement to try to help educate policymakers for sound tech policy. My background is I studied government and politics and a little bit of history in college and thought I'd go to law school. But I did campaigns first and I found that was far more interesting than tort law or anything else. And so I sort of stayed in the campaign environment for a number of years at the state and federal level working on some presidentials. And then I came to DC and worked in an issue advocacy organization. And then from there I went to work at Microsoft.
Anthony Carrano:Oh, excellent. Excellent. And then Marian, tell us a little bit about yourself and your role with VFI.
Marian Breeze:Hi, Anthony. It's a pleasure to be here. So my background actually originally started in the nonprofit sector. And like Mike, I had also worked on some campaigns, both legislative campaigns as well as political candidates. And I honestly, I think I kind of fell into working on tech policy.
Marian Breeze:It really started with an interest in broadband access and, making sure that there were, more opportunities for people from underserved communities to get engaged, and also to have access to broadband and, better technologies. Then I started working for a tech startup, and my experience over the last ten years has been working with startups and scale ups in corporate partnerships and business development. But throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to bring tech policy and issues around things like data privacy, broadband access, and now AI regulatory policy into my work and in working with customers and partners in the tech space.
Anthony Carrano:Oh, excellent. Excellent. Well, I'm really looking forward to this. This is gonna be a just a fantastic, you know, episode. And let's let's start off really just jumping right in just about Voices For Innovation.
Anthony Carrano:So, you know, Mike, as you said, you know, one of your key roles is managing the Voices For Innovation program. What does this program do and what role does it play within, you know, Microsoft's partner program?
Mike McMahon:Well, Anthony, laws, regulations, and government leadership impact the tech sector in so many ways. Public policies shape innovation and business growth for good and sometimes for bad. There's the law of unintended consequences in government and policy. So you can even say that public policy impacts the bottom line of every tech company in America, large and small. Microsoft believes it's important for partners to have access to information about technology policy debates.
Mike McMahon:We're all in this together, Microsoft partners, our shared customers as well. And so VFI educates partners about the most important tech policy issues that are facing tech companies today.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Now I know many of our listeners are smaller partners. So how does VFI help, specifically help SMBs, not just like the large enterprise partners, really differentiate themselves?
Mike McMahon:That's a great question, Anthony. Actually, the VFI community is mostly made up of SMBs. SMBs are an important part of every community. They're in every commercial district across the country. They create jobs and they have the ear of local elected officials and state elected officials and federal.
Mike McMahon:So in many ways, SMBs are just as important or maybe even more important than large enterprises in the policy arena. Elected officials really care what they think. Want to see these companies grow and succeed in their local districts because it helps everybody the in communities they live in, they really have a powerful voice. VFI also gives SMBs the chance to become policy experts. They can speak with as much authority on policy issues as anybody on this podcast can in time.
Mike McMahon:So in addition, an SMB that participates in VFI may be able to stand out from a competitor because they can speak very eloquently and informatively about important policy issues that might impact those customers. Privacy issue is an issue we'll probably get into a little bit later on. Privacy is an issue that impacts every business, because you have to comply with privacy policies. Knowing as a Microsoft partner what privacy rules are coming down the pipeline how you can help your customers prepare is a value add to the services you provide. So for these reasons, we think this is a very important program for SMBs.
Mike McMahon:Marian, maybe you can share some of your points of view on how VFI helps SMBs.
Marian Breeze:Mike, I would be glad to. I wanna echo something that Mike said, but also extend it a little bit. He talked about how tech policy impacts tech companies. And Mike and I have talked about this several times. I think that tech policy we've seen also impacts communities. Right?
Marian Breeze:So if we get back to something like broadband access or like data privacy, some of the work that we did here in the state of Connecticut around data privacy legislation was bringing together advocates from different sectors, SMBs, but across lots of different industries. So we had people from healthcare, we had retail, we had public and private partnerships. And getting their voice and their input into data privacy legislation not only made the data privacy legislation better here in the state of Connecticut, which became then a model for other states, but it also safeguarded us against some unintended consequences that would have happened without that input from a range of of SMBs that go beyond tech companies.
Anthony Carrano:Now what are some, you know, some examples of public policies that have impacted technology or just the partner ecosystem in general?
Mike McMahon:Well, I would say probably the biggest one, a big historic one, of course, is that the US government investment that spurred modern computing with the creation of the internet, that was done with government support of R and D, and that R and D comes from Congress appropriating that. So that's an important aspect of how the internet was built, and that R and D support is critical even today. Most recently, VFI was active in supporting policies to close their broadband gap. Marian has talked about that a little bit. Government policies supporting broadband infrastructure projects have helped more Americans connect and benefit from broadband, for instance, by providing access to education, job opportunities, telehealth during the COVID crisis and beyond.
Mike McMahon:So Microsoft partners have benefited from that as well. So you think about remote access during COVID and what we see today, that is all in part because of the access to broadband that really a gap that was closed significantly, although not entirely significantly over the last five or six years. Looking ahead, government policies can help maintain US leadership in AI and other areas of technology as well.
Anthony Carrano:And Marian, from your perspective, you know, as a partner, what's the role of VFI and how does it support you, you know, as a Microsoft partner?
Marian Breeze:There are so many ways that VFI supports me as a partner, both as a partner to Microsoft in our day to day business activities. But more importantly, it supports my customers and and my other partners outside of Microsoft. So some examples are when I'm about to meet with a partner or customer, I often go to the weekly executive briefing that's available on the Voices for Innovation website, and I'll just look at what the weekly news is. Just last week, there was something about broadband access reaching 100 Mbps for rural communities on average. That's an extraordinary statistic and much better than it was even three or four years ago.
Marian Breeze:So being able to talk to customers and partners that rely on customers in rural areas or that support rural areas, being able to highlight that as a reason for them to get engaged in tech policy is a great example. From a commercial perspective, there is so much noise out there. How to engage with customers and partners, how to have something interesting to talk to them about, how to be a thought leader, is possible because of the information and the resources that are provided by Voices For Inovation. So the executive week weekly briefing that is available on their website is a great resource for being able to connect tech policy to issues that customers and partners really care about.
Anthony Carrano:So Mike, what are some of VFI's activities?
Mike McMahon:So we're really focused on policy education. That's our mission here. So we provide information on policy debates that impact the tech sector. And then we let partners choose how they want to get involved, how deeply they want to get involved, and how they might engage. So what does that look like? We provide tech policy information to our members in a number of ways.
Mike McMahon:We highlight policy developments on LinkedIn, for example. We have a weekly executive briefing newsletter that we share every Friday. We also host deeper policy webinars with some policy experts on our US government affairs team, but also some folks from the business community at Microsoft. And then our most active members have attended summits in Redmond where we do deeper dives on some of these issues and we talk about some of the emerging tech. And we've hosted summits in Washington DC as well as capitals around the country at times.
Anthony Carrano:So in addition to just a lot of the extensive education that you guys provide, what about like actual advocacy action?
Mike McMahon:Well, good question. On key issues, we sometimes encourage partners to sign a joint letter. We'll have a, we may have a newsletter we push out that talks about an issue and then we'll offer a letter to Congress and they can sign on for a joint letter. We've met with policymakers, as I think I mentioned before. VFI members have met with state attorneys general at the state level, the FCC commissioners.
Mike McMahon:They've met with members of Congress, their own members of Congress in district and also here in Washington, D. C. It often takes years to advance a policy priority. So many VFI members have written with their members of Congress to help spell out, for example, the cloud computing rules that are so important to the world in which we all live in today. It was important to have clarity in this particular case around how government could access private data, private citizens' data that was stored in the cloud.
Mike McMahon:There were not really well defined rules about this until just a few years ago. So the VFI community got very involved in this issue. It took a couple of years. There are variations in amendments to bill language that took years, but ultimately Congress passed the Cloud Act, which is really an important milestone that has really helped the Cloud grow.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. Mike, I really appreciate the perspective there. Marian, now you're both a Microsoft partner and, you know, one who's very active in VFI. What motivated you to get involved?
Marian Breeze:I have been so excited to be involved in VFI over these last ten years. And I think what really motivated me for starters was specifically the broadband issue, which was something I had seen in my own community at the time, both here in Connecticut and also, with communities I've worked with in the San Francisco Bay Area, where you wouldn't expect there would be broadband access issues, but there certainly were. So getting engaged on broadband was the way that I sort of started in my journey with VFI. I wanna touch on the data privacy issue because, you know, Mike has mentioned and others have mentioned over the years how challenging this work can be. It can sometimes be that big wins take years.
Marian Breeze:There can be huge projects or initiatives that take a long time to get it right. There are also lots of small wins that get us there. And so, for example, the data privacy legislation that was passed in California, the CCPA, the data privacy legislation that was passed in Colorado, in Utah, Connecticut, I think, was the fifth state. And now as of this year, we have 300 pending state data privacy bills that are out there, which is a bit overwhelming, but it's also really exciting because it means that there are more stakeholders. There are more people involved and engaged.
Marian Breeze:And with that comes the opportunity for more people to have real impact at the local level. So an SMB, a small business owner who is perhaps tech adjacent, um, really, anybody is impacted. Everybody, every business is impacted by tech. So there are now so many more opportunities for more people to get involved and have some of those small wins today turn into much bigger wins in the future. And this is going to be especially important as we look at AI legislation and as we look at quantum legislation, which is now starting to to take hold and to gain momentum.
Anthony Carrano:Absolutely. I feel like we can probably just do a whole episode on that.
Marian Breeze:Exactly. Absolutely. And it would be great. Let's do that.
Anthony Carrano:Well, you know, you've got with I mean, quite just an extensive, you know, history, and I just love the perspective as both, you know, Microsoft partner and very active in VFI. You know, Marian, maybe could you dive into maybe some of the highlights of your participation in VFI and tech policy advocacy and maybe unpack some of those stories a little bit?
Marian Breeze:There are several highlights and amazing experiences that I've had as being part of VFI. From a strictly commercial perspective, one of my clients that I had worked with for years is a top five law firm here in The United States. To be able to reach out to them and mention on a call with some of their key stakeholders that there was a particular issue that I thought they would be concerned about regarding data privacy, they were immediately interested and engaged. They brought other stakeholders into the conversation. And we ended up having a much better conversation about archive data management, about data management in general, about data privacy, data protection.
Marian Breeze:And that led to a conversation around some of the cybersecurity protections that are built into Microsoft Azure. So that was a way of having a commercial conversation about data security and data storage, but it started with tech policy. And that particular client ended up coming to a VFI webinar that was available to the public, and several of their team have now been reading the the weekly executive briefings. They're big organization perspectives that can really be have a a significant impact on policy or on how that that organization, that law firm might make certain strategic decisions going forward. I think that the most important thing to me and the highlights for me are when I have the opportunity to talk to smaller stakeholders.
Marian Breeze:One of the examples that I often cite is a data privacy legislation bill that was pending and being on a call with some clinical data researchers. This was just before the pandemic hit in late 2019. And they were talking about the unintended consequences that would happen with certain data privacy protections that had been written into proposed legislation. Without their input from those clinical data researchers, we would have written legislation that would have had serious unintended consequences. So there's so many opportunities to bring in different stakeholders, to get fresh perspectives.
Marian Breeze:And although you may be coming from you know, a very different perspective on many issues, there's always opportunity to find alignment, to work on those things together, and to make better policy.
Anthony Carrano:And this has been very informative. And for those that are listening to just to learn more about Voices For Innovation, access just the vast array of educational materials, you can go to www.voicesforinnovation.org. The website has a lot of great information on it there. And so I wanted just to kind of get that out there because we're gonna shift now to more around some areas around policy discussion.
Anthony Carrano:And I know, you know, Marian, you know, you touched on it a little bit. I know, Mike, this question's gonna be, you know, starting for you about really wading into one topic that's on everyone's mind, AI, you know, and just so if you can, you know, address things around like, you know, do we need government policies for AI? You know, what's Microsoft's, you know, position and why is this important for the partner ecosystem specifically?
Mike McMahon:I'm sorry, Anthony. What's AI?
Anthony Carrano:It's we saw it, I think in Terminator, right? The Skynet.
Mike McMahon:The short answer is yes. Yes. We need, absolutely need sensible government policies that help drive U.S. AI innovation. That's really an important part of this is U.S. AI innovation because this is a global race. And we want to help ensure that AI is safe and trustworthy. And we all benefit from a policy framework that supports the AI economy, that prepares the workforce of AI in the future, and brings the benefits of AI education to a lot more people.
Mike McMahon:But getting those policies right is really in the details. Unfortunately, Congress has been very slow to act. The Congress has been very divided, closely divided for the last couple of sessions. That makes it really very hard to get something through. In fact, the last spending bill just had a two vote margin, which is just a very razor thin margin.
Mike McMahon:So it's hard to get stuff done, in Congress these days, which is why having these debates and having this kind of engagement is so critically important. We've seen the states begin to step in, in areas where Congress has been slow to act. Marian was talking about that a little bit in the privacy space. And though we think it would and we often think for many issues, it's great to have that at the state level. Some issues really, are best addressed at the federal level.
Mike McMahon:So I'm going to touch on privacy for a moment. I know that we've had some really strong successes in the tech sector and the work that Marian has done at the state level over the years. And that was critically important because it got what it did is it created movement at the state level and created more pressure on Congress to try to do something at the federal level on privacy. And ultimately, that's a better scenario because what we don't want to have as tech entrepreneurs is 50 different states with 50 different regulations on privacy that you have to try to address and manage. Big tech companies probably have the resources to do that, but SMBs simply do not.
Mike McMahon:And there's a lot of liability that comes with violations of data privacy laws. Marian mentioned that there are 300 bills addressing privacy at the state level. So we really want to see Congress kick in and do a national privacy law that is uniform that everybody can calibrate toward. And we hope that will happen this Congress. There is some momentum for that.
Anthony Carrano:Now what about some actions that Congress might also take, like, on policy? Like, just think about, like, things that, you know, actions that they might take that Microsoft's watching, you know, specifically around, like, energy policy, skilling. I know it was brought up earlier about quantum. Any of those kind of areas you'd like to address?
Mike McMahon:Absolutely. I think I'll start with just a couple. Energy policy and infrastructure. A very top priority for us is going to be around energy and infrastructure. The challenge in The US is that we're facing a sharp rise in electricity demand for a variety of reasons.
Mike McMahon:It's due to economic growth, the electrification of everything, including transportation and vehicles, and the rise of cloud computing. But our energy delivery system, the grid, has not kept up pace. It's been neglected for decades now. That's an issue that we really need to address desperately if we want to see the kind of progress in American leadership in AI that we all, I think, want. This is a structural challenge that's been decades in the making.
Mike McMahon:AI didn't create it, but it's accelerating the need to act. What's required is coordination at the federal, state, and local level. We need modernized transmission. We need faster permitting, clearer rules, and sustained investment from the federal government. Congress has a central role in treating grid modernization as an economic competitiveness and a national infrastructure priority.
Mike McMahon:So the need to work with state and local leaders to make this happen is absolutely critical. I'll say government action alone isn't enough. Companies have responsibility here too, and that's why Microsoft has leaned in. In January, Microsoft's Vice Chairman and President, Brad Smith, wants something that we call Community First AI Infrastructure Commitments. And what this means is that we will build AI where we build AI data centers, we'll pay our way so electricity rates don't rise locally.
Mike McMahon:We'll minimize or replenish any water that we use in the process and we'll create local jobs. We'll expand the tax base and we'll invest in AI training and local nonprofits. So communities are better off from having our data center presence and not burdened by them. And our commitment goes beyond where we have data centers through our Microsoft Elevate program. This is a program where we're expanding AI skills, education, and community capacity all around the world.
Mike McMahon:We're investing in people and opportunity everywhere, not just where infrastructure is built. So modernizing America's energy system requires its public leadership from Congress. It involves private responsibilities from companies like Microsoft, and Microsoft is committed to partnering with governments to strengthen these communities, closing the grid gap, and ensuring AI growth is sustainable for the future.
Anthony Carrano:That's fantastic. That's really, really impressive. Marian, would love to get your perspective.
Marian Breeze:So much to unpack here about AI and what responsible AI looks like. I think one of the things that as a member of of VFI and following along with the weekly executive briefings along with some of the the additional conversations that I have in community, It's extraordinary that Microsoft has taken this proactive step of providing the community's first program and the elevate program. And any IAMCP member, or other partner to Microsoft or even just a member of the community, I would urge you to look those up within the Microsoft website. Look at communities first, look at Elevate, and see sort of the standard that Microsoft is setting. I think it's it's a high bar, and it's one that we, in communities across the country, can expect and ask of our local legislators, what are you doing to support this so that we have the opportunity in our own communities to take advantage of this once in a generation opportunity to improve our infrastructure.
Marian Breeze:For those of us who've just been through recent storms this past winter, and many of us had lost power, have had real challenges around our electricity rates, this is an opportunity to change that conversation in a really meaningful way and to advance efficiency and also provide better infrastructure for our urban and rural communities.
Anthony Carrano:You know, it's interesting because I know just with our our my firm, you know, Dunamis Marketing, we work with obviously a lot of, you know, Microsoft partners. And as they're battling, you know, they're talking about like with AI, you know, one of the things that, you know, really is injected though, is with AI and now, you know, we're, you know, you're talking here, policy is, know, a big factor is cybersecurity, right? So cybersecurity is another area where policy and technology, you know, especially AI really collide. What should partners be aware of here?
Mike McMahon:Well, I couldn't agree with you more that cyber is a foundational issue for all this AI advancement that we want to promote. Microsoft's cyber policy priorities focus on three things when it comes to cyber. First, treating cybersecurity as critical national infrastructure because attacks now happen at hospitals, utilities, their elections are under assault, and governments across the board. It's not just companies anymore. So this is an important issue for us to address.
Mike McMahon:Second, we need to foster stronger government industry partnerships. So that means sharing threat intelligence, disrupting ransomware and nation state actors, and using AI to defend at speed. And then third, closing the capacity gap, helping governments modernize systems and grow the cyber workforce so security keeps pace with the threat. I mean, there are way more threat actors out there trying to attack than there are government professionals in cyber here in The US to defend. So we need to really address that issue, and skilling is a part of that.
Mike McMahon:But I would say this is all similar to aviation safety. When there's an accident involving aircraft in The US, the FAA coordinates across airlines, manufacturers, and regulators. That doesn't exist for cyber attacks. So cyber incidents need the same level of shared responsibility and federal coordination that we see in something like the FAA.
Marian Breeze:Anthony, one of the things that I've I've seen in the small business space, I have friends and colleagues who own small businesses, and the challenge for them is also very real. We've all gotten that data privacy letter from a large company when there's been a data breach, but there are day to day challenges that small businesses face. And this is a real opportunity for partners, companies that partner with Microsoft to provide thought leadership to those small businesses, help them understand what they can do to protect their data and offer best practices for how to manage the day to day challenges that they face. One of the organizations I would also urge organizations to look at is the cybersecurity tech accord. Again, it's you'll see a lot of large companies listed there as signatories to do cybersecurity protections, but they also have a lot of small businesses there too that they are supporting and promoting.
Marian Breeze:So there are many organizations out there in addition to voices for innovation that people can look at. But I would say there's a great opportunity for partners to help their customers with day to day cybersecurity challenges and to make sure that they're protecting their data before a cybersecurity attack happens.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. This all has been fantastic. I really enjoyed having you both on just learning about VFI and some of the, you know, the activities and just the things that are going on and how it affects the partner community and, you know, in particular, you know, the SMBs. And I hate to wrap it up, but this has been great.
Anthony Carrano:So, you know, if you're one of our listeners who are primarily Microsoft partners, what's your advice to them? How can they make an impact on tech policies?
Mike McMahon:So Anthony, first I would say I want to reiterate the point that this is really a dialogue that we have with the partner community through VFI. As I mentioned earlier in conversation, getting feedback from the partner communities, getting feedback from the think tanks and the issue advocacy organizations that we reach out to in my broader role is critically important to how we set our policy agenda. And so having the VFI flywheel that helps us get feedback from partners is so important because we can help represent your interests in these big policy debates that occur in Washington DC if you're not able to do that. So first I would say to everyone in the Microsoft partner community interested in tech policy is sign up for Voices For Innovation. You can do that at www.voicesforinnovation.org.
Mike McMahon:It's free. We watch policy. We keep you informed. We engage in friendly debate. And then you can choose how much you want to be involved and when you want to be an advocate.
Mike McMahon:And second, more broadly, make sure you register to vote and vote in every election. This is a fundamental way to participate in our nation's democracy and to help shape public policies. And it impacts you and your business. It impacts your families. It impacts your neighbors. So that's really a critical thing that I'd really ask everybody listening to make sure that you're doing that.
Anthony Carrano:No, that's fantastic, Mike. Now, you know, from what I understand, you know, VFI is primarily focused on U.S. Tech policy. About half our listeners are overseas and, you know, IAMCP is an international organization. So, you know, I want to ask you, like, how can VFI benefit technology professionals around the world?
Mike McMahon:Well, I'll start by saying in the past, we've worked with some of your colleagues around the world in the IAMCP, and I'm big fans of them. And so I loved working with them in the past and hope to do so again in the future. Many tech policy debates will directly and indirectly impact the global marketplace. So for instance, regulations about AI exports could impact costs and access to AI outside The US. So following US tech policy can help partners in other countries continue to keep to stay informed and keep their customer base informed about what's happening here in The US.
Mike McMahon:I think there's some value for them there. In addition, anyone following VFI can learn about how to become an advocate. You can develop these skills that we push out through our medium, through webinars and our blogs and newsletter updates, and you can develop these skills or bring them to policy discussions in your own countries. And I would encourage you to do so.
Anthony Carrano:And, you know, in wrapping up and, you know, lot of the links, just so our listeners know that were being shared here on the episode, we'll have these links directly in the show notes so folks can just go ahead and click and access. You know, so for partner listening, you know, wants to get involved, you know, what's that first step?
Mike McMahon:Go to voicesforinnovation.org and sign up. We promise not to flood your inbox with emails. Also, would encourage you to follow us on LinkedIn and join the conversation. And finally, I would encourage you to look for invites to webinars and policy briefings that you might find to be very interesting.
Anthony Carrano:Excellent. Excellent. Well, Mike, Marian, thank you so much. This was fantastic. I love the insights and we'll definitely have to schedule another time together to kind of dive in. Really appreciate you guys.
Mike McMahon:Sounds great, Anthony. Thank you. Thank you, Marian.
Marian Breeze:Thank you. Thanks for the time, everybody.
Anthony Carrano:A big thank you to Mike and Marian for joining our show today. This has been incredibly helpful. And I think the big takeaway here is that this isn't about politics. It's about awareness. It's about preparedness, and it's about partners having a seat at the table before decisions are made that impact their customers and their businesses.
Anthony Carrano:So as we wrap up today's conversation, one thing is crystal clear. Public policy isn't something happening, quote unquote, out there. It's shaping the opportunities, challenges and innovations inside every Microsoft partner business. And Voices for Innovation exists to make sure partners like you have a seat at that table. So if you're listening right now and you want to stay ahead of the policies that impact AI, cybersecurity, broadband, skilling and the future of our ecosystem, there's one simple step you can take: Join Voices For Innovation.
Anthony Carrano:It's free and it's built for partners, and it gives you direct access to the insights, briefings, and advocacy opportunities that help you lead, not just react. And of course, if you're not already part of IAMCP, this is the moment to plug into a global community of partners who collaborate, co sell and grow together. IMCP gives you the relationships, VFI gives you the policy intelligence. Together, they help you build a more resilient, future ready business. So here's your next steps.
Anthony Carrano:First, sign up for Voices For Innovation. You can do that by visiting www.voicesforinnovation.org/join. Number two, get involved in your local IAMCP chapter. You can start by visiting www.iamcp.org and click on connect in the top nav bar and then click on find a chapter. If you're not already a member, please join IAMCP.
Anthony Carrano:Number three, take one step, just one, toward being more informed and more engaged in the policies shaping our industry. Your voice matters. Your expertise matters. And as today's conversation showed, partners have real influence when they choose to use it. Thanks for joining us here on IAMCP Profiles and Partnership.
Anthony Carrano:I'm Anthony Carrano, and until next time, keep building, keep collaborating, and leading the way in the Microsoft ecosystem.
