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Must attend UK event - filling up fast - Wembley 7th October - Microsoft Partner Network

[updated with correct URL] I saw this and thought I should pass it on. Microsoft Partner Network 2009 will explore strategies that enable you to continue to meet customers' needs and exploit new opportunities. Designed for Partner executives and sales leads, this event follows on from the Worldwide Partner Conference in July and provides more details of our UK execution plans. Join us for: - Insights from Microsoft executives as they share the Microsoft vision and strategies together with business growth...

Published Fri, Aug 28 2009 8:45 AM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Event, Microsoft, Marketing, If you only read one post today, Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)
Can't find the WSS (Windows SharePoint Services) sales and marketing toolkit for SBS 2003 - here it was

I've had someone ask me about the WSS toolkit that was referenced at How to Sell, Deploy, and Build Business with Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and SBS 2003 R2 . The download location has moved to http://www.partnersalesresources.com/Pages/sbskit.aspx# . ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows SharePoint Services , WSS v3 , SBS , SBS 2003 R2 , Microsoft , Partners

Published Fri, Sep 5 2008 8:18 AM by David Overton

Filed under: SBS 2003, Office System, Support and Tools, Business, Windows SharePoint Services, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Documentation, Tips, Small business, Partner, SharePoint
Microsoft wants to know what you want for the UK SBS 2008 Launch? Time to stop saying you want it better and time to start saying what you actually want and would use!!

One thing I have never been accused of is holding back my opinion and on the Yahoo Groups recently there has been some discussions around what Microsoft has done for partners. As part of the discussion this blog post from Sonal, the UK Product Manager for SBS 2008 and EBS 2008, came up with a question around what do partners want to see in a UK launch. I thought people who read this blog might like to pop over to Sonal's blog and give a voice to their wants. I've seen suggestions from free beer, which...

Published Sat, Jun 28 2008 7:38 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Support and Tools, Business, Community, Event, SBSC, Microsoft, Documentation, Marketing, Small business, Partner, Windows Server 2008, SBS 2008
Proof that SBSC partners can grow from 1-man businesses into Microsoft Certified Partners – and still be good for small business – congrats Richard Tubb

I remember the name Richard Tubb being mentioned a few times over the last 2 year and remember him on some of the Live Meetings I delivered and then he launched his blog. One thing that was apparent from his questions, contacts and especially his blog is that this is a man that “got it”. Now there are a few others that I believe live and breathe this attitude and to name some and miss others would be bad, so I wont name any (if you want to know if your on my “I love you man” list, drop me an e-mail, but I’ve...

Published Tue, Jun 10 2008 9:07 AM by David Overton

Filed under: SBS 2003, Business, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, Partner
Want to legally download Microsoft Software (Vista, Office, Works, Maths and Expression) - go to the www.MicrosoftStore.co.uk (UK & Germany for now)

I would have put money on this not happening this year, but finally there is a legal place for people to download full copies of Microsoft products. Go to http://www.MicrosoftStore.co.uk and you can buy software and download it there and then. At the moment this is limited to the UK and Germany, but I would personally expect it to go broader like all Microsoft ventures! I suspect the list of products will also expand. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Windows Vista , Office 2007 , Works 9 , Expression...

Published Mon, Jun 2 2008 9:04 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Microsoft, Office 2007, Marketing, Small business, Internet and Web, Expression
Where will your customers be looking for solutions – will they stick to on premise, or will they move towards a S+S or SaaS solution not from you?

I know the table above is really, really simple, but I wanted to start the ball rolling – I have been thinking about this for ages!! Let me explain the diagram. The horizontal axis signifies how much of a solution is hosted. An example of this might be Office Live or Hotmail, where almost all of the solution is hosted. We then have the “on premise” or on-site IT going vertically. For most people, this is solutions like SBS 2003. A typical S+S solution might be MS CRM Online which has online components, but also...

Published Sat, Apr 12 2008 4:02 PM by David Overton

Filed under: SBS 2003, Business, Virtualisation, Community, Live, Software as a Service, SBSC, Microsoft, Office Live, SBS 2003 R2, mobile, Small business, Internet and Web, Partner, Licensing, Software plus Service, If you only read one post today
I know I shouldn’t, but the EU is beginning to make me wonder what they are playing at .. is it personal and how is it better for the people in the EU?

It is strange that I have come to accept that we live and work in a global economy quicker, it appears to me, than the EU. I accept that we can’t be the best at everything in the EU and we have to work out what our value is to others – true for every business. However, the EU seems to have an anti-non-EU feel to it. It also seems to want to create competition, even when no-one wants to compete – just to stimulate the industries, rather than because “punters are asking for alternatives”. This week I’ve seen two...

Published Fri, Apr 11 2008 4:43 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Personal, Microsoft, rant
ISVs can learn about Microsoft’s strategy and products and how they fit into selling solutions – come to the events in TVP and Manchester on the 10th and 24th April

One of the biggest criticisms of Microsoft by our ISV partners is that they don’t know where we are going… well this even should help solve that – see you there perhaps: Introduction 09.30 - 10.00 Registration & coffee 10.00 – 10.15 Welcome & Introduction Deliver Innovative Solutions 10.15 – 10.45 Microsoft strategy direction 10.45 – 11.30 Microsoft technology roadmap 11.30 – 11.50 Coffee break Increase your opportunities 11.50 – 12.15 Marketing & sales initiatives Close more sales 12.15 – 12.30...

Published Fri, Apr 4 2008 8:01 AM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Community, Event, Microsoft, Licensing, ISV
Understand Microsoft adCenter from the new Blogs & Forums that include the UK!!!

I spoke to Mel a few months back about how he can engage with the communities out there and he explained about the great facilities that he was helping with to enable people to understand more about advertising and the Microsoft solutions. He also pointed out to me the importance of getting the right ad in the right place and said that we are twice as good at that versus the competition (but then he is biased). Today the details of new blogs and information was released and finally you can ask all those "nasty"...

Published Tue, Mar 18 2008 12:53 AM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Microsoft
Manchester SBS Group (Kick Off Meeting) - 27th March 2008 - be there to see how it all starts again - with Chris Parkes, Ceri Thomas and me

Ceri Thomas is planning a new group in Manchester and Chris Parkes will be there to host things with him for the 1st meeting. I will also be there slightly later in the evening. Below is the mail sent out by Danny Ovens to SBSC members in the area, but all are welcome. Dear Partner New: Manchester SBS Groups (Kick Off Meeting) What is the purpose of the SBS User Group....? SBS User Groups are partner meetings, run by partner, for partners. They are an independent forum that enable partners to meet one another...

Published Thu, Mar 13 2008 8:04 AM by David Overton

Filed under: SBS 2003, Business, Community, Event, SBSC, Microsoft, SBS 2003 R2, Small business, Partner, SBS 2008
More ways to engage with customers using the Microsoft advertising campaigns

[updated 4th March] Many people congratulated Microsoft after the Mr Busy campaigns allowed partners to drive their customers back to them using a MS campaign. Well, this is now being repeated for a number of campaigns. Today I found the click and go site to get them all ( http://www.campaigns.arvato-services.com/ ). You can get 200 post cards or 1,000 e-mails for free and then a low price for additional cards/ e-mails if required. The campaigns covered include: Business Productivity Customer Acquisition and...

Published Tue, Mar 4 2008 9:00 PM by David Overton

Filed under: SBS 2003, Windows 7, Vista and XP, Office System, CRM, Support and Tools, Business, Windows Mobile, Windows SharePoint Services, Community, Windows Server 2003, SBSC, Microsoft, Windows Client, Vista, Office 2007, SBS 2003 R2, Marketing, Small business, Partner
Microsoft Online Services - beta in US, international .. not for a while yet, but you get to see where Microsoft is going!

What is it? I know Vlad is not going to like this, but even he will admit that this has been on the cards for a while. Software plus services is coming to town in a bigger and bigger way. At the moment there is a limited beta in the US and (just like Google), it has the beta tag on it . So what have we seen today, well we have seen Microsoft stand up and be counted in it's commitment to the software-plus-services strategy. We have seen existing "on premise" solutions of Exchange and SharePoint...

Published Mon, Mar 3 2008 9:01 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Community, Exchange, Hosted, Software as a Service, beta, Event, Microsoft, Office Live, Internet and Web, Partner, Licensing, Software plus Service, SharePoint, OWA, If you only read one post today
Microsoft Office Live Small Business v2 - have you got it already?

This happened a couple of weeks ago, but it is always worth sharing the improvements in Office Live. Not only do we have this going on, but we also have the beta of Workspaces progressing. Remember, your customers could benefit from Office Live and if you don't offer it, someone else might just offer them Office Live or something else, blocking you out from that customer as they grow in size. Microsoft Office Live Small Business is the award-winning, easy-to-use suite of Web-based software and services designed...

Published Sun, Feb 24 2008 11:29 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Windows SharePoint Services, Community, Hosted, Office Live, Small business, Internet and Web, SharePoint
Announcing the Retirement of the Partner TDT and Release of New Product Demos Resource

Chris Parkes sent a mail round internally telling us about MORE resources & demos etc available to partners. Chris has written about it on his blog (discovered this after I wrote this - here , there may be some comments on his worth reading, so double check!!) The Demo Showcase has been extended to include Deep Dive/Product virtual environments *which are available to all partners * Only Demo Showcase remains as the Gold/Cert benefit moving forwards... The following are now available for immediate download...

Published Thu, Feb 7 2008 5:53 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Support and Tools, Business, Community, SBSC, Demo, Partner
Time to Nominate your solutions for the Awards at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference!

You may remember people who have one awards at the Worldwide Partner Conference before - is it your time now? I saw Steve Morrow (my boss) has put some great information on the UK ISV blog and while he is thinkking about it from a purely ISV point of view, you could apply under any of the categories. Time to Nominate your Applications for the Awards at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference! Time to submit your entry for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Awards program! This is a great way to get...

Published Tue, Feb 5 2008 11:45 PM by David Overton

Filed under: Business, Developer, Community, ISV, Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)

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