I absolutely agree with you (wise words as always) and the Blue Badge by itself is not the answer, it's only a piece in the jigsaw. Also, it's not just about raising awareness with end users, it's also about getting recognition with RDAs, Business Links, etc. You don't have to have the Blue Badge to do this but it gives us a reasonably coherent identity that other people can understand. Microsoft has limited resource to deal with all the local infrastructure in the UK and that is where we can try and make the contacts. My point is, let's not wait around for Microsoft to do everything for us. Let's get proactive and see what we can do. I believe that lots of small efforts will eventually make a difference.

I agree with some of what everyone has said on this - what Susanne commented on my blog, what David has posted here and with Vijay.

I accept that it is not Microsoft's job to find sales leads for us and I also agree that the blue badge makes a useful differentiator once I'm in front of a prospect.

I'd also like the community to take the initiative and do its own promotion. As a micro-business owner, I'm still on a learning curve in this business and I can't afford to do much on my own. I would like SBS South Wales to do something as a group, but our group has been motivationally challenged lately - a situation that I hope will change in the near future.

And yes I agree, overall, SBSC has been a fantastic opportunity. Let's not lose sight of that. I have basically used SBSC and the Partner Programme as a stepping stone to transition from my career as a software engineer to running my own IT business. TiGra Networks hasn't rocketed to super-stardom, but we are growing 'organically' which is just how I like it. Much of what we've achieved has been at least partly attributable to Microsoft's partner programme, the Small Business Specialist Community and Action Pack. It has been a slow journey while we get our own vision, ethics and practices sorted out, but the community has had a huge influence and on a personal level, I have had a lot of benefit from it. I've gone from knowing no-one in the IT business to being friends with people that I consider to be the foremost IT professionals in the UK, forming partnerships and developing a business model based on their experience.

I hope that puts my sometimes scathing opinions in the proper context. So with that said, I do think there has been a missed opportunity with the blue badge, and I have fed my views back to Microsoft at every opportunity, like a stuck record. There is no point reiterating that here, but I do think it is important to occasionally ask the controversial questions, to challenge Microsoft rather than just accepting everything it says as gospel. To me, this is part of what the community is all about - the fact that we can have this conversation is a tribute to its success.

Answering my own question , " I do ". And I hope you do too. Here's why. I have received feedback through