Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

re: Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

David Schrag — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 23:42:10 GMT

For me, the change can't come fast enough. See davidschrag.com/.../identity-check-time-for-my-profession.

re: Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

Gareth — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 12:34:59 GMT

Wasn’t change always declared as a constant?

Around Microsoft, an ecosphere of partners has evolved who differentiate themselves by geography, skill and competency. Ok so the revenue from a particular service provided by partners may be eroded by Microsoft through commoditisation of services.

But those who anticipate the change will further seek to evolve and differentiate their businesses. The SBSC is a great example this. Smaller partners who have come together to form relationships that emphasise their particular skills, development, distribution, installation, implementation, support, the list grows continually.

» A Brave New World

» A Brave New World — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 22:13:40 GMT

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So what do you think?

E-Bitz - SBS MVP the Official Blog of the SBS "Diva" — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 19:26:34 GMT

uksbsguy.com/.../microsoft-web-services-new-business-models-and

SBSC is dead... long live SBSC... at BMS Blog: SBS Consulting in the UK

SBSC is dead... long live SBSC... at BMS Blog: SBS Consulting in the UK — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:03:50 GMT

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UK SMB Girl » The changing face of a Small Business Specialist

UK SMB Girl » The changing face of a Small Business Specialist — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:07:51 GMT

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Vlad Mazek - Vladville Blog » Blog Archive » Microsoft’s Software Without Service, The end of SBSC and Why you should never partner with Microsoft if you wish to run a profitable business.

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 02:19:54 GMT

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re: Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

Richard Evans — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:28:12 GMT

David

You are absolutely right ' a change is gonna come' and it's already happening.

A few years ago I honestly thought that I could make a business out of simply installing SBS, and I have. However, more and more of my customers are saying 'now what'? They want to utilise this platform that they have purchased for more thatn just email, internet and the odd accounts package. As SBSpecialists we need to be looking at extra bow strings to enable our businesses to grow. That can mean developing our own skills and/or joining with those who have other skills. I foresee a periiod of consolidation in the SBSpecialist community, where individual SBSpecialists will join together formally or informally to be able to offer a wider range of skills and perhaps cover a larger geographic area.

As someone who has been around the IT industry for about 37 years (yes I know I only look 25!!), it is interesting for me to see the way that the 'developer' landscape has changed. When I first came into the industry, they were 'KING'. When packages like Access, Excel and others came along, a lot of the 'developer' skills were made redundant (suddenly everyone could write a database, including me). Now, with the advent of 'cloud' technology, there is a lot more need for developer skills again as a way of making money out of the new technologies. If you don't have those skills (and I came up through the engineering route not the developer route) then you sure as hell need to get them, either through training, through aquisition or through 'borrowing'.

Life in IT is never boring. It will certainly be interesting in 5 years time to come back to your comments and see how we feel about them then! I guess by that time we will be too busy worrying about something that, at the moment we can't even imagine.

re: Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

Steve Wright — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 14:18:45 GMT

Or put another way:

“He Knows changes aren’t permanent, but change is” which is a line I’ve poached from Tom Sawyer by Rush.

Much of what you’ve written hits the nail on the head for me. Our business model is unrecognisable compared with how it was even 6-7 years ago. Back then we were building our own systems for a start, which we wouldn’t even consider doing these days. We had no Managed Service offerings in our portfolio and the idea of hosting software for our clients wasn’t even on the radar!

It seems to me that human nature is to resist change; we don’t like it because it introduces new elements that we are unfamiliar with. This takes us out of our comfort zone and makes us nervous.

I know for a fact if we had not drastically altered our business model 5 years ago we wouldn’t be in business now. As it is, we are now enjoying our best ever year and looking forward to the upcoming opportunities that software plus services will bring. Of course it isn’t all positive and on occasions we’ve invested time and money in technologies and ideas that for whatever reason haven’t taken off as expected.

I’m sure there are SBSC partners out there thinking “this hasn’t got anything to do with me, I’ll just keep my head down and carry on doing what I’ve always done”. My advice would be wake up and smell the coffee! Go take a look at the Microsoft Partner site and listen to the keynote speeches – it’s very obvious where Microsoft is heading. Sometimes these things take you by surprise. We lost a deal not long ago when an accountant decided to go with a competitor that offered a fully hosted solution and we were recommending an on premise SBS solution. It was an easy decision for the client because he didn’t have the money to spend on the infrastructure but was happy to rent licences on a monthly basis as he needed them. Needless to say that was our wake up call and hosted solutions are now very much a part of our business model. You know something is starting to gather momentum when accountants start to embrace it!

I too have been accused of being arrogant, usually when I’ve suggested to partners they should give up running their own business and go work for someone else – not really what they want to hear, but if they think all their job entails is building and installing infrastructure, better to pack up now rather than later when the bank manager comes knocking at the door. Profit is a RESULT, not an objective, and comes from good marketing combined with the efficient running of the day to day operation of the business.

What should partners be looking to do so they can start to move towards a new business model? Well, for me it means stepping back from the technical day to day business and planning how we are going to move forward. Looking for ways to market the new services, how to get the message across to our existing clients as well as new prospects. Things like add-ons that are a no brainer for the customer to sign up to once they’ve got the concept of SaaS. For example, what about signing up to resell business grade broadband from a wholesale ISP? It’s OK having all that software hosted out there in “the cloud”, but if your customer has a 512Kb connection intended for home use what’s the point? Be ready with a solution when they say, “how do we overcome this problem?”

Personally, we’re looking at 3 areas right now to enable us to move forward, and we think these fit nicely with Software + Services. First is MS CRM. Companies are already using CRM packages online such as salesforce.com. The next version of MS CRM should mean a friendly hosting model which we want to capitalise on. Not just the initial sign-up, but the customisation and support which is where the real money is. Secondly, Sharepoint. The launch of Office 2007, Office Live and related technologies means a lot of revenue can be generated from the customisation of these technologies. Thirdly, the SPLA model where we host everything for a client either offsite or on premise. Each of these either follows or compliments the way things seem to be going at the moment. I’m sure there will be tweaks and changes along the way. Some things will work and some things wont.

I think Microsoft are hedging their bets with their take on SaaS. After all, Microsoft generates huge revenue from the sale of software in its traditional form and it will take some time for them to move to a new business model which is surely what has to happen if thy are to remain in their current position. There are too many other companies either on the heels or ahead of Microsoft to stand still. The whole Software + Services scenario is a much more rounded model than straight SaaS which I think will work not only for Microsoft but also for partners who embrace it.

I have run BMS for nearly 15 years and no matter what has happened over the years one thing has remained constant – change. You can’t stop it, so the best thing to do is embrace it, enjoy the challenges and hopefully make some money along the way!

re: Microsoft, web services, new business models and small business

steve clayton — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:41:19 GMT

great post David :)