Not sure how many partners in Australia use this complimentary online technical support service but it could be worth a look. Not the be all to end all of technical support, but another tool in your armoury.
Open to MAPS subscribers only, questions will be answered by the folks at Microsoft support with an SLA of 8 hours - though they nearly always get back to you a lot quicker than this.
Products include (but are not limited to): SBS, SQL, Windows Server, Office, Sharepoint, Vista, Exchange, Terminal Services & so on & so forth.
Cheers & if you sign-up, let me know what you think.
Robbie
See guest post #1 here.
Thanks,
Robbie
As the Australian SBS User Groups are changing focus, direction and names into the SMB IT Professionals groups, we need to ensure that we're not only changing our names, but living up to them. Microsoft has really expanded our market upwards by introducing EBS. The Enterprise players will generally look at this, see Wizards and dismiss it as a toy. We're in the ideal position to not only know this simply isn't right, but to be able take advantage of this new product and move into this mid-market space if we so choose. Some of our existing SBS clients will be ideal for EBS, some new clients will be ideal for EBS, some will be ideal for SBS and some will not fit either product - either too big (and then onto Windows Server 2008) - or too small (under 10 seats, so maybe Windows Home Server in a workgroup).
MAPS users are going to be receiving both SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 as a part of the Quarterly Update Kit that starts shipping on 24 October,2008 and in addition to this, SBS 2008 is already available on both MSDN and TechNet and EBS 2008 will be available there shortly. Having these products ship in MAPS (for Registered Member SBSCs) is an excellent way for smaller SBSCs to have a look at EBS and see if it is something they are interested in. If not, well, that's fine - at least as a member of one of the SMB IT Pro groups you will know who else in your region you may be able to work with if EBS seems a good fit for a client. That's what these groups are all about - sharing, learning and supporting the SMB IT Pro community. As SBSCs, we're a big part of that community.
As members of this larger SMB IT Pro community, the Australian groups are looking at being able to present a unified face to both vendors and our SMB clients - this means that if we play our cards right, we'll have more influence with vendors who understand the SMB marketplace which will bring benefits to both us as IT professionals and to our clients. To do this, we all have to ensure that we not only let the vendors know if and where they can better target their resources for our market segment, but we also need to ensure that when a vendor is doing something right, we let them know about it!
So, to kick things off here - and after all, this SBSC PAL thing isn't here *just* so I can pick on Microsoft, it is so that I can channel SBSC feedback to Microsoft and Microsoft feedback back to the SBSCs - what things are Microsoft doing right in the SBSC program and with the SMB marketplace in general? Please send comments directly to me at Hilton.Travis@SBSCPAL.com and while you're at it, please join up to the ANZ-SBSC Yahoo! Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ANZ-SBSC/) for SBSC-related discussions, questions and assistance.
http://blog.hiltontravis.com/
Regards,
Hilton Travis
Phone: +61 (0)7 3105 9101
Phone: +61 (0)419 792 394
Manager, Quark IT http://www.quarkit.com.au
Quark Group http://www.quarkgroup.com.au
Microsoft SBSC PAL (Australia) http://www.sbscpal.com/
We're in serious feedback gathering mode at moment & my colleague Vaughn Gourlie in the partner website team is looking for your input.
It'd be great if you can spare a few minutes to let us know the top 5 things you go to the Partner Portal to do, i.e. look for information on competencies, look for training, look for marketing materials etc.
This kind of guidance is extremely useful & know that your thoughts are considered & acted upon as we best we can. The last redesign of the homepage was based on feedback from partners who said it was too difficult to quickly find the information they were looking for.
So, what would you like to see?
Please email Portalhelp to send your feedback.
Thanks,
Robbie
As promised when summarising the feedback from the last series of SBSC roundtables (apologies for the delay), we would like to share our response to the questions & concerns that were raised.
You can download the document here that shows the issue, context & Microsoft Australia's thoughts & latest action plan.
This feedback also takes into account sessions such as the SMB pre-day at APC, various meetings & also the SMB Server pre-day from TechEd.
In summary:
- We not only hear you, but are listening
- The program is & will evolve based on this feedback
- We will not be able to do everything, but we (MS Oz & Corp) will continue to strive to make it a better program for both Partners & Microsoft, for the benefit of our mutual customers
As always we would love your feedback & so please contact me or our Partner Marketing Manager - Sarah Theiss with your input.
Cheers,
Robbie
Great to see some media coverage coming through for SBS MVP Stu Applegate & the team at Business Computing Australia, Microsoft's SBSC Partner of the year.
Check it out in the weekend's Courier Mail.
Robbie
Welcome to the first of our guest blogs from Hilton Travis, the Australian Small Business Specialist Partner Area lead.
Enjoy. :-)
Robbie
With the release of SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 just around the corner, now is the time to start looking at what these two new products have to offer if you’ve not had the chance to look already. SBS 2008 has already been released to manufacturing with the worldwide launch being slated for November 12, 2008 and EBS went RTM today – both products are available for download/CD shipment as Release Candidates and if you ask Robbie Upcroft nicely, maybe he still has a few copies left he can send out.
There have been a number of members of the local User Groups that have been looking into various aspects of these new products and who are more than willing to share their experiences with their respective User Groups. As we get nearer the launch date and for quite some time after, your local User Groups will be presenting material on SBS and EBS and along with the collective areas of experience that these User Group members have, this will ensure that we all get a good chance to look at and learn quickly about these new products. At this point in time, there is an unfortunate lack of real technical information released by Microsoft about these two new products, however with the upcoming SBS and EBS training that the Australian MVPs will be going to the USA to receive, along with the experience of the user group members, there’s no doubt that we’ll be able to bring ourselves quickly up to speed.
I therefore encourage all Australian SBSCs to join their local User Group (see http://www.sbsgroups.com.au/default.aspx for a complete list) so they can participate in the Community (the “C” part of the SBSC designation) and give their own input as well as receive help and support from other User Group members. The Perth User Group is just starting off and has had one meeting already – they don’t have a web presence as yet, but as the group grows this will follow, so feel free to contact Robbie (rupcroft@microsoft.com) or myself (Hilton@sbscpal.com) about the Perth User Group. As well as your local User Group, there are two Yahoo! Groups for all Australian and New Zealand SMB IT specialists – the ANZ-SMB-ITS list is for anyone working as an SMB IT specialist to discuss general SMB IT issues that are not specific to a local area, and the ANZ-SBSC group which is specifically for SBSC-related discussions.
Thanks,
Hilton
Given that Small Business Server 2008 & Essential Business Server 2008 have now been released to manufacturing, I'm happy to report that both will be included in the next release of the Microsoft Action Pack. Check out the full listing of contents here.
This is due for shipment on October 24th meaning you should start to receive your kits in the weeks following - hopefully ahead of the WW customer launch on November 12th.
If you're not currently subscribed, then now's your chance to sign-up to receive loads of software, content & training that can help you spot, sell & close deals.
Enjoy,
Robbie
Great pick-up from Nick Mayhew's blog around the upcoming Partner-to-Partner networking nights. Open to Gold, Certified & SBSC partners.
This round will focus on Local Government & whilst there's no specific focus on SMB per se, it could still be a useful night out for you if you're interested in meeting the local Microsoft folk & chatting to other partners in this space.
Space limited & so register here today.
Robbie
One of the consistent pieces of feedback we receive is that there's not enough training around Volume Licensing. So in conjunction with Ingram Micro, here you go: register your attendance.
Cheers,
Robbie
Volume Licensing Boot Camps
Want to build your licensing capabilities and strengthen your understanding of new technologies?
Ingram Micro and Microsoft would like to invite you to attend the first in a new series of Volume Licensing Boot Camps. This series of Boot Camps scheduled for September/October will help build your licensing capabilities in the areas of Open License, Open Value, and strengthen your understanding of Software Assurance, Software Asset Management and Virtualisation. Boot Camps will be run on a quarterly basis with new sessions available each time, and fantastic prizes to be won.
The first sessions are:
SYDNEY
24 Sept 2008 | 8:30AM to 11:00AM AEST
BRISBANE
9 Oct 2008 | 8:30AM to 11:00AM AEST
MELBOURNE
8 Oct 2008 | 8:30AM to 11:00AM AEST
PERTH
7 Oct 2008 | 8:30AM to 11:00AM AWST
Be sure to pass this invitation to other interested parties and peers.
For more Microsoft training, click here
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There must be something in the water up north as another Qld SBSC partner picked up an award at the recent Australian Partner Conference held in Port Douglas.
Congratulations to Productiv, Partner of the Year for Information Worker Solutions, Portals and Collaboration.
Cheers & well done,
Robbie
Big congratulations to Stuart Applegate & the team from Business Computing Australia after they picked-up the SBSC Partner of the Year award at the recent Australian Partner Conference in Port Douglas.
In the words of Inese Kingsmill, Microsoft Australia Director of SMB:
"We are delighted that BCA, a Microsoft Certified Partner has been awarded Small Business Specialist 2008 at our recent Australian Partner Conference. BCA truly epitomises what this award category recognises - Integrity and reliability of technology solutions and services, Community focus, Partnership with Microsoft and Trusted Advisor status with its small and medium business clients. Stuart Applegate is a very active and highly respected member of the Microsoft Partner Community and this award is a testament to his and BCA's tremendous contribution."
Special mention to the other SBSC finalists as the competition really was intense - Calvert Technologies, Comcity Technology & Evolve IT.
Cheers & well done to all,
Robbie
Straight from the official SBS product team blog, Small Business Server 2008 has 'released to manufacturing' - which means the code is baked and moves to escrow etc. The product will be generally available within a few weeks and the worldwide launch date is officially 12th November - more soon I am sure from Robbie.
Wishing all our SBSC community lots of success with this launch - we know this product is as important for your businesses as it is for ours.
Nick Mayhew
Well done to you all and here's to an exciting conference next week ! Good luck at the award ceremony.
Nick Mayhew
And the nominations for 2008 Small Business Specialist of the Year are:
We had a record number of entries this year with consistently high quality, so even being named as a finalist is a grand achievement.
The winner will be announced at the Australian Partner Conference awards ceremony, Thursday August 7th so best of luck to all of our finalists.
Robbie
http://hiltont.blogspot.com/2008/07/wpc-08-summary.html
Good summary & whilst I perhaps had a slightly different take on some of the sessions, I agree that one of the most useful part of any conference such as this is in the networking. The chance to chat & exchange ideas & challenge your peers from around the world is priceless as it gives you an opportunity to think outside the box.
In Australia in the next 6 weeks, you get the chance to do this twice:
- Australian Partner Conference
- We're expecting 650+ partners plus over 100 Microsoft staff
- 3 days of sessions & discussions & merry-making in Port Douglas
- Still one or two places left (Gold & Certified partners only unfortunately)
- TechEd SMB Servers pre-day
- Looking at 350+ partners for the pre-day
- Over 2,800 in total for TechEd, of which around 50% are partners
- 200+ sessions covering just about every piece of our technology
Cheers & hope to see you at one or both of these events,
Robbie
