News & Views for Australian SBSCs : Australian Partner Conf

Another SBSC award winner: Productiv

rupcroft — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:37:03 GMT

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

SBSC Partner of the Year: Business Computing Australia

rupcroft — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 03:27:15 GMT

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

And congrats from me to the SBSC finalists

nickmayhew — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 14:03:01 GMT

Well done to you all and here's to an exciting conference next week ! Good luck at the award ceremony.

Nick Mayhew

SBSC Partner of the Year finalists announced

rupcroft — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:47:37 GMT

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

Hilton's wrap-up of the WW Partner Conference

rupcroft — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:48:38 GMT

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

Couldn't get to the WW Partner Conf? Try Digital WPC instead

rupcroft — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:05:51 GMT

Loads of good content coming out of the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, but if you couldn't make it then it might be worthwhile checking out the Digital WPC instead.

All the keynotes, breakouts, discussion forums & selected webcasts will be uploaded to the site at the end of each day. Of particular interest so far to SBSCs are:

Keynote: SMB Revenue Growth Opportunities & Product Roadmap
- Presented by Michael Risse, VP of SMB
Keynote: Why Windows Mobile should be a part of your business
- Presented by Andy Lees, Senior VP of Mobile Communications
Breakout: The SMB Server Platform - which is right for your customer?
- Presented by Dean Paron, SBS Group Program Manager

Cheers & there's still time to sign-up for the Australian Partner Conference in August.

Robbie

Going to the Australian Partner Conference? Then come join the SBSC networking group

rupcroft — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:18:33 GMT

The Australian Partner Conference is only 6 weeks away & so now's the time to register & get your networking boots on. Note - APC is open to Gold & Certified partners only.

The Connect tool is also open for business meaning you can:

Check out all the other attendees (including over 100 Microsoft representatives)
Book meetings & networking catch-ups
Build your agenda

We've put together a specific SBSC / SMB group & so I'd love to see all small & medium business focused partners join up & get some discussions going around this space. We'll be hosting an SMB half-pre-day on the 4th, officially launching SBS 2008 & EBS 2008 as well as various other fun activities to be announced on site.

Cheers & hope to see you in Port Douglas.

Robbie

Only 2 weeks to go to get your SBSC award entries in

rupcroft — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:33:25 GMT

The June 16th deadline is looming & so why not take 10 minutes now to get your entry in for the Australian Small Business Specialist partner of the year award.

Gotta be in it to win it. :-)

Robbie

Get your entries in for Australian SBSC Partner of the Year

rupcroft — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:46:39 GMT

Entries are now open for the Australian Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year award, to be announced at the Partner Conference in Port Douglas in August.

Following in the footsteps of Evolve IT's win last year, we're really looking forward to seeing a whole host of submissions & so please have a think & get your entries in by June 16th. You'll need to ensure your profile is set-up in Solution Profiler first.

There's many other awards as well - check the site for details.

Best of luck!

Robbie

PS - this is my first post whilst guest-managing the SBSC program in Wendy's absence & so I'd love to hear your thoughts on the program in Australia - the good, the bad & the ugly.

Small Business Specialist Partner of the Year This award recognises a local Partner who has consistently delivered quality, innovative solutions for their small business customers. With a focus on the latest Microsoft technology, the recipient will have demonstrated the business value of using products such as Microsoft Windows ® Small Business Server 2003 R2, Windows Vista ™ and the 2007 Microsoft ® Office system, along with (but not limited to) solutions based on Windows Mobile ® , Microsoft Dynamics ™ CRM or Microsoft Forefront ™ . This award is open to all currently enrolled members of the Australian Small Business Specialist (SBSC) Program and typically showcases examples from customers with up to 50 employees. Your submission should focus on your unique and innovative approach, how your solution is scalable for other organisations - and potentially, how you have leveraged the SBSC Program for success.

Please note: in order to qualify for this award, you must be enrolled in the Australian Small Business Specialist Program.