November 2007 - Posts
So here we are, Thanksgiving 2007! The biggest shopping day of the year looms, and what are you doing?
Watching Football?
Sleeping in?
Going to a movie?
Well if you are a small business owner, chances are you are thinking about your business and getting through to the New Year in one piece. So I guess maybe we have something in common with these Turkeys…
Like some of the Turkeys, some Small Businesses will not be here come January 1st. It's the way it is. If you are a Microsoft ISV Partner, are you wondering if you've been sold a 'bill of goods'? If you are consultant, do you have that same feeling. Hopefully not, hopefully you are tooling your business to meet the changing times and demands of the new year.
We actively, each year take time to reflect on the last year, for us, our partners, and our customers. We don't dwell too long on the past year(s), but just long enough to assess the good, the bad, and the ugly. Then we take time to look forward and try to Map out our goals for the new year, for the coming years, for us, our partners, and our clients. We spend an awful lot of time setting goals, and budgets for various activities. We have already started doing this, and so in the coming weeks and months, look for some GREAT things; changes in how we do things and what we do. We are fundamentally changing our focus, a change that started several months ago, and will continue to evolve. So look for announcements and maybe a party or 2???
So as Microsoft Partners we get various software titles as part of the Microsoft Action Pack. This is a GREAT DEAL, and not the least of which is the cost for the program. I had previously installed the Live Communications Server 2005 that came with MAPS, combined with Office Communicator 2005, it was a great solution for us. Providing internal IM, sharing of files and calling PC to PC.
In the last iteration of MAPS, however, we received the new Office Communications Server 2007 along with Communicator 2007.
This is really kool stuff. Besides jumping through some minor hoops to finally get it working, it really went pretty easily. Equally as easy if not easier than some of the open source messengers out there. What this brings to the table that most don't is integration with Live Meeting and the ability to connect to the Unified Communications framework in Exchange 2007 and Office Integration. I was able to walk through the installation of the Web Messenger, and migrate all my users off the old LCS 2005 server. Now I can remove that server and the old Communicator 2005 from the network. Then I'll start with some of the FUN stuff, setting up federation, PBX/Voice integration and more…
So after doing this, I took a look at the cost of OCS, and standard edition is very reasonable. And considering the ease of deployment, usability, and integration with Office, I have to put it out there as a better alternative to Jabber based systems and free use like AIM, Yahoo, and MSN/Live Messenger. This is really good stuff.
http://www.vladville.com/2007/11/the-smb-microsoft-partner-challenge-understanding-competition.html
http://smallbizthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-are-we-worth-to-microsoft.html
Here's the thing, as I see it…
Microsoft will do what it wants to do…If it gets a slap from the courts, so be it. If it gets bad press, so be it. It will keep on doing what it wants to do. I and pretty much none of its SBSC partner types are in a position to rock the boat. Hell I doubt that even if ALL SBSC partners ran from side to side in unison, I doubt Microsoft would really, truly notice.
So what can I do, run to open-source, run to Novell, IBM, Sun, Google, Apple? I don't think so. People LOVE Microsoft products. It's not fashionable to say so, it's not as hip as an iMac or as universally omnipotent as Google. They won't admit it in open conversation, but they need Office, they need HP and Dell to provide cheap hardware for them to check email and check their banks and whatever else it is they do at 1:30am in the dark, alone, online…
I am reminded of the Bugs Bunny cartoon, where Daffy is caught by the Abominable Snow Bunny who decides to take in a pet…That is how Microsoft sees us. All we have to do is mind our business, do our thing, and PROMOTE THE HELL out of Microsoft and we'll be fine. I gotta say though, it ain't that hard. The hardest part for us is to choke down how much it will cost our clients for this stuff. It's expensive, but businesses will either buy it or they won't. I tend to feel that they know that if it will help their business become more productive and/or more profitable, they want to pay for it and make it work in their environment.
So on the HALO Scale we ain't much, and on the whole of it the SBSC partners still ain't much, and considering that Ballmer (sp?) sees Microsoft in the advertising game sooner rather than later, business still needs what? Software, Microsoft software, and they are gonna get it from somewhere or someone, might as well be me. I am not going to stop doing what I am doing. I may refine it, but I am not technology specific consultant, I am a solutions provider. Business needs a business solution that technology can help solve, I'll offer that solution. Right now most of those solutions for my small business clients come from Microsoft, so big deal. If and when that changes, I too will change, but right now, nothing has changed, it's still the same game. You wanna talk to micro businesses about putting in Home Servers and Media Center PCs? You do that; hey I'll call you when I get that lead.
We recently did a Connections Event, and stayed over and attended the afternoon TS2 seminar.
Charles stood up there and delivered great content and worked VERY HARD to engage the audience, but man they were dead.
It was painful, because, like all the ts2 team, Charles is a FANTASTIC resource for Partners. He discussed managed services, System Centers Essentials and much, much more. What really amazed me was that as he is laying out a foundation for partners to MAKE MONEY, some were sleeping, some where talking on the phone, others just staring out into space. Disgusting and disrespectful. I was encouraged by the fact that a couple actually were paying attention, Abbie, for example got a TS2 back pack for answering a rather compelling question. Another couple people in the audience seemed to be paying attention, so much so that they went up afterwards and during breaks to ask follow-up questions.
What truly amazed me is that TS2 is ALL about driving partner success. I can vouch for that. Many on the team have helped us in a variety of ways…providing speakers for User Group meetings, answering complex customer questions, both technical and business related, hooking us up with competitive resources for closing a deal, and more. This is what they are about, helping us MAKE MONEY. So if you get the opportunity to attend, listen for the making money tips and tricks. These seminars are about technology, but they do a great job of tying that technology back to the business of dealing with customers and MAKING MONEY, so listen up and take notes, you just might get the key to that burning issue, or you might just learn about shifting your business paradigm. And by all means PAY ATTENTION, the brain you develop might just be yours…