As you may be aware, I have come back to life in the past day or so. You can read my posts of earlier today and find out why!
Anyway, I wanted to point out that during my absence I was doing some work (a lot of work, actually), and had one of my peers publish a SCREENCAST for me. It was published on November 19th, but is still timely. I am biased, but I think it is a good (rough perhaps)overview of BPOS and the opportunity it represents to partners.
For those that may have missed it, it can be found *HERE* on my peer Charles’ blog.
In the future I will host/stream screencasts on my blog and offer them to you directly!
Thanks for listening!
-Woody
It is an interesting question. Hopefully you already know that you sign up and get activated at www.discoveronlineservices.com. I have “borrowed” a graphic from the site that outlines all the hoops you must jump through before you can sell any of the services. By services I mean the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) or any component thereof: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online (APRIL 2009), LiveMeeting, CRM Online, EHS, etc.
Notice the last step for US partners is to Submit a W-9 form. This allows you to receive referral fees. VERY IMPORTANT.
So ultimately how do you know if everything is lined up okay and all systems are go for you to start selling these solutions to your customers??? Where in your profile does it say -“You are online services ready, good job!” - It doesn’t. Look all you want, you will find no confirmation at present on the partner portal under your profile or anywhere else to my knowledge that gives you the green light.
In all honesty, if you have submitted the W-9 after completing the assessment, and a few days have passed you are probably fine. …BUT, if you are like me you want to be sure before you help that customer place that order and enter yourself as the partner of record, right? RIGHT!
To confirm you are good to go, for the time being, send an email to:
feepayments@arvatousa.com
Arvato is the vendor handling the W-9 processing and they can tell you if it landed.
I would also mention that this is a temporary measure, as in the long term we will have a way for you to see your status regarding activation. As soon as I know more I will share.
I hope this post helps you breath easy! So, if you were waiting to make that first sale, now you can rest easy and start leveraging this new revenue opportunity confident you will get credit!
Thanks and regards,
Woody
CREAK!!! [The sarcophagus lid slowly moves aside under the constant pressure of something within. Dust falls to the floor as the continual grating sound of stone upon stone fills the tomb]
…and I step out ;-)
I have been quiet. VERY QUIET. So quiet in fact that you may think me gone, ex-here, or perhaps laid off! Such is not the case. I am alive and kicking, but much different than when you saw me last. I am better, faster, and stronger than before and it didn’t take six million bucks! …just a few swift boots to the head! Actually the main reason is two fold. 1.) I am now married, and 2.) I am to be a father VERY soon; March 27th in fact! I cannot show you a picture of my forthcoming daughter, but I can show you a snapshot of my new wife Megan and I (kinda new – hitched June 7th, 2008)!
I clean up well, but not as well as her! An important thing you should know is that our child will be born approximately 10 MONTHS after our marriage. For those that like math this is one month longer than the normal gestation period for a human being. Nuff Said!
LET ME GET BACK ON COURSE – Literally and figuratively
So why have I been absent? …No excuse really. My priorities haven’t been focused on “online”. I never really was too excited about blogging and in addition to a gentle but firm shove from my boss, Mike Marshall (Blog Here), I think I have finally found something from a topic perspective, professionally speaking, that I am very excited about blogging about and that I think is critical for Microsoft Partners to not only know about NOW, but for a long time to come!
WHAT IS IT? Nothing as cool as the invention of the happy meal or little red pills for “iron poor blood”, but none the less IMPORTANT and TRENDY!!!!
MICROSOFT ONLINE SERVICES
Profound I know it! Actually it is profound. Profound because as a banner it represents the bulk of Microsoft’s hosted offerings to business customers sold THROUGH PARTNERs …That means you can make money at it. …and if you don’t your competition will. The industry is shifting to this model. Some argue it is Software as a Service exclusively, some like Microsoft say it is Software plus Services, meaning that rich client software coupled with rich cloud based services will, at the end of the day, provide the best experience for customers.
I of course will not devote the contents of this blog to Microsoft Online Services exclusively, but it will certainly be the de facto blog post leader.
I should also note that another part of my decision to come out of the sarcophagus (excuse me for not using the Oh so popular term “out of the closet”) was based on the fact that when the statistics for the TS2 blog community were shown to me recently, I placed relatively well hit wise considering I had posted almost not at all. The reason must be that the few posts I made had some real or apparent value (I promised not to simply regurgitate info from other well known/read sources without some perspective or flavor text). I dare not consider that is was only because the posts of my peers (far greater in number) had little or no value!
SO WHAT IS MY PLAN?
First you will see a substantial increase in posts from me starting today. All should be somewhat useful to you if you are a Microsoft Partner and have an interest in Microsoft Online Services like Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, LiveMeeting, Office Communications Online, BPOS –Business Productivity Online Suite, Exchange Hosted Services, etc.
I will be producing a series of Blogcasts/ PodCasts/ PartnerCasts on Microsoft Online Services, starting early this month. The intention being to elaborate more closely on subtopics relevant to those who are really on board with BPOS, etc. They will be short in duration, lasting only 10-15 minutes each. Perfect for the drive to and from work or to a customer site. The format will be interview. I will try to get answers to questions both you and your customers would have about the services themselves, about how to sell, how you are paid, programmatic concerns, updates, futures, etc.
In additon to the Audio Partnercasts mentioned above, I will also be rolling out some screencasts to compliment what you hear! Some things are easier to show than to explain. STAY TUNED for more!!!
So that is a little of what has been going on (or not going on). If I had intended to remain quiet and offline until the end of my days, dis aliter visum!
Until A few moments….
Woody Walton