Microsoft U.S. Partner Team

How fear, greed, and curiosity can help you close more Office 365 sales

Diane Golshan — Wed, 22 May 2013 23:37:08 GMT

by Sarah Knutson, US SMB Cloud Telesales Manager

Are you tired of Microsoft Office 365 prospects not returning your phone calls or responding to your emails? Are you finding it increasingly difficult to forecast when a deal will close? Are you frustrated by the increasing number of “no decisions” that come after a time-consuming sales cycle? These are common experiences related to us by resellers.

Customers have fundamentally changed how and when they engage with sales professionals during their buying experience. Increasingly, Office 365 prospects:

Prefer self-service (trials) over speaking with a sales professional
Very reluctantly disclose buying information (i.e., budget, authority, need, timeframe – BANT)
Are more informed (especially about competitive offerings) than many sales professionals
Rely upon third parties and their social networks to research and validate solutions

This measurable shift in engagement behavior has far reaching implications to selling activities, as prospects no longer need to identify or expose themselves in advance of a purchasing decision. Prospects now have full access to trial software and published subscription pricing that enables them to by-pass sales professionals until the END of their buying process. Simply put, they don’t engage with sales professionals because they don’t feel they have to. To put it more bluntly, prospects don’t respond because they don’t believe sales professionals provide them with any value.

Introducing the Microsoft SMB Accelerated Sales Process

We have put together a collection of on-demand webcasts and downloadable materials that help Microsoft Office 365 resellers change their approach to working with prospects. The Microsoft SMB Accelerated Sales Process and tools combine behavioral psychology and structured communications to increase prospect response, realign the buying and selling process, and create a pro-Microsoft bias. Whether you are a sales professional, a sales manager, a business leader, or a marketing professional, you will benefit from these webcasts and materials. Topics include:

Changing Customer Buying Behavior—Why it Impacts Everything
Selling in the Cloud—What’s Different and How Do We Adapt?
Accelerate the Sales Cycle—How to Sell More by Doing Less
Achieving High Impact Prospect Engagement—Why Won’t My Prospects Respond?
Setting Up for Success in the Cloud
Cloud Business Model Optimization
Marketing Cloud Solutions
Packaging and Delivery of Cloud Services

Fear, curiosity, and greed are primal and powerful motivators of human behavior. When intelligently and respectfully applied to business communications, they predictably lead to a deeper level of prospect engagement. Find out today how the sales tools developed for the Microsoft SMB Accelerated Sales Process can improve your prospect and customer engagement.

Once you use these materials, I would love to hear your feedback on them. Join the conversation in our Cloud Partner group on Yammer.

Cloud Channel Connection Webinar: Desktop Hosting with Microsoft

Diane Golshan — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:28:09 GMT

by the Microsoft US Partner Hosting and Cloud Services Team

The most recent US Cloud Channel Connection webcast, Journey to the Cloud with Desktop Hosting, was recorded on May 8 and presented by a panel of experts from Microsoft and nGenx, a desktop hosting solution provider:

Scott Ottaway, WW Industry Director, Hosting from Microsoft
Rick Dehlinger, CTO from nGenx
Will Flash, Show Host, Microsoft

Microsoft is seeing a growing demand for application and desktop hosting, which has been experiencing double digit growth over the last few years. Major research firms such as IDC and 451 Group predict continued double digit growth for desktop hosting, as more small and medium businesses move to the cloud.

Watch the webcast on demand to hear our panel discuss desktop hosting opportunities. Scott Ottaway discusses trends around businesses for application and desktop hosting, options and paths ISVs have been pursuing for application hosting. Rick Dehlinger from nGenx shares market challenges ISVs are facing in light of trends and technology, and talks about how the latest wave of Microsoft business products, such as Windows Server and Microsoft System Center, can help ISVs address these challenges.

nGenX is offering ISVs the opportunity to join as an nGenx partner and have the proof of concept implementation and branding fees waived ($15,000 value). This is a limited time offer. Details are available from nGenx at http://www.ngenx.com/webinar/.

Connect with us by email at cloudconnection@microsoft.com.

Microsoft Desktop Hosting resources for partners.

Partnering with Precision: Congratulations to our US Partner of the Year Award winners

Diane Golshan — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:00:14 GMT

A blog series for US partners by Jenni Flinders, Microsoft US Vice President, Partner Strategy and Programs.

As we rapidly approach the Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, I’m pleased to announce the United States 2013 Partner of the Year Award winners. The contribution each of these partner companies has made to the industry and to the Microsoft ecosystem is truly remarkable, and their dedication to delivering Microsoft-based solutions that delight customers is a wonderful representation of the excellence of our Microsoft Partner Network members. At WPC this year, I look forward to learning from these partners’ accomplishments and building upon their successes.

At WPC, executive representatives from each of the US award winners will be invited to join me, as well as other Microsoft US executives, to watch one of the two Vision Keynotes (on Monday and Wednesday mornings) from the executive suites in the Toyota Center.

In addition to showcasing the impressive list of US award winners below, I want to highlight this year’s United States Country Partner of the Year, Perficient. Perficient dedicated themselves this year to embracing the Microsoft devices and services strategy, and subsequently have driven tremendous customer value. I want to personally congratulate them on their success and award.

Please join me in congratulating all of these partners on their accomplishment.

I look forward to seeing you in Houston!

I love hearing your plans for making the most of your time at WPC this year. Share your thoughts with me on Twitter @Jenni_Flinders. Next year, it might be your business getting an on-stage shout out! And, if you have not yet registered for WPC 2013, what are you waiting for?

2013 Partner of the Year Awards – United States Winners

Award Name	Award Winner
United States Country Partner of the Year	Perficient
Alliance	Accenture / Avanade
Application Development	PROS
Collaboration and Content	NC4 and 6th Street Consulting (joint partnership)
Customer Relationship Marketing	PowerObjects
Digital Marketing	Advance Digital
Humanitarian Response Citizenship	Ignify
Innovative Technology for Good Citizenship	RBA
Management and Virtualization	HP
Messaging	Sogeti
Microsoft Dynamics Industry	mcaConnect
Mobility	Accenture / Avanade
Office/SharePoint App Developer	Dell Software, Inc.
Project and Portfolio Management	UMT Consulting Group, LLC
Public Sector: Education	DynTek Services, Inc.
Server Platform	NetApp
Start-Up Cloud – Developed Markets	SkyKick
Volume Licensing	Zones, Inc.
Windows 8 App Developer	Posh Consulting
YouthSpark Citizenship	Dell, Inc.

Read Jon Roskill’s awards announcement, and see the full list of award winners and finalists online.

The Four F’s of WPC: Expert Advice

Diane Golshan — Sat, 18 May 2013 15:54:20 GMT

by Jeff Shuey, Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle

How does a first-time WPC attendee (aka a “WPC Newbie”) get the most out of the event? Follow the Four F’s of WPC and I predict you will have a very successful WPC experience.

First, what is WPC?

WPC is the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. It’s the chance for partners to connect with partners. It’s the best P2P event for Microsoft partners on the planet. It’s your chance to connect with the People that can help your business grow. It’s your opportunity to engage with the Partners that are as committed to the Microsoft community as you are. And it’s your chance to see the Products from Microsoft and partners that will help you create solutions.

This post is about what I call the Four F’s of WPC—simple guidelines to help new attendees get the most out of the event.

Think about these Four F’s as you finalize your plans over the next few weeks, and when you arrive in Houston, review them to make sure you are ready to maximize your time at WPC.

Now, what are the four F’s?

Familiarize yourself…

Find

Find a friend (or bring one).
Be a friend—if you see someone who looks like he or she could use a hand or some guidance, offer it! This is an idea from Bill Hole of The Hole Group, and it’s a GREAT idea.
Find someone you identified before the coming to WPC. Use the WPC Connect tool to make contact before you even show up—make the request and the connection.
Find the IAMCP booth. If you don’t know the IAMCP folks, you should. The International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners, or IAMCP, is a group of like-minded individuals who want to see partners in the Microsoft community be successful. There are IAMCP chapters all over the world, and they want to see YOU succeed with Microsoft.

Flow

Design your flow of activities.
Have a plan and follow it. If you get a little sidetracked by all the hoopla and excitement, that’s OK. It’s to be expected. The good thing about WPC is…there is never a lack of something to do!
Think about these points to make the most of your time:

What MUST you see?
What would you LIKE to see?
What can you SKIP? Can you learn about this topic from your colleagues or the new friends you have made? If yes, skip it.

Follow up (the most critical F!)

Everything you do, everyone you meet, everything you learn or want to learn, will need your attention after the event.
Plan time in your schedule to follow up.
My secret Trade Show Tip: plan for at least one hour every day to do follow up activities. You won’t be sorry you did when you get home.
As you meet people, write down whatever it is you promise to do, and follow up.

At the end of the conference, you may think you didn’t get enough from the event. And it’s possible you may not have. But if you follow these Four F’s of WPC, you will be on a very good path to getting the most out this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference.

In my next post, I’ll talk about what to do before, during, and after WPC. Stay tuned here on the US team’s WPC blog.

See you in Houston!

_______________________________________________

Jeff Shuey is a veteran in the Enterprise Content Management industry. Over the past 20 years he has worked with customers and partners to design, develop, and deploy solutions around the world. Jeff is the Director of Strategic Alliances at Winshuttle. He has worked for Microsoft, FileNet, K2, Captaris, Open Text, Kofax, and Kodak. He speaks and blogs about ECM and the intersection between social, mobile and cloud computing.

Connect with Jeff on Twitter, his blog, by email, and find him on Facebook, and LinkedIn. It’s also a good bet you can find him on WPC Connect.

US partner news for Friday, May 17, 2013

Diane Golshan — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:45:21 GMT

The US partner newsletter contains the latest partner-related information and news to help you utilize your membership benefits, understand your opportunities and close business, and build your skills.

Role-based training recommendations for this issue will help you build your capabilities in Collaboration and Content: Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, and Visual Studio.

Visit and sign in to the US partner portal for the latest news about products and programs, and check out our blog series aligned to your membership and areas of interest.

Announcements

Join the U.S. Partner Community on Yammer
Engage with the Microsoft U.S. team and with other partners on our new Yammer network. It’s easy to join and use, allowing for private and public discussions and conversations. Our step-by-step instructions will get you going quickly.

We’d Like Your Feedback About Loyalty Programs
The Microsoft U.S. team is in the early stages of designing a partner appreciation program, and your input and feedback will help us determine what benefits you would value most. Our short, 14-question survey will take you from 5-15 minutes to complete, and your answers will be used to inform our planning and help align our program with your needs.

WPC 2013: Keynote and Sessions for Resellers Serving SMB Customers
Come to the Worldwide Partner Conference to hear firsthand about the revenue growth opportunity in this dynamic customer segment and how Microsoft can help you build a profitable practice around SMB customers. These sessions will be held throughout the week. Then, on Thursday, July 11, plan to join Cindy Bates, Vice President of US SMB and Distribution, and her team for a keynote and session.

WPC 2013: Sessions from the US Office Team
If the new Office and Microsoft Office 365 are integral to your Microsoft practice, you’ll want to be at WPC to hear the US Office Team present five sessions about your opportunities in the coming year. You’ll leave each session with a better understanding of the overall Office business and technology vision and be prepared to compete and close more deals.

July 7 at WPC 2013: Application Lifecycle Management Partner Briefing
Join members of the Microsoft Visual Studio Developer Tools team and Application Lifecycle Management partners from around the world in Houston, Texas, for a business event about industry trends, business opportunities, sales efforts, marketing campaigns, and technology growth for the coming year.

Promote Your Competency to Customers and Prospects
Integrate our materials—press release kit, web banners, microsite with video, and more—into your marketing campaigns to help explain the value that your competency brings to customers. Our campaign guide is your starting point to take best advantage of what’s available.

Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for May 2013
As part of our usual cycle of security updates, we released our latest Security Bulletin Summary on Tuesday, May 14, with two critical and eight important bulletins. The next bulletin is scheduled for Tuesday, June 11. Register for the June 2013 security bulletin webcast.

Increase Your Margins with the Hyper-V Deployment Offer
Many small and midsized businesses today are turning to virtualization to help them do more with less. With Hyper-V built-in, Windows Server 2012 delivers a complete virtualization platform out-of-the-box, so your customers can quickly start taking advantage of the benefits of virtualization. You can get up to $500 cash back when you sell Windows Server by June 21 and deploy Hyper-V. Terms and conditions.

Microsoft Move to the Modern Office Sweepstakes
Register your company to enter our sweepstakes, and then sell eligible SKUs of the new Office to your customers. For each qualifying sale between February 1 and June 30, the registered company will receive an entry into our Move to the Modern Office sweepstakes. Official rules.

Cloud Easy Offer Ends May 31—Talk to Your Customers About the Cloud Today
The Cloud Easy offer lets your customers earn partner subsidy dollars on their Microsoft Online Services subscription purchases—dollars they can apply to additional software licenses, subscriptions, or services. Offer ends May 31. Terms and conditions.

Big Easy Offer 10 Ends May 31—Help Your Customers Update Their IT
It's the right time to talk to your customers about upgrading their IT to use new features and functionality in Microsoft products that help increase operational efficiency, data management, productivity, and collaboration. The Big Easy Offer 10 covers a wide variety of popular Microsoft on-premises software. Offer ends May 31. Offer terms and conditions.

Create Events that Meet Your Business Needs
Use the Ready-to-Go Marketing event tool to set up and manage in-person or online events. You can create events from campaigns that are in-market, custom events, or events that you cohost with another partner. The event tool even lets you create reminders and track leads.

The Get2Modern Campaign Helps Your SMB Customers Move to the Modern Desktop
On April 8, 2014, Microsoft will end support for the decade-old Windows XP and Office 2003. This means customers will no longer receive updates, including security updates, for Windows XP from Microsoft. You can help your customers stay up to date and save them up to 15 percent with a limited-time upgrade offer for the new Office and Windows 8. Offer ends June 20. Terms and conditions.

Create Your Digital Marketing Campaign with Microsoft Advertising
Enhance your marketing plans with Microsoft digital marketing products that help you expand your business, appeal to more customers, and differentiate your company in the marketplace.

Share Your Windows Intune Success with Us
Enter the Windows Intune Partner Gallery competition for a chance to win a Surface Pro. Create a short video demonstrating your success with Windows Intune, and enter your video in the contest by June 30. Terms and conditions.

Microsoft Office 365 Partner Support Update
The Microsoft Cloud Partner Support Team recently released information about technical support volumes and how partners can avoid delays when requesting support by following certain steps. In our blog post, they also offer links to the top support information for partners.

May 22: How to Sell Microsoft Office 365 on Open Licensing
Each Wednesday through the end of June, learn from Microsoft experts and our cloud distributor partners about the new licensing options for Microsoft Office 365. Next calls: May 29, June 5, June 12, June 19, and June 26.

June 7: Monthly SMB Compete Webcast for Resellers
Register for our June webcast, which will help you secure your SMB customer base and increase your market share with Microsoft-based solutions against competitors like Google and VMware. You can watch previous webcasts on demand.

June 3–7: Build Your Windows 8 Practice
The Practice Accelerator for Flexible Workstyle provides an overview of a persona-based approach to solutions for the Windows 8 operating system. You will receive training on using a comprehensive set of reusable tools and best practices that can help you identify customer requirements and project scope, analyze customer needs, and deploy solutions based on Windows 8.

On Demand: Highlights from Microsoft Certified Career Day
Catch highlights from Certified Career Day 2013 in these recorded webcasts. You’ll learn from an esteemed panel of IT industry experts about cloud technologies and the opportunities for advancing your IT career in the cloud through skills development, training, and certification.

Microsoft Office 365 and Windows Intune Accelerators
Download and review the Online Services Advisor incentives guide to understand what incentives you may be eligible for based on your Office 365 and Windows Intune sales. And on June 6, you can join a call with Marie Talley, the U.S. expert on these incentives, to learn more and ask questions.

Re-Enroll in Planning Services to Access Your Resources on the New Platform
The systems that support Software Assurance Planning Services enrollment are now available on the partner portal. You can now update your company information and check your enrollment status in real time. Sign into the partner portal and re-enroll in Planning Services in order to reserve or redeem Planning Services days.

Microsoft Office 365 Email Migration Offer from Quest Software Ends June 30
Migrate your first 25 mailboxes to Office 365 at no cost, using OnDemand Migration for Email from Quest Software. This offer from Quest is a great way to start using your internal-use software that is part of your Microsoft Cloud Essentials subscription. Offer ends June 30.

The Microsoft Office 365 Advantage: Competing Against Google
How does Office 365 stack up against Google around security, privacy, and compliance? Download and review our presentation, and use it with customers and prospects to discuss the advantages of Microsoft Office 365.

Port a Website to a Windows Store App
There are specific considerations and steps to follow when porting a basic website to a Windows Store app using JavaScript. When you visit App Builder you can learn about security and performance considerations for developing a Windows Store app using JavaScript with online connectivity and a specific server component.

Meet NoSQL Storage Needs with Windows Azure
Take advantage of Tables in Windows Azure and NoSQL for apps with large storage requirements for unstructured data. Access is assured from virtually any location via REST and managed APIs, while storage can scale to up to 100 terabytes. Check out the capabilities with a free 90-day trial of Windows Azure.

Content Marketing Solution for Microsoft Dynamics Partners—Free 30-Day Trial
The Butterfly Publisher tool makes it easy to define and implement your content strategy across blogs, email newsletters, and social media, and it can work with your existing marketing tools and popular programs like HubSpot and Click Dimensions. Try it free for 30 days, and then continue for $125 per month, with no contract and no extra charges.

Microsoft Dynamics Offers Expand Customer Solutions
There are several offers in place now that can help you close sales. Check out our Offer Council Summary Sheet to take advantage of the User Offer for ERP Customers and the A la Carte Module Offer for Microsoft Dynamics GP and NAV Customers. Details and terms and conditions for all available offers are provided in the summary sheet.

Lapsed Customer Re-Enrollment Promotion
Eligible customers who have lapsed on their Microsoft Dynamics Business Ready Enhancement Plan service plan can renew their plan with discounted lapsed fees. This offer is available to existing customers for all Microsoft Dynamics product lines who have lapsed on their service plan prior to October 1, 2011 (customers who have lapsed for greater than 18 months). Offer ends June 21. Terms and conditions.

Convergence 2013 Attendee Offer Ends May 30
Your Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, and Microsoft Dynamics SL customers who attended Convergence 2013 are eligible to receive a 20% discount on additional users and/or modules meeting a minimum System Price List value of $2,400. Terms and conditions.

Invite Your Customers to Microsoft Dynamics ERP Webcasts
On PartnerSource, you’ll find a schedule for Microsoft Dynamics ERP webcasts and templates you can use to invite your customers and prospects to these events.

May 22 Webcast: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Transition to Microsoft Online Portal
Microsoft is transitioning all subscriptions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to the same platform used for Microsoft Office 365 and other Online Services. This will result in a unified experience and simplified account management for customers. In early 2014, the old billing platform of CTP will be retired and all customers will need to be transitioned onto the new billing platform.

Training resources

Register Today for Upcoming Sales and Technical Training
Training on new Microsoft products is a valuable benefit of being a partner. To help you find the webcasts, classroom-style courses and partner calls that are pertinent to your role, we’ve created the Hot Sheet. It contains a six-week outlook of training, so you can register early.

Training Sweepstakes Courses Include Windows 8, the New Office, and Microsoft Office 365
Take on-demand sales and technical training for Windows 8, Office, and Office 365 to increase your product knowledge and earn a chance to win an American Express gift card. Many of these courses can help you work toward earning a technical certification or a sales accreditation. Game ends June 30. Official rules.

Demonstrate Your Sales Expertise and Enter to Win a Trip to Hawaii
When you pass a Microsoft sales or pre-sales technical assessment, you receive an accreditation tile that showcases your knowledge and the solutions your company can deliver. We will automatically enter you into our drawing for a trip to Hawaii when you pass your next assessment by May 31. Contest ends May 31. Official rules.

Microsoft Certification Exam Offers End May 31
If you are preparing for Microsoft certification exams to update your skills for the latest products or to apply to the requirements for a competency, take advantage of our exam offers. Purchase a pack of exams for up to 40% off and, for a limited time, get a free second chance to pass the exams if needed. Offers end May 31, and you must take your exams by December 31.

May 20: Reimagine SharePoint Development - Migrate Solutions to Apps
Join Senior Product Marketing Manager, Keenan Newton, and special guest Partner Director of Apps Program Management, Robert Lefferts, as we kick off our new site centered around migrating SharePoint solutions to apps.

Free Cloud Certification Prep for Windows Server 2012 and Microsoft SQL Server 2012
The 90 Days to MCSA program provides you with a plan of action to complete your certification. It also includes tools such as free exam prep, a clear roadmap, and community support. Your certification in Windows Server 2012 or Microsoft SQL Server 2012 proves your expertise to your customers and your company.

New Microsoft Lync Sales Training
A new seven-module sales training session is now available on demand. These training modules will also be used as the basis for new Lync 2013 assessments for the Communications competency, to be available in June. The 2013 assessments will replace the 2010 assessments and become mandatory beginning in October.

May 29 at 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM Pacific Time: Windows Azure Partner Forum—Looking Ahead
On a special Windows Azure community call leading into the Worldwide Partner Conference, you will hear from several guest speakers articulating the momentum we have on Windows Azure and how Microsoft is enabling its partners to be successful. Register for the 8:00 AM PT call; register for the 5:00 PM PT call.

Free Jump Starts Help You Prepare for Certification Exams
Attend free, online Jump Start training classes by Microsoft Virtual Academy to prepare for certification exams. Each of these one-day events includes technical background, demos, exam preparation discussions, interactive chats with industry experts, and more. Register for upcoming live events or watch available recordings.

New Sales Training for the New Office
Recently released sales training for the new Office covers licensing, how to accelerate your sales, how to more effectively demo Office 365, and how to use the customer decision framework. Follow the Office Ignite Sales learning path to build your sales expertise.

May 21: Microsoft Virtual Academy Live Q&A—Microsoft System Center
Bring your questions about Microsoft System Center 2012 to this two-hour, live Q&A session presented by Microsoft Virtual Academy. Hosted by Senior Technical Evangelist Symon Perriman, we’ll focus on topics covered in previous Virtual Academy courses about System Center.

May 23 Jump Start: Advanced Windows Store App Development Using C#
If you are a .NET developer and interested in building Windows 8 apps, register for this free, live online Jump Start. The course includes prep for Microsoft exam 70-485, a requirement to earn the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer certification.

May 28: Software Testing with Visual Studio 2012
Spend the day with Microsoft Virtual Academy and find out how to immediately improve software testing with Visual Studio 2012. This online course will help you prepare for Microsoft certification exam 70-497, which you can apply toward the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer certification for Application Lifecycle Management.

May 29: Administering Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2012 (exam 70-496) Jump Start
If you are responsible for setting up and customizing Team Foundation Server, spend the day in this Jump Start. You’ll learn to define the types of work items available and their attributes to take full advantage of the TFS platform for application lifecycle management. This course will prep you for exam 70-496, required for earning the Microsoft Certified Solution Developer certification for Application Lifecycle Management.

TechNet Radio: Windows Server 2012 File Server and SMB 3.0—Simpler by Design
Just how easy is it to use SMB 3.0? That’s the topic for this episode of TechNet radio where Bob Hunt and Jose Barreto discuss Windows Server 2012 File Storage for Virtualization. Tune in as they chat about SMB transparent failover, scale-out, multichannel, SMB Direct, encryption, and much more!

TechNet Radio: Hybrid Windows Azure IaaS Scenarios—Migrating Microsoft SharePoint to Windows Azure
In part 3 of the TechNet Radio Windows Azure IaaS series, Matt Hester and Keith Mayer discuss common scenarios in which IT pros can use Windows Azure as a hybrid solution between their on-premises and cloud service needs. Tune in as they discuss disaster recovery and storage as well as how to migrate your SharePoint environment to a virtual machine running on Azure.

DevRadio: How the Smart Shopping App Was Built
David Chou welcomes Brian Satorius to DevRadio for a discussion on how Brian, founder and creator of the Smart Shopping app, developed his app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone using Windows Azure as its back-end cloud service platform.

TechNet Radio: Creating and Delegating Private Clouds in Virtual Machine Manager
In this episode of the Building a Private Cloud with System Center series, Keith Mayer and Yung Chou show how to create and delegate private clouds in Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Tune in for their demos and learn how to create private clouds and assign host groups, logical networks, storage, and load balancers.

TechNet Radio: Updating the Private Cloud Fabric
In part 9 of the Building a Private Cloud with System Center series, Keith Mayer and Yung Chou tackle the process of servicing and updating private cloud applications and the underlying fabric. Tune in for a step-by-step discussion on how to update service templates as well as how to apply and manage critical updates to applications.

May 29-June 21 in Fargo, North Dakota: Microsoft Dynamics AX Fast TrAX
In this course for consultants, we’ll help you prepare for Microsoft Dynamics AX certification through an intensive, 18-day training. The program is augmented with an end-to-end case study to provide additional hands-on experience.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Enterprise Academy—Level 300 Workshops
The Step 3: Level 300 Workshops consist of up to 5 days of in-person training and interactive sessions focusing on how to implement Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 in order to address specific customer business needs.

May 20–24 in Chicago, Illinois: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Enterprise Academy
This five-day instructor-led training provides a 200-level functional CRM foundation and 300-level Advanced Development and Advanced Infrastructure content for Microsoft Dynamics CRM to help you address the needs of your enterprise customers.

May 28–June 28: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Summer Institute
These workshops include on-demand, virtual, and in-person training that targets recent college hires. They are designed as a deep dive overview of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 and will help these new hires at your company develop their knowledge and skills. Session 1: May 28–June 28; Session 2: June 28–August 2.

On Demand: Closing Sales Webcast Series for Microsoft Dynamics Partners
Three sessions are available on demand, designed to help with closing sales in this final quarter of the Microsoft fiscal year. Session I: Prioritizing Opportunities; Session II: Reversing a No Decision; Session III: Getting to Yes!

Featured training – Collaboration and Content Management
Build technical and sales capability in collaboration and content management solutions by following our training recommendations for Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, and Microsoft Visual Studio.

Training for Business Decision Makers

Training for Sales and Marketing Roles

Training for IT Professionals

Training for Developers

Training for Training Roles

Cloud Partners: Microsoft Office 365 Partner Support Update

Diane Golshan — Thu, 16 May 2013 17:59:43 GMT

by the Microsoft Cloud Partner Support Team

Over the last month, our support centers experienced higher than anticipated customer and partner technical support volume. We anticipate this will continue through the June timeframe, until our action plans to remediate are fully deployed.

Until that time, we recommend that you submit non-Severity A incidents online through your Partner tenant to avoid phone delays. For Severity A incidents, submit them online first. Then, call in by phone for immediate support engagement.

Links to top support information

The Service Upgrade Guide is your best resource for getting details on how to minimize negative impact to you and your customer’s organizations.
Outlook connectivity issues that occur post upgrade are addressed in the Service Upgrade Guide. Please refer to the After the Upgrade and Known Issues sections in the Service Upgrade Guide.
We have great support articles and tools to help, but if you are having trouble finding them, we can help!

Increase your margins with the Hyper-V deployment offer

Diane Golshan — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:18:35 GMT

In light of the challenging economic climate, many small and mid-sized businesses today are turning to virtualization to help them do more with less—for example, by scaling infrastructure to support growth without spending a fortune on server hardware investments.

With Hyper-V built-in, Windows Server 2012 delivers a complete virtualization platform out-of-the-box. So your customers can quickly start taking advantage of the benefits of virtualization and know that they now have a platform that will grow with them.

According to a Microsoft-commissioned study with SMB customers and partners in February 2013, the top three customer priorities for virtualization are:

Move virtual hard drives without downtime (Live Storage Migration)
Replication to reduce data loss (Hyper-V Replica)
Simplified remote access (Direct Access)

Hyper-V Surge offer—get up to $500 cash back

When you sell Windows Server 2012 by June 21 and deploy Hyper-V within 90 days, you receive $500 cash back on the Datacenter Edition and $150 cash back on the Standard Edition.

Your sales must be registered by June 30 and deployments must be complete by September 30.

You’ll find information about how to take advantage of this offer online and materials for you and your customers. Be sure to review the full terms and conditions for this offer, and follow the necessary steps.

Your resources

WPC 2013: US SMB keynote and session

Diane Golshan — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:44:19 GMT

If you are a partner who serves small and midsize businesses, the Worldwide Partner Conference is an incredible opportunity for you to hear firsthand about the revenue growth opportunity in this dynamic customer segment and how Microsoft can help you build a profitable practice around SMB customers. In the Small and Medium Business Reseller track at WPC, you will learn:

What is critical from an SMB product and services perspective including cloud, productivity, and infrastructure
How to acquire new customers, and retain current SMB customers, through customer lifecycle management
How to leverage Microsoft initiatives, programs, and channel incentives to drive revenue growth
Proven strategies and best practices your peers are using to build successful and profitable businesses by integrating reseller and service offerings
The key SMB priorities for the coming year across revenue, share, and satisfaction

WPC 2013 is in Houston, Texas from July 7–11. We hope to see you there—register today.

US SMB keynote and session – Thursday, July 11, 9:00AM – 12:30PM

On Thursday, July 11, plan to join Cindy Bates, Vice President of US SMB and Distribution for Microsoft, and her team for a keynote and session in the US Subsidiary track that will provide you with a roadmap to capitalize on the latest Microsoft product releases; information about rebates, marketing funds, and other offers and incentives to help you increase profitability; and resources that will help you move customers to the cloud to make them more mobile, efficient, and social.

Keynote: A new era—accelerating partner growth in the US SMB market
Joining Cindy Bates onstage is David Nour, author of Relationship Economics.

Session: US SMB Partner Playbook

Video: The US SMB opportunity at WPC

Watch this video to hear Cindy Bates talk about recent developments in the SMB market, and what she and her team will share with you in their US SMB keynote and session at WPC 2013 to help set you up for success in the year ahead.

More US activities at WPC

The US SMB keynote and session are part of the US Subsidiary track, with nearly 30 sessions scheduled throughout your week at WPC. The US Lounge will be open in The Commons (expo) and staffed by US team members.

You are also invited to the US Celebration on the evening of Tuesday, July 9 at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. RSVP on Facebook to let us know you’ll be there and get updates as the conference approaches.

Give your feedback about partner loyalty programs in our short survey

Diane Golshan — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:13:29 GMT

by Erik Moe, Partner Relationship Marketing, Microsoft U.S. Marketing & Operations

The Microsoft U.S. team is in the early stages of designing a partner appreciation program, and your input and feedback will help us determine what benefits you would value most. Our short, 14-question survey will take you from 5-15 minutes to complete, and your answers will be used to inform our planning and help align our program with your needs.

Thank you in advance for your time and help. We are excited to hear what you have to say!

Link to the survey.

The hidden dangers of pirated software

Diane Golshan — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:30:00 GMT

by Peter K. Han, Microsoft Vice President of U.S. OEM

Sometimes you have to look at something a little differently to see new information. In this post, we look to new ways to better illustrate the facts, the risks, and how to take action against the hidden danger of pirated software. For example, the inability to download security updates—leaving your data and devices vulnerable to attack—is only the “tip of the iceberg,” and the perceived money saved by acquiring pirated software can actually result in significant money loss.

As a consumer and a business decision maker, I am always keeping my eyes open for new ways to raise awareness around how producers and sellers of illegal software are taking advantage of users. I encourage you to take a look at this infographic and share it with your friends, family, and colleagues to equip them with the knowledge they need to combat the illegal sale and use of pirated software.

Please join the software industry in our campaign against software piracy.

Follow me on Twitter @PeterKHan to let me know what you think about this infographic, and what steps you are taking to fight software piracy.