Each month, your first-Friday delivery of the U.S. partner newsletter, emailed to you as a benefit of your Microsoft Partner Network membership, contains a list of our recommendations for U.S. SMB partners located in the West Region. We also use this list to update our West Region page on the U.S. partner portal.

These recommendations are in the U.S. partner newsletter delivered Friday, January 4. This week’s role-based training recommendations are about the new Collaboration and Content competency.

It’s a new year, filled with new opportunities and possibilities! Thank you for your enthusiasm and engagement in 2012 as we embarked on an historic year for Microsoft, its customers, and you. Now, let’s start 2013 off together right, with these recommendations.

• Join our West Region Partner Call on January 18 at 10:00 AM Pacific Time to get the latest information about our products and your resources.
• Subscribe to our blog by email so you get the latest news in your inbox.
• Use our online guide to find resources that help you prepare for the new Office.
• Make success with the cloud a New Year resolution—our Cloud How-To webcast series covers demos, demand generation, monetization, and more.
• Windows Server 2012 is a must-have for any business, with features that enable virtualization, networking, storage, cloud automation, and more. Our in-depth webcast series about Server starts January 15.
• Learn how to deliver the right message at the right time in the next Time to Thrive webcast, on January 9.
• Invite your customers to the next Unleash Your Productivity webcast on January 25.

You can read all the content delivered in each issue of the U.S. partner newsletter on the U.S. Partner Team blog. The next newsletter will be delivered on Friday, January 18.

Find out how to stay informed as a U.S. partner at http://aka.ms/uspstayinformed and how to prepare for the latest product releases at http://aka.ms/usproductlaunch.