Chris Parkes: A PC is not just for Christmas... : Demo Showcase, Small Business

Demo Showcase 2008 SMB Edition

chrisp — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 14:34:37 GMT

The Demo Showcase 2008 SMB Edition is now available for download.

This is a set of 4 comprehensive click through demonstrations designed for partners featuring 12 different Microsoft technologies working together to resolve business needs!

Scenarios:
Business Productivity
Customer Acquisition and Retention
Security and Reliability
Business Solutions

Products:
Windows Essentials Business Server 2008
Windows Small Business Server 2008
Office 2007
Windows Vista
SQL 2008
System Center Essentials 2007
Dynamics CRM 4.0
SharePoint Server 2007

Download from here!

Ciao for now :)

Product Demonstration Resource for ALL Microsoft Partners!!!

chrisp — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:07:34 GMT

The Microsoft Partner Demo Showcase download has been extended to include Deep Dive/Product virtual environments which are available to ALL Microsoft partners, including SBSC. Only Demo Showcase remains as the Gold/Cert benefit moving forwards...

The following are now available globally for immediate download:

2007 Microsoft Office System

47 Hands-on Labs
25 demonstrations

Microsoft Forefront and System Center Demonstration Toolkit

Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager
Microsoft Forefront Security for Exchange Server
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager
Intelligent Application Gateway
Forefront Client Security

Microsoft Business Intelligence Demo (Data Warehousing, Reporting and Analysis, Performance Management)

Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
Microsoft SQL Server 2005
Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007

Get your lovely new shiny Virtual Machine downloads here.

Enjoy :)

The Demo Showcase for the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC)

chrisp — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 21:15:00 GMT

I finally received some clarity from the upper echelons in Redmond around this...

The good news is that the Demo Showcase Small Business DVD should be delivered in the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription Special Edition for SBSC's mid-March!!!

Now, I wonder if this is just in the U.S.A.?!? As I understand it, this should be delivered to all SBSC members so here's hoping!

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Office 2007 Launch (Part 2)

chrisp — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 18:56:00 GMT

There's another fantastic scenario contained with the Demo Showcase which expertly shows off the amazing conditional formatting and newly designed table capabilities of Microsoft Excel 2007.

In the scenario, we assume the character of Patricia Doyle, a Sales Manager with Contoso. Maybe the silicon chip inside her head is switched to overload (but) she don’t like downtime. So, the race is on with regards to just how fast we can get better results faster!

First of all, we're introduced to the concept of galleries and the use of the new live preview capabilities of Office 2007. We also get to understand the benefit of contextual menus and the fantastic charting options available.

By using the blandest of spreadsheets, we are quickly shown how to transform it into a professional looking spreadsheet containing automatically created totals, filters and funky new charts!

Finally, the scenario wraps with a spreadsheet containing data bars, business intelligence style icons and more... All in less than five minutes. So much for that downtime, shame we can't do anything about Mondays!!!

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Office 2007 Launch (Part 1)

chrisp — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 21:13:00 GMT

One of the great things about the Demo Showcase is the Office 2007 content it contains. One of the scenarios let's you assume the role of Julia, the HR Manager at Contoso who needs to publish a HR newsletter on a regular basis. Now, to me, Julia looks more like someone who spends hours and hours in front of the mirror rather than in the Office. How does she manage to find time for this? Easy, she's obviously switched to the 2007 Microsoft Office System (now with workflow!)

In this example, Julia uses the new functionality included in the Ribbon to quickly format a plain looking document and transform it into a HR letter (this obviously then leaves plenty of time to later transform herself into the model pictured above!) She also uses the drop down gallery feature to insert and format graphics that need to be included.

So, the scenario shows how transforming such a bland looking document (pictured left) into the rather swanky looking newsletter (pictured right) is an extremely simple, few click process.

Give it a go if you need to know how...

So this is how it feels to leave early, this is how it feels to us all, this is how it feels when your work takes you no time at all.

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase for UK Small Business Partners

chrisp — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 14:32:16 GMT

Some great news for members of the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) in the UK!

The January edition of the Action Pack will be a special edition indeed, as SBSC members will each receive a copy of the Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business!

I've had lots of great feedback from Small Business Partners who managed to get hold of a copy from the launch at the Worldwide Partner Conference...looking forward to hearing lot's more soon!

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Communication

chrisp — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:03:00 GMT

The moment I wake up, before I turn on my laptop, I make a little call or two...

And, chances are I will get through to someone's voicemail...at this point, I have a few options:

Leave a voicemail (which I don't know when they will get)
Send an Email (which I don't know when they will get)
Use Microsoft Office Communicator (aha!!!)

In the Demo Showcase, Office Communicator is an enterprise wide communication tool that Contoso uses and the uses are built in to many of the scenarios. The provision of built in presence really is a great advantage which allows people to find out if someone is in a meeting/out of office/on holiday/busy before deciding to contact them. It's extremely useful if, for example, there is a need to get a quick answer to a question without having to waste time generating email that may not get read for days or making a telephone call to leave a message on voicemail...

Within the Demo Showcase, one such scenario highlights how the Contoso Sales Manager uses Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 to communicate instantly with her fellow employees.

In addition, the scenario runs through quick assistance from the IT department to help solve the issue through application sharing!

The possibilities around flexible working are great. I'm thinking how I work here, waking up in the morning, checking email whilst eating breakfast, being able to review what is planned for the day on my Windows SmartPhone, using Mobile Communicator to find out if people I need to speak to are in/out of the office, contacting people over IM to inform them of urgent issues etc. etc.

So, maybe, with a little help from Aretha once more, I should rework my way through the day... The moment I wake up, I start to boot up my laptop and find out what my contacts are up toooooo...

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase & Small Business & The Stone Roses

chrisp — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 17:57:00 GMT

I was listening to The Stone Roses the other night, they were a four piece band that originated from Madchester in the mid eighties. The vocals were sung by lan Brown and occasionally guitarist John Squire. Completing the quintet were Pete Garner on bass and Reni on drums.

John Squire also did all of the artwork for the bands releases. In particular I love the track titled "I Am The Resurrection"

Now, specifically, the Demo Showcase for Small Business is also comprised of four pieces:

Financial Management
First Server Right Server
Mobility
Sales and Marketing

In total, we have ten scenarios, let's face it, if these were tracks we'd have enough for an album right? And so, for each of these, we then have multiple scenarios.

Take Financial Management for instance, the two scenario's here deal with rapid sales growth, paper records, bad debtors, and the understanding of how technology and process automation can help address such issues. Then, with Sales and Marketing, opportunity management, service scheduling and campaign management all get the treatment. For First server, Right Server, we deal with Small Business Server but what's my point here?

Well, each of these are solo, they are individuals, not part of a band at all. If we start putting them together, the music we can make is bound to sound a whole lot sweeter, wouldn't you agree?

For example, a First Server, Right Server including Mobility scenario could go something like this...

Stan Orme, the business owner needs to get some financial information from his accountant Debra Garcia. He does this through opening a secure connection to Outlook Web Access whilst traveling. He schedules a meeting and later on uses his new PocketPC phone to check email finding that Debra has proposed a new meeting time. When her returns to the office the next day, Stan is taken to the Contoso Intranet where he is authenticated and updates the meeting with Debra.

I'm hopeful that you're getting the picture here, when we join the campaigns together, the scenario's become more concise and the opportunities to sell are far clearer.

Finally, let's head back to "I Am The Resurrection" - Anyone familiar with the tune? I tired to think of a way to make this also fit into the demo showcase so here goes my best shot... I definitely apologise in advance for this one :p

I am the Demo Showcase and I have the right, to help you sell solutions and to drive business insi-iiiii-iiight...

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase Team Tactics

chrisp — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 13:07:57 GMT

Right then, Monday morning and my season's kicked off, so time to head back over to the football/soccer analogies...well, if tactics equate to marketing campaigns that is!!!

Find below a list of the market campaigns that the Demo Showcase aligns to when talking to midmarket customers.

Build Customer Connections
Drive Business Performance
Drive Real World Business Processes
Enable Your Mobile Workforce
Find, Use and Share Information
Optimize and Secure Your Core Infrastructure
Optimize Your Application Platform Infrastructure
Optimise Your Business Productivity Infrastructure

And also, a list of campaigns that the Demo Showcase aligns to for the small business specialist.

First Server, Right Server
Financial Management
Mobility
Sales and Marketing

As for my team this weekend? Losing 1-0 at home, we went 2-1 up only to concede a late equalised in a 2-2 draw. Not the worst start to the season on reflection, a fair result I feel...

Ciao for now :)

What Does the Demo Showcase Look Like (in Reality?)

chrisp — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 22:29:54 GMT

Well, I posted the box shots, so here's the actual goods... Basically, what you get when you pop them there DVD's into your machine is a nice little index...

This is where you could, if you so wished, look to sort out a list of technology demos... Or, if you are smart, you can try to align them by Campaign, Role and Customer (even a combination of) to help understand business pain points within any given organisation...

So, in this example I've chosen Midmarket as the example customer and Finance as the role I'm looking to talk to and as you can see, it filters me down to a few sample demonstration scenario's... Clicking more information is a useful little thing to do next...

Finally, the only other option left is to view the script, here's a sample...

What next, launch the VPC's and run through the scenario, in real time...only another 44 to review...Indeed!!!

In all seriousness, this for me is a fantastic sales aid which can help businesses understand how to approach customers when selling solutions. Note that this is indeed the emphasis here, to help transition from product to solution selling. Interested in selling more, cross selling, upselling??? Tempted to take a look at the Demo Showcase yet?

You bloomin' well should be!!!

If you want to hear first hand evidence from partners around the benefits they have gained from using this during it's pilot phase in the UK, listen to Karen Dallyn from Lynx and Steve Sydee from Touchstone.

Ciao for now :)

The Demo Showcase Line Up

chrisp — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:57:00 GMT

I played football at the weekend (that's possibly known as soccer to any non UK folk listening - hey, what do we know, we only invented the beautiful game! ;)

I play for a Sunday League side, nothing serious, that's run from a local pub called The Holden Bridge Hotel. The team played really well, and we stuck to a rigid 4-4-2 formation throughout.

I don't truly understand the way my brain works and so have no idea why I decided to relate this to the Demo Showcase, but, any good team is always role based so I thought I'd use this as an analogy to introduce you to the Customer Roles we currently have residing in the newest and best People Ready Business sales tool...

In goal, (1) Bookkeeper
Right back (2) Information Technology Services
Left Back (3) Office (player) Manager
Centre Half (5) Human Resources
Centre Half (6) Finance
Right Midfield (7) Marketing
Left Midfield (11) Service Technician
Centre Midfield (4) Operations
Centre Midfield (8) Sales
Centre Forward (9) Chief Executive Officer
Centre Forward (10) Small Business Owner

As you can see, there's a pretty solid back line there, the Bookkeeper has a great safe pair of hands and patrolling the back four, really underpinning the teams' success we have IT Services, the Office (player) Manager, HR and Finance. Keeping the side running in midfield, Sales, Marketing and Operations line up alongside the Service Technician. Then, pushing the team forwards, up front we have the CEO and the Small Business Owner looking to create and take as many opportunities that the midfield can provide whilst also trying to make and take their own chances either solo or by working in partnership...

Finally, for anyone interested, I bagged the first and the third then set up two more in a 6-0 away win in our final pre-season friendly... Season starts next week, might keep you all up to date on the results as we go along...

Ciao for now :)

Whoever heard of the Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business?

chrisp — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:00:00 GMT

Well, I did for sure...hope you were as lucky!

Basically, the "Demo Showcase for the People Ready Business" (really can't be bothered to type that out all the time so from here-on-in it will be referred to as the Demo Showcase) is a unique resource for Microsoft Partners to help them transition from product to solution selling. Aligned by scenario (45 of), role (13 of) and campaign (don't even go there!), this resource provides a consolidated view across 28 Microsoft Products in a rather interesting fashion...

I'll post more soon but for initial insight, take a look here:

https://partner.microsoft.com/demoshowcase