Response Point Team Blog : training

2 Free VOIP Training Webcasts for Partners from TechEd's Top Speaker!

sprague — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:45:00 GMT

Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark (Part 1 of 2)
October 6th, 2009, 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP01PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552695

This online seminar provides the foundation for troubleshooting Response Point communications with Wireshark, the open source analyzer, or other analyzer products. Beginning with the troubleshooting methodology and the tips/tricks to locating the cause of network problems related to VoIP communications, Laura demonstrates the visible evidence of the most common network infrastructure problems. If the infrastructure isn't performing properly - no network-based applications will perform properly. That includes Response Point.

Response Point Analysis and Troubleshooting (Part 2 of 2)
October 28th, 2009 9:00 - 10:00am PDT
MRP02PAL

Registration URL: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/learning/app/management/LMS_ActDetails.aspx?UserMode=0&ActivityId=552698

This online seminar follows the Introduction to Response Point Analysis with Wireshark event with a focus on issues that affect Response Point communications. Beginning with the overview of telephony protocols and typical communication processes, Laura delves into the numerous issues that affect the visibility and performance of Response Point systems, walks through a series of Response Point trace files and demonstrates how to use Wireshark's telephony-specific troubleshooting features. Finishing up this event is a summary of problems that may be caused by firewall issues and add-on service problems.

Updated RP site for Microsoft Partners

sprague — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 00:36:14 GMT

The Response Point world is centered around our business partners and Microsoft Specialists who help customers choose and deploy their phone systems. Our partners often ask us for marketing, sales, and technical information to make it easier for them to present Response Point, and there are many ways to get that information, but if you’re a serious partner the best way is through the Microsoft Partner Portal (MSPP).

Today we’re pleased to announce a major upgrade to the Response Point section on MSPP: get all the Response Point sales, marketing and training tools you’ll need to increase awareness and drive sales to your small business customers. The newly redesigned Response Point product page has relocated to the Global Microsoft Partner Portal site, and is now located under “Products and Solutions” with easier navigation and on-stop access to technical, product and selling resources. In addition to updated SP2 feature and benefit content, you’ll find NEW website, email, event and co-promotional templates.

You can find all of this and more at: https://partner.microsoft.com/global/40104201

Please note: the MSPP site is limited to Microsoft Partners only. If you’re interested in becoming one, please follow the instructions for how to become a Response Point specialist and join us!

Use the Small Business Summit Video on your site

sprague — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:28:00 GMT

Response Point has many great videos you can use on your own web site to show customers how Response Point can help them. One of our favorites is this one that was produced last year for the Microsoft Small Business Summit, and summarizes in a few minutes the basic talking points about RP:
Small Business Summit: Phone It In

If you click on the “share” icon above, you’ll see some simple HTML code that you can use to place the video on your site as well. Every small business should watch this simple 7-minute introduction to see how easy it is to upgrade to Response Point.

Books We Are Reading … :)

RexBackman — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 02:55:07 GMT

Well sort of… Actually we are working on some small projects here in Redmond with Ray Horak. Ray’s a very savvy technologist with a focus on the telecom space. He is the author of some popular and well respected telecom books – a dictionary and a handbook on telecom and data communications. If you want to refresh your technical skills check out Ray’s books at your favorite book-buying location.

New !!! SP2 Learning Resources and Quick Guides

RexBackman — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:54:00 GMT

Please feel free to take a look at the new new technical Learning Resources, White papers, and Quick Guides that are now available for Response Point v1.0 SP2.

You can find them HERE.

Videos, transcripts, and white papers are available to help your Response Point engagements and ongoing support.

ITExpo Training Presentation

sprague — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:37:40 GMT

Many people are asking us about how they can take the latest training sessions on Response Point. The best technical training we’ve done recently was the presentation at ITExpo by Marta Barillas and Luis Esparragoza.

We’re hoping to offer a full video or podcast version of this training soon, but meanwhile you can download a copy of the Powerpoint slide deck here:

The 10 Step Response Point Partner Playbook

RexBackman — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:03:00 GMT

1. Select Your Hardware OEM:

Aastra, D-Link, or Syspine

2. Choose Your Service Provider:

Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond, NGT, Junction Networks, Packet 8, SMB Phone, TotalTel

3. Know the Response Point Peripherals:

Quintum for Gateways, ClearOne for speakerphones

4. Get Smart:

Read books – from Harry Brelsford and Joe Schurman

Take online training from the RP web

Take Microsoft Learning course #74-675

5. Stock Up:

Get a permanent demo unit at a discount from your OEM

Use it for demos and hot swap backups for your managed services

6. Get Involved in the Community:

Read the Response Point team blog; visit Telephonation.com; join the Response Point LinkedIn group

7. Market Yourself:

Get a Yellow Page ad in the TELEPHONE section; do a direct mail piece; put on an event; join local professional organizations

8. Get Those Leads:

Get to know your local Chamber of Commerce; know your local moving companies; Extend your SBS installed base with Response Point; investigate sba.gov for local angles and opportunities (i.e. monthly SCORE meetings…).

9. Sell the Solution:

It’s all about communication and collaboration. Leverage your SBS and Outlook skills with the client. Customize the RP toast with SP2, customize the auto attendant….

10. Manage that New Customer:

Deliver regular maintenance; sell remote management; network assessment health checks; Response Point customization. All are good ‘links of revenue' that add up overtime.

Another Response Point book

sprague — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:26:13 GMT

Long-time Response Point friend Joe Schurman has completed a new book, Microsoft Voice and Unified Communications. Featuring Office Communications Server (all updated for the latest R2 release), and of course plenty of information about Response Point, this is a broader overview than Harry Brelsford's book Cut the Strings (discussed here). Joe's the brain's behind SmartVOIP (which we mentioned last month), the software+hardware developed with Quintum to let you connect RP to an OCS deployment, so he knows what he's talking about.

It's will be available from Amazon soon.

RP Webinar on Telcomm

sprague — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:07:27 GMT

Tom Cross is doing a series of webinars for Response Point partners interested in learning more about telco. His next one is Thursday, November 19th at 9:30am PST.

He sent me a draft of the presentation and it looks very interesting, especially to those of us who think we know a fair bit about RP but want to learn more about the competition, and the industry as a whole.

The webinar covers everything from open source alternatives to hardware. Remember, the best part of attending the webinar live is that you get to ask questions of Tom right there.

If you want to be better at positioning yourself for RP sales, please sign up now (it's free).

5w50 Response Point Intro Training

sprague — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 00:49:54 GMT

Join us on Friday, October 17th at 9:00-10:00am PST for "Microsoft Response Point SP1: What is it? Is it good for my customers? Is it good for me, a MS VAR?" Here's the description:

In this 5W50 segment we’ll take a look at Microsoft Response Point’s recent SP1 release with members of the Response Point team, a small team that was spun out from Microsoft Research last year as an Incubation business. First, we’ll focus on a review of the SP1 offering as it extends Response Point with SIP Trunking capabilities, refreshed Admin and Client modules, and Call reporting functions to name just a few new features. Then, and more importantly, we will discuss and show how Response Point benefits the small business customer. Response Point delivers improved communications and collaboration capabilities for your clients. It makes day-to-day business communication easier for them and your client’s may save money, too. We’ll conclude with a discussion on the benefits Response Point affords Microsoft VARs focused on the SMB space. We will breakdown Response Point’s ‘Revenue Opportunity Chain’ for VARs and discuss the opportunities around each ‘Revenue Link’ such as network assessments, integrations with Outlook or SBS, or Data/Voice provisioning via SIP Trunking.

This session is free to all registered Microsoft partners and will feature Richard Sprague, Sr. Director from the Response Point team.

This will be a good session to attend if you don't know much about RP and would like to learn more about how it can help your business.

Hint: see more 5w50 broadcasts at the MS Small Business Training site.

Telecomm Webinars: Sign up now

sprague — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:39:00 GMT

Our friend Tom Cross is hosting a 3-part series of Telecommunications webinars that you'll want to view if you are serious about making money from the world's switch to IP-based phone systems. Here are the dates and sign-up information (follow the links below):

October 29, 2008: Telecommunications - the Next-New Revenue Opportunity (Part 1)

What’s In It For You - New Skills Means, New Business, Better Business, More Value-Profit to you business.

Where’s the money? Bandwidth is the Business - There is an infinite demand for business and recurring month commissions to you. Instead of selling once, you get paid for 3, 5 or more years.

What is bandwidth: old services, new concepts, emerging services

POTS-Plain Old Telephone Service
PSTN-Public Switched Telephone Network

Analog Business Lines and Trunks

Digital Business Lines and Trunks
T-1/T-3, ISDN-PRI/BRI
SIP Trunking
Emerging bandwidth services and business backup/continuity planning

Bottom-line – “You can’t sell, what you don’t know,” this three-part series will tell you what you need to know.

November 19, 2008: Telecom “Interconnect” Hardware Systems aka “CPE-Customer Premise Equipment (Part 2)

This webinar focus on various hardware, software and hosted (web-based) solutions. It’s intended to give you a “taste” of the competitive landscape and help you position your RP sales efforts efficiently and effectively. Here are some of the key highlights:

Traditional Key Systems
RP-Response Point – new approach to the SMB-Small Medium Business
Hybrid Systems – Open Source and other new approaches
Hosted/web-based solutions
PBX-Private Branch eXchange
IP-PBX
Media Gateways
Multiplexers

Note: due to the brevity of these webinars, some of these concepts will not be discussed in detail.

December 10, 2008: Top-10 Tips for Success - Show Me the Money – Response Point, Service Providers, VARs (Part 3)

This next seminar will bring all the services, solutions and concepts together into a “happy meal.” That is, there is more to owning a car than driving it off the lot. There is more to making your initial sale successful than the technology.

User Assessment – what do they really want
Network Assessment – what your local network looks like
Systems Upgrade – routers, switches, cabling – what you will likely need to do
Data systems integration – getting help
Service Selection - RP Service Providers – what others provide

Bandwidth.com, Cbeyond, Junction Networks, NGT, Packet8
Agents, Master Agents – understanding how telecom is sold

Installation and test – anticipating disaster
Troubleshooting and diagnostics – knowing what you are hearing
Training – “driver training”
Billing – CTL-Contract Termination Liability – “watch out”
Followup and Additional Services – “selling dessert”

[update: Oops, the earlier version of this post said there would be a webinar on Nov 11; it's actually planned for Nov 19th at 9:30pst]

Demo Video

sprague — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:43:50 GMT

Here's one of the videos featured in XD's keynote this week at ITExpo: a simple 3-minute introduction to how to set up a Response Point system.

It's easy to link to this video from your own web site. Click on it to get to the main Soapbox page and just copy the HTML code.

SP1 Fact Sheet on line

sprague — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 20:15:31 GMT

Looking for a detailed, authoritative overview of Response Point SP1 features? Click here to download the SP1 Fact sheet:

It's full of screen shots and feature descriptions and you are free to copy/paste and post to your own web site or use in customer materials as you like.

Plan Ahead. Microsoft Response Point @ the upcoming Internet Telephony Expo

RexBackman — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:17:00 GMT

Microsoft Response Point will be quite active at the upcoming Internet Telephony Expo September 16 - 18 in Los Angeles at the L.A. Convention Center - http://www.tmcnet.com/voip/conference/.

IP Telephony expert Tom Ross from the TMC University will hold a one-day class focused on Microsoft's VoIP solutions Office Communications Server (OCS) and Response Point (RP). If you are interested in the class, please use this link for registration information. Also, Microsoft Response Point General Manager, X.D. Huang will deliver one of the event Keynotes on Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 4:00pm. Please use this link for Keynote information.