UK SBSC : Software-plus-services

Guide to Opportunity: Software-plus-Services

UK SBSC — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:01:30 GMT

Click here to download a guide that explains how partners can exploit Microsoft's Software-plus-Services strategy. Microsoft executives and partners explain how Software-plus-Services can create major revenue opportunities for partners; and cost savings for customers, especially in the current economic climate.

Understand Software-plus-Services in 3mins + BPOS UK Pricing

UK SBSC — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:27:09 GMT

Here’s two very quick video’s to help you and your customers understand Microsoft's Software-plus-Services vision and Microsoft's first service launching in the Spring.

Understand S+S in 3mins – You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXS0BFS6QT4
Understand the Business Productivity Online Suite in 10mins – Microsoft.com: Online Demo

There's also still time to book attendance at our pre-launch event - please select one of the links below:

Announcing UK Pricing for the Spring 2009 launch

We are pleased to announce the availability of UK pricing for the BPOS at highly competitive prices. Partners can find further information here and complete the Quick Start programme to be ready to earn fees!

Service Offerings

List USL Price
(Monthly per User)

List Step-Up USL Price

Exchange Deskless Worker

£1.34

No Step-Up

SharePoint Deskless Worker

£1.34

No Step-Up

*Deskless Worker Suite (25% Discount)

£2.01

No Step-Up

Exchange Online Standard

£6.69

£5.76

Office SharePoint Online Standard

£4.85

£3.56

Office Communications Online
(Instant Messaging & Presence)

£1.67

£1.25

Office Live Meeting

£3.01

£1.98

BPO Suite (38% Discount)
- Exchange Online Standard
- Office SharePoint Online Standard
- Office Communications Online
- Office Live Meeting Online

£10.04

£8.13 (from CoreCAL)
£6.65 (from ECAL)

To be able to earn sales fees from BPOS you need to complete the Quick Start programme here.

To understand the potential for your business complete the new Profitability Modeller Tool to build scenarios, and produce a personalised P&L report. Further information can be found here.

Free training on Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) - 22nd January 2009

UK SBSC — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:30:05 GMT

The UK software market is evolving, and customers are looking to embrace the change. Forecasted growth for subscription software is expected to achieve an annual growth rate of +30% during the next three years - considerably outpacing traditional market growth and providing a tremendous resale and service opportunity for Microsoft partners.

In a tough economy, subscription services are more digestible to cash strapped customers. Microsoft's BPOS, launching in Spring 2009, provides a new IT solution for customer needs. For you, it provides an annuity revenue opportunity with incremental implementation, integration, customisation, and managed services opportunities.

Join us at this pre-launch event to gain FREE technical training required to sell and implement this new customer solution.

Book your place today to get a head start on this new business opportunity. Click here to book an AM session and here to book a PM session.

Outline of Agenda:

(Both AM & PM sessions will feature the same content)

Overview on Microsoft Online Services (BPOS)
Technical Overview:

Deployment & Administration
Co-existence with on-premise
Migration from on-premise
Security
Reliability

Outline of Licensing Models (& scenarios)
Update of Partner Ready Sales and Marketing tools
Information on: Beta & trial availability

To get further ahead, complete the Quick Start Programme. Just click here, register with your partner ID and then click on 'looking for training resources'.

Have you seen the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite Quickstart?

UK SBSC — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:05:35 GMT

I would like to introduce you to the Microsoft Online Services Resource Center - a part of Quickstart for Microsoft Online Services. Quickstart for Microsoft Online Services is a comprehensive resource for partners to evaluate business and technical opportunities with the Business Productivity Online Suite and CRM.

The Business Productivity Online Suite includes enterprise class products made up of: Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Live Meeting and Office Communications Online. The Business Productivity Online Suite is delivered as a subscription service, hosted by Microsoft and sold with Partners. There are two versions of the services: Business Productivity Online Suite Standard primarily targets small and mid-market customers, whereas Business Productivity Online Suite Dedicated is for customers with 5,000 seats and above.

Complete these three steps to enable your business to sell Microsoft Online Services:

Go here to learn more and access the Microsoft Online Services Resource Center: https://www.discoveronlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx

Introducing our new Partner Programme Videocasts

UK SBSC — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:14:28 GMT

Microsoft have just launched a series of videocasts to kick start your knowledge of the Microsoft Partner Programme and to help you get the most value from your partnership. All videocasts are accessible on our brand new Partner Player — you simply pick the videos you want to watch, be that learning about sales and marketing resources, getting the most from your internal-use licences, or hearing tips and tricks about how to successfully renew your programme membership.

Just visit the Partner Player and start watching the videos. Or if you prefer, you can filter the videos to your tier level (Registered, Certified or Gold Certified), your role or video type, or just pick a video from our recommended list.

Here's a couple of recommended videos to get you started:

Are there any specific videos you would like to see from a UK SBSC perspective? Send me your thoughts to sbscuk@microsoft.com.

Microsoft Study Reveals Small Business IT Sophistication

UK SBSC — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 15:49:36 GMT

My colleague, who heads up the SBSC programme in Canada (Satish Kanwar), has kindly advised me that Microsoft has released the results of a global study that investigated how small businesses use and manage their IT. The research report, called “Microsoft Global Small Business Index, October 2008”, was executed by Vanson Bourne Ltd. earlier this year with more than 1,300 small businesses across several countries - including 200 from the UK.

Whilst some the research looks to highlight the growing demand for software as a service amongst small businesses, as you can see from the quote below you can see it also identifies the opportunity around Windows Small Business Server.

"The research, which surveyed small businesses’ attitudes on a range of areas, also found that many have “IT envy” for the resources of larger businesses. A vast majority — 79 percent — think that larger businesses gain significant advantage from having access to better IT resources. Despite this, 37 percent still use Web mail, such as Hotmail, Gmail or Yahoo! services, rather than business e-mail services such as Microsoft Hosted Exchange."

"Other findings from the research indicated that small businesses desire more developed capabilities for security and mobile services, with 56 percent of small businesses indicating they would prefer to have more protection from viruses and spam. Meanwhile, 44 percent of small businesses believe they would benefit from mobile e-mail and shared calendar functionalities."

As an all-in-one server solution, SBS 2008 can provide all of the major features used by larger companies to these envious small businesses at a surprisingly affordable cost. E-mail, internet connectivity, internal web sites, remote access, mobile device support, file/printer sharing, backup/restore, etc..

Another interesting thing that came out from the research was that despite the economic downturn, most small businesses reported that they had performed well in the past year, indicating that although the economic situation is real, some are born as a result of fear and uncertainty:

"Globally, 39 percent of businesses had grown, while 36 percent had remained steady in the past year."

With the strength of your partnership with Microsoft, there are cost savings you can uniquely position to SMB customers by exploring innovative hosted, virtualization, and collaboration technologies. Have you understood the opportunities with Software + Services, Virtualisation, and SBS/EBS 2008? Visit our Partner Portal for resources that will help you get up to speed.

The report also highlights the opportunity of working with local governmental influencer bodies, such as the local Chambers of Commerce, associations and bodies, as it highlights:

"Government support is often widely used and well-received, but in some cases, it is thought to be too limited."

Have you explored opportunities to find business through these type of influencer channels? Microsoft UK has someone on point to look at opportunities to work with key influencer channels and perhaps get SBSC partners involved. Watch this space for further updates and information - but in the meantime, think about approaching them directly and utilise the Sales and Marketing tools available in the Sales and Marketing Resource Library.

You can read the full press release or request the report here.

Software + Services: A Platform for the Next Technology Revolution

UK SBSC — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:44:35 GMT

Steve Clayton has just alerted his blog readers to an executive email from Steve Ballmer which lays our Microsoft's Software plus Services announcements and ambitions. It is titled A Platform for the Next Technology Revolution. Steve says, "It’s a pretty solid read if you want to know what this S+S thing I rattle on about is all about. He explains it very well, especially the power of choice."

steve clayton: geek in disguise : A Platform for the Next Technology Revolution

Windows Azure Services Platform

UK SBSC — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 17:41:43 GMT

Yesterday on October 27th October at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft officially announced 'Windows Azure Services Platform' the next phase in the Microsoft vision for Software + Services and Cloud Computing. Read the official press announcement for the official story.

Windows® Azure is a cloud services operating system that serves as the development, service hosting and service management environment for the Azure Services Platform. Windows Azure provides developers with on-demand compute and storage to host, scale, and manage Web applications on the Internet through Microsoft® data centers.

To build these applications and services, developers can use their existing Microsoft® Visual Studio® 2008 expertise. In addition, Windows Azure supports popular standards and protocols including SOAP, REST, and XML. Windows Azure is an open platform that will support both Microsoft and non-Microsoft languages and environments.

Key components of the Azure Services Platform include:

Windows Azure for service hosting and management, low-level scalable storage, computation and networking
Microsoft SQL Services for a wide range of database services and reporting
Microsoft .NET Services which are service-based implementations of familiar .NET Framework concepts such as workflow and access control
Live Services for a consistent way for users to store, share and synchronize documents, photos, files and information across their PCs, phones, PC applications and Web sites
Microsoft SharePoint Services and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Services for business content, collaboration and rapid solution development in the cloud

Three new team blogs are now available Azure Cloud Computing, .NET Services and SQL Data Services (SDS) which will be added to the directory and weekly updates. The Live Services Blog already included is another blog to watch. Here are some key announcements from these blogs:

Welcome to .NET Services (.NET Services Blog)
Getting Started: Windows Azure Tools for Microsoft Visual Studio (Azure Cloud Computing Tools Blog)
Announcing the Azure Services Platform (Live Services Blog)
Windows Live ID becomes OpenID Provider (Live Services Blog)
Identity: Enabling Adoption of Services: Microsoft Federation Gateway (full release) and the Microsoft Services Connector (community technology preview) (Live Services Blog)
Microsoft Announces Windows Azure and Azure Services Platform (SQL Data Services Blog)

If you would like to learn more about Windows Azure visit the Offical Windows Azure Website or and read the article What is Azure.

Microsoft Software + Services Event: Are you ready to evolve?

UK SBSC — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:49:37 GMT

Yesterday Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, was in the UK and presented alongside others at Microsoft's Software + Services event in London. By all accounts I hear it was a really good event and well received by Microsoft partners.

I wanted to direct you all to our Vijay Riyait's (our SBSC PAL) blog post who shares his account of the event. Also, Andy Trish has posted a comment to Vijay's blog sharing his views on whether he considers Software + Services as right for the SBSC partners. I've pulled out a few sections from Vijay's article that I think you might find interesting but recommend you go here to read the full post and others comments.

"...For me the most valuable contribution was by David Mitchell (funnily, we follow each other on twitter!) Senior VP of IT Research at Ovum. David gave a great perspective as to how to position yourself in the emerging S+S era. It was perhaps not a surprise he said that the keys to growth and success were :

Industry Specialisation (an area he said Microsoft needed to help Partners more on)

Using finance to increase the average deal size and get paid quicker

Having a mix of services in your business i.e. not putting all your eggs in one basket

Making the investment now into Online services to be ready for the future (otherwise it will be too late)

Having a repeatable solution which could be delivered with scale and low cost

Outsourcing those parts of your business to those who could deliver it more cheaply

Building Intellectual Property into your business

... He was asked if Microsoft had got it right with it’s S+S Strategy and he said that he believed they had the right building blocks but its success could not be measured yet as the services were not fully released and generating revenue, which would be ultimate test. He felt that nobody had got it right yet and couldn’t give more than about 2/3 out of 10 to anyone!...

... The highlight of the event was Steve Ballmer and boy does he have energy and passion! ... Steve Ballmer was keen to say that he understood that some Partners were not happy with Microsoft moving into this area but he said the business had to evolve to survive but that the Partner Ecosystem was still key to this.

...So, if you’re interested in Microsoft’s Online Services you can sign-up for BPOS (Business Productivity Office Suite) at the Partner Portal but the services won’t come online in the UK until Spring 2009."

» Microsoft Software + Services Event#comment-83340#comment-83340#comment-83340#comment-83340

Business Intelligence in Small Business - Andrew Fryer's take

UK SBSC — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:33:54 GMT

For those who do not follow Andrew Fryer's blog, it is worth checking out his posts on Business Intelligence for Small Business. In a series of four posts Andrew addresses:

Making the Case for Business Intelligence in Small Business

In this article Andrew talks about how we usually equate Business Intelligence (BI) with large organisations but that the reality is many small and medium sized business are implementing BI and seeing the benefits of doing this. He talks about why this is so and the perceived barriers...

To conclude BI is like any business investment, and while the benefits may be hard to quantify there is no doubt that the reduced costs of ownership, make it more and more attractive to small businesses.

Read more here...

Business Intelligence for Small Business- Where's the evidence?

Andrew's second post talks about the evidence that BI is increasingly being used in small business. He goes on to talk about how the cost of BI tool investment might be "further reduced by doing all the hard work in the internet cloud. In future any business will choose to have their line of business data hosted in the cloud, and to have a service to analyse that data." Andrew says...

Many vendors are developing services like this. Microsoft’s approach to this area (what the IT industry calls Software plus Services) is a little bit different in that you can mix and match what is kept on premise (say your data) and what you want to do in the cloud. A good example is the black art of data mining, a set of techniques to discover relationships and customer behaviour for example that were not apparent. Microsoft is designing it’s cloud offering to let you do your data mining from data in the cloud or that you have locally , and then to either analyse that from a browser, or from Excel.

Read more here...

Business Intelligence for Small Business – Scorecards

Andrew's third post addresses how small businesses go about getting started with BI. This typically involves deciding what success looks like and setting metrics around this.

Read more here...

Business Intelligence for Small Business – Analysis

In Andrew's fourth post he talks about the stage when you know what you want to measure and have built a scorecard, so what next. Here comes the analysis phase - e.g. what to do when you know you are not hitting your numbers.

Read more here...

Why Microsoft Partners should embrace S+S and still deliver on premise solutions - David Overton's Blog

UK SBSC — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:33:20 GMT

Last night I attended the Thames Valley SBSC User group in which Vijay Riyait, one of the UK's SBSC PAL's gave a presentation to the group. Vijay talked about his company, the PAL programme, his role as a PAL and also gave an update on the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference which took place earlier this year. In relation to this, Vijay talked about Software Plus Services and highlighted an article David Overton has written on his blog. Whilst David's works for Microsoft, his blog is a personal site and does not have any official affiliation with Microsoft. That said, his post is an interesting read and Vijay was keen to let other SBSC partners know about it to make their own decisions. So here are his opening sentences - you can click here to access the article...

I was at the Microsoft World Wide Partner Conference when Microsoft announced their S+S (Software plus Services) and some partners decided to throw their toys out the pram and start a whole bunch of scare mongering around the partner opportunity. I’ve decided I will cover both off here, so here are some thoughts – please note, this is not an official communication, but simply my view and response having spoken to partners and Microsoft people alike...

Why Microsoft Partners should embrace S+S and still deliver on premise solutions - David Overton's Blog - David Overton's Blog and Discussion Site

Register for SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 Technet events in Bristol and London

UK SBSC — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:19:00 GMT

We have now got the Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 events for TechNet live for registration:

The sessions will concentrate on demos and fielding your questions. It will also debate the opportunities and threats that Software-plus-services pose so you can make a more informed decision about what’s right for you business.