UK SBSC : Windows Essential Business Server

Your feedback has driven change: Unified Messaging now on Windows Essential Business Server 2008

UK SBSC — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 11:15:06 GMT

Several months ago one or two UK SBSC partners came to Microsoft’s offices in Reading to meet with Nick King, Microsoft’s senior SBS and EBS Product Manager. The aim of the meeting was to share their thoughts and feedback in a roundtable style meeting. Nick has just contacted us to give an update on product changes implemented as a result of this session!

You may recall we received feedback that Unified Communications integration was an important technology for mid market businesses and partners… This week we announced Unified Messaging support on Windows Essential Business Server 2008!

Here is a snippet from the blog article that announces this, but do click here to read the article in full and get all the details.

Hi, my name is Scott Thompson – I'm a Program Manager on the Windows Essential Business Server team working on the messaging features of EBS.

One of the most popular features of Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (included in Essential Business Server 2008) is Unified Messaging. Unified Messaging allows voicemail and faxes to be received into Exchange Server 2007 inboxes, and provides access to those messages via Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and ActiveSync devices. Unified Messaging also includes Outlook Voice Access which allows users to retrieve e-mail messages from their mailbox by using a telephone.

Essential Business Server customers often ask: can Essential Business Server be run as a Unified Messaging server? Great news: Yes, Unified Messaging can be added to the messaging server in Windows Essential Business Server 2008.

This blog walks through things to consider before adding Unified Messaging to the Essential Business Server messaging server: Licensing and Hardware planning, along with how to add the UM role.

The Microsoft EBS Team Blog : Running Unified Messaging on Windows Essential Business Server 2008

Nick has asked that we extend his team’s thanks once again to the UK SBSC partners for giving feedback and for being instrumental in driving key changes to our products. He has also promised to continue to update us as Microsoft brings additional scenarios online, so stay tuned! In addition, please continue to share your constructive feedback – as proven, Microsoft is listening!

SBS 2008 & EBS 2008 Customer Brochures: Download today

UK SBSC — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:07:39 GMT

With our humble apologies for the delay, we are delighted to advise that the Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Customer facing brochures are now available for partners to download. Despite the wait, we hope you will be pleased with the finished article and download them to use with your customers as appropriate.

Aside from these being very informative documents that give the customer the key content they can easily consume, they also each have a whole page dedicated to calling out the SBSC partner channel and the value that they offer to small and medium sized businesses:

"Many of our Small Business Specialist partners are part of a community network where they regularly meet up and share experiences as well as their own business challenges. Their ability to network and learn new ways to deliver effective IT solutions by partnering with other solution providers saves you the task of searching for more help. Moreover, it is of direct benefit to their customers who consider Microsoft Small Business Specialist partners as their IT department and therefore you’ll find that working with one of them means you’ll be investing your IT budget wisely. So, if you are a start up or a small- or medium-sized business, we recommend that you speak to a Small Business Specialist partner – look out for the blue badge."

So, here's a closer look at what each brochure contains:

Windows Essential Server Solutions - Accelerate Your Capabilities: Windows Small Business Server 2008 Brochure

This customer ready brochure can be used by partners to help their customers understand how effective the use of technology - in particular Windows Small Business Server 2008 - can be in solving everyday business problems. The brochure introduces customers to servers, explaining what a server is and when a customer would need a server. It then goes on to identify the business benefits a server can offer and highlights Microsoft Small Business Specialist partners as experts who can help customers address their IT needs.

Download from the Sales and Marketing Resource Library or directly from here.

Windows Essential Server Solutions - Accelerate Your Capabilities: Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Brochure

This customer ready brochure introduces the customer to Windows Essential Business Server (EBS) 2008 as an infrastructure solution designed and priced specifically for the needs of mid-size businesses with up to 300 PCs. The brochure goes on to discuss the editions available and ways to buy (via Microsoft licensing) as well as promoting the Microsoft solution add-ins and highlighting minimum hardware requirements needed. In addition, there is a UK specific case study example where EBS has been successfully deployed, plus the brochure introduces customers to Microsoft Small Business Specialist partners who can help customers address their IT needs.

Download from the Sales and Marketing Resource Library or directly from here.

Sharing Feedback & Actions Taken on SBS 2008 & EBS 2008

UK SBSC — Wed, 27 May 2009 10:45:23 GMT

Microsoft recently hosted an informal roundtable event with our Senior Windows Essential Server Solutions Product Manager (Windows Small Business Server & Windows Essential Business Server) from Corporate headquarters - Nicholas King. This roundtable was set up at relatively short notice and involved a handful of SBSC partners who travelled to Microsoft's offices in Reading to talk openly about their issues and concerns surrounding the SBS 2008 and EBS 2008 products. In response to this roundtable event we've collated the feedback given and wanted to share the points we took from the session and for some areas advise what steps have already been taken to address the issues with the wider UK Small Business Specialist community:

The key takeaways from the roundtable were:

SBS 203 Migration Pains: Partners expressed concerns about the lack of resources to assist with migration and the complexity of the end to end migration process

Actions taken:

Click through Hands on Labs have been delivered on Technet to help walk through the deployment and practice before a real migration - EBS 2008 demos can be found here and the SBS 2008 demos can be found here.

Hands on labs are in development to also support readiness for migration.

There are a number of sessions on migration available on the partner portal covering migration. We’re also scheduling another migration session in the near future details to follow shortly

The Upgrade Value Proposition: There was a feeling that Microsoft has more work to do around partner and customer value proposition for SBS reasons to upgrade from 2003 to 2008.

This seemed to be a common theme and as a result we are looking into how we better formulate our value proposition for upgrades. There are a couple of ideas in the pipeline regarding compelling reasons to move from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008, including building some scenarios or promotions to help you initiate an upgrade conversation. Unfortunately I cannot share any more details on this at this stage, but in the meantime, if you have any ideas of what might work here, then please do let us know. Send suggestions to sbscuk@microsoft.com.

SBS 2008 Training: Partners felt there is a lack of availability of SBS 2008 technical training on the current release version which has prevented partners getting trained up so that they can deploy SBS 2008.

Nick has escalated this at a senior level to the partner readiness team at Corporate and has informed me that the final courseware for SBS 2008 is expected to be delivered in June 2009 for SBS 2008 and in August 2009 for EBS. In the meantime all CPLS (Certified Partners for Learning Solutions) channels now have access to RTM code level readiness labs and sessions. This has not been an ideal situation for any of us, but hopefully we have now taken a step in the right direction and courses will be ready for July – in fact you can register for this one now:

44CO120 - M6445 - Implementing and Administering Windows Small Business Server 2008 (4 Days) – London 13th July

This hands-on workshop provides students with the necessary knowledge to plan and implement Windows Small Business Server 2008. Students gain first-hand knowledge on topics such as installing, migrating, monitoring, securing, and backing up data. £100 per delegate.

In terms of training that can help you through the SBS 2008 exam, Nick recommends you use the bitesize courses on the 5W/50 webcast series: http://www.mssmallbiz.com/training/.

Pricing: Price of SBS 2008 was a concern for partners – whilst partners would like to sell Open it is believed to be more expensive than full retail product or OEM. With such a price difference they have to be fair to their customers and cannot be seen to sell at a higher price just because they will get Microsoft Club points etc.

This has been very carefully reviewed by Microsoft and we always investigate the right price point for Solutions for Small Business. From our research it was evident that the increase in price of SBS made up only a small portion of the overall price to the end customer. As we move forward we’ll continue to review the pricing for future versions of the product. For those customers that are looking for a low cost server, the recently launched Windows Server Foundation should suit their base needs.

Solutions Pathway: Partners felt there was confusion around what the purpose was for solutions pathway, also concerns that end user discounts are published publicly.

The SBS team has taken this onboard and working with the appropriate teams to make changes. Further information will be provided in the future as we look across worldwide feedback and look for a ways of reducing the complexity with Solutions Pathway.

Partner Resources: Partners expressed that there is a lack of partner resources for SBS 2008 and EBS 2008. In addition, Partners said that Microsoft need to pay more attention to localising corporate tools and resources as resources become too “Americanised".

Nick has escalated this at Corporate level and:

There is a wider project now in motion to address the WorldWide Partner Portal engine and how we internally filter content down to each country.

There is a review in place of SBSC content and how more content can be discovered

The SharePoint Opportunity: Felt that partners are missing opportunities on promoting SharePoint and Windows Mobile opportunities with SBS 2008. Microsoft could do more to help partners understand the opportunity.

Nick and Gareth are looking into what can be done here and identifying any other best practice across the world that the UK might be able to adopt.

EBS Launch: Microsoft need to consider putting renewed emphasis behind launching EBS and targeting the right partners. In addition, launching SBS and EBS together meant that EBS got 2nd place and it diluted the marketing by launching them together. Numerous scenarios were put forward by the partners to help highlight the opportunity with EBS to other partners.

We are putting a plan in place to address this and gather some case studies whereby partners are growing their businesses by selling EBS. The aim is to showcase to other partners and help them see the opportunity, as appropriate to their business. Stay tuned for more information.

Partners would love to have the SPLA type licensing for SBS and EBS without actually hosting on OV Subscription. i.e. Predictable model of costs each month. This would be a value prop on moving to SBS 2008

Feedback has been taken onboard. We’re investigating if this is feasible.

Office Communication Server: Considered by partners to be too big for many small businesses – need a simple Unified Communications solution that is cost effective. Response Point needs to launch in the UK.

Feedback has been taken onboard.

BPOS: Partners felt there is more work to do around the BPOS Value proposition "to partner".

We understand that we have more work to do around the BPOS value proposition for SMB and have therefore engaged with the appropriate teams to address this. The team in Redmond have taken this on board and are looking at potential solutions that could resolve these issues.

We would like to thank those partners who kindly gave up their time to join this roundtable and engage in the discussions. Hopefully this provides a useful summary of our key takeaways and steps we are taking to address the topics raised. We’re committed to hearing you feedback and working together to make you and our products successful in the SMB marketplace. The last 9 months have been some of the toughest economic times in living memory, we’ll continue to look at new ways to supporting you, and welcome any feedback or ideas you have to better support you in your business with Microsoft. Send suggestions to sbscuk@microsoft.com.

New EBS and SBS Click-through Demos Available!

UK SBSC — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:42:56 GMT

Want a quick, lightweight, and portable way to show off EBS 2008 and SBS 2008? Clickthrough demos for each product are now available on the Download Center for partners. These clickthrough demos come with lab manuals that goes in depth into the products and how to demonstrate them to partners, potential customers, and clients.

The topics include:

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Demo EBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Features Overview

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Demo EBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Installation

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Demo EBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - EBS with System Center Essentials

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Demo SBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Installation

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Demo SBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Migration from SBS 2003

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Demo SBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Working With Clients

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Demo SBS 2008 ToCustomer Click Thru Demo - Admin Console

EBS 2008 demos can be found here and the SBS 2008 demos can be found here.

Windows Server Offer has now been extended to include Open Program Licensing!

UK SBSC — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:02:24 GMT

To help our channel partners continue their investment in delivering the best business value to their customers, we are offering a services rebate from January 15 to June 30, 2009. The following service rebates will be available when partners sell and provide services for the listed servers:

Partners can claim up to 5 rebates in total per unique customer.
Partners can claim up to 25 rebates in total per unique partner.
The services provided to the customer must exceed the amount of rebate being requested.

Eligible License types include: Open Value, Open Value Company Wide, Open Value Subscription, FPP, COEM (System Builder), DOEM and OEM (ROK) for each listed Eligible Server product.

Here’s how to participate in this promotion:

Sell a minimum of 2 qualified server operating systems with services between 15^th January 2009 and the 30^th June 2009.
Submit the product key and related services invoice for each claim by 31^st July 2009 by logging into www.serveroffer.com. You will also need to submit your organisational details and the customer name.
Check the status of your rebate request using your claim number and registered email address.

Go to www.serveroffer.com now for more information.

Also, why not take the 5W/50 Series - The Small and Midsize Business Server Platform: Which Is Right for Your Customer? Online training?

Server Promotion

UK SBSC — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:00:34 GMT

Don’t miss this opportunity to accelerate your server sales.

From January 15 to June 30, 2009, resellers and system builders can qualify for valuable rebates when they sell and deploy any of the following server operating systems:

$100 for Windows Server 2008 Standard
$500 for Windows Server 2008 Enterprise
$100 for Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard
$250 for Windows Small Business Server 2008 Premium
$300 for Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Standard
$500 for Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Premium

To qualify, you must have a minimum of two approved rebate requests. Partners can submit up to a maximum of 25 rebates. Click here for complete information.

Sharing Feedback - SBSC WESS Launch User Group tour

UK SBSC — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 18:09:36 GMT

As promised, we wanted to take the opportunity to share with you some of the feedback we received from the SBSC WESS Launch user group tour.

We have now presented at all eleven user groups and have successfully succeeded in our aim of doubling attendance of each group. In total, through the medium of user groups, we have met with over 270 partners to introduce and demo SBS 2008 and EBS 2008, provide you with a marketing fundamentals session and remind you of the tools and resources available to you as an SBSC partner, as well as set expectations on what Microsoft can and cannot do for SBSC partners.

In summary, here are the key takeaways from the events:

No one session stood out as more popular than the others – the product session, marketing session and the SBSC programme session all seemed to add tremendous value to the success of the events with each session scoring on average 4 or 5 out of 5.
The “Fantastic 40” Apps went down extremely well, with partners seeing SharePoint as a new thing to talk about with their customers.
There were some complaints about getting hold of SBS 08 now – general feedback was that Action Pack is too slow and outdated as a medium. Specifically they asked why action pack is not available as a download. This has been fed back appropriately within Microsoft.
Partners expressed that that are pleased to see Microsoft taking a more active interest in the SBSC programme and are liking some of the initiatives they have seen to date. They request more of the same and hope this investment continues.
Partners would like to see Microsoft to continue to do work to drive awareness of the SBSC brand.
We asked partners to score their knowledge of marketing prior to the marketing session and then post the session. Generally they said their knowledge prior to the session was around 2 (poor) and most scored their knowledge post the session at least 2 points higher (4 or 5 – good / excellent).
Many partners requested Microsoft provide more sessions like the marketing one at future events.
We asked Partners how they intend to buy SBS 2008 and EBS 2008. The majority of partners intend to buy SBS 2008 through COEM or Open licensing. Many also expressed Pre-installed through MNA and FPP as an purchasing option.
We asked partners how soon they plan to deploy SBS 2008 - the majority of partners will be looking to deploy SBS 2008 either immediately or within 3-6 months.
We asked partners how soon they plan to deploy EBS 2008 - several SBSC partners stated this product does fall within their market segment but for those who do cover the relevant segment, they would aim to deploy within 6 months+.
We asked partners what impact the economic situations has had on their business. The majority of partners are seeing high impact, though some comment this impact has had a positive effect on their business as customers are looking for the most cost effective ways to run their business using IT.

I hope you've found this a useful summary.

Finally, we thought we'd share some photos from the events...

Partnercast: SBS/EBS/Windows Server: Which is right for your customer?

UK SBSC — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:46:12 GMT

There have been a number of significant product announcements from Microsoft in the recent part. With options like Small Business Server 2008, Essential Business Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008, identifying the right solution for your customer environment can often be tricky. In this partnercast, Bernardo Munoz, Senior Product Manager for Windows Server and Kevin Watt, Product Manager for Windows Server go through different sales scenarios to help with your decision making. Join them in this discussion not only to learn more about these individual offerings but also how you can leverage all three to boost your revenue.

Go to: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1820315&page=/plc/search.aspx#

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Training: WESS & Windows Server 2008 for OEM & System Builders

UK SBSC — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:35:40 GMT

Here's an update on what Windows Essential Server Solutions (WESS) and Windows Server 2008 training opportunities and resources there are for OEM & System Builder partners:

Windows Server 2008 Product and Sales Overview

Introduces the participant to features and benefits of Windows Server 2008 and core Value Proposition for All OEMs. Includes a high-level look at system requirements and installation options.

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1800057&page=/plc/search.aspx

MSDN Webcast: Windows Server 2008 for Embedded Systems (Level 100)

Windows Server 2008 for Embedded Systems provides new functionality that will be of value to appliance original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including a smaller footprint, virtualization capabilities, and new management and security functionality. Attend this webcast to learn about the new features, SKUs, and pricing for Windows Server 2008 for Embedded Systems.

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1794571&page=/plc/search.aspx#

Essentials of the OEM Pre-Installation Tool Kit (OPK Tools) for SBS2008 and EBS2008

This course will take you through the business value of using the OPK Tools where they fit with SBS and EBS2008. Why you should be using them and most importantly when you should be using them. We will also cover the essentials of using the powerful “Answer File” with SBS and EBS 2008. This single component adds a tremendous value to both the building of multiple SBS and EBS Servers for sale to customers and to installing the SBS and EBS 2008 servers for clients. We will explore when to use the Answer File for building servers and when to use it for migrations from current versions of SBS to the new products.

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1823453&page=/plc/search.aspx

The OEM Pre-installation Kit (OPK) and Deployment Methodologies for Microsoft Small Business Server 2008

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/details.aspx?systemid=1822617&page=/plc/search.aspx#

SBS TechNet Page

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/sbs/default.aspx

Windows Server 2008 TechNet Page

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-gb/windowsserver/2008/default.aspx

Microsoft Learning

http://www.microsoft.com/Learning/

SBS & EBS trials now available for download

UK SBSC — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:14:25 GMT

Following the worldwide launch on 12th November, I'm now pleased to advise that the availability of the official trial versions for both SBS 2008 & EBS 2008. These 60-day trials can be extended three times if your customer requires a longer evaluation period. It can then be upgraded to a fully licensed version.

Please note that the DVD version for United Kingdom is not available as yet but I understand it will be in the near future.

SBS 2008 Sales & Technical Training update - new locations and dates!

UK SBSC — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:55:55 GMT

Recently I announced some heavily subsidised technical training available for Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Essential Business Server 2008. In response a number of you got in touch and asked if we could run the same courses, at the same subsidised rate, but outside the London area. I'm delighted to say that we have now added new dates and locations, and still at that subsidised rate!

SBS 2008 Technical Training:

44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008

Summary: This hands-on workshop provides students with the necessary knowledge to plan and implement Windows Small Business Server 2008. Students gain first-hand knowledge on topics such as installing, migrating, monitoring, securing, and backing up data.

Intended Audience: This course is intended for technology consultants, system integrators, and in-house technology staff that serve small and medium- sized businesses.

Objectives: At the conclusion of the course, participants will be able to:

Install Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Migrate to Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Configure Windows Small Business Server 2008 using the Windows Small Business Server 2008 Console.
Manage users and groups in Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Manage messaging and collaboration in Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Manage and monitor Windows Small Business Server 2008.
Secure a Windows Small Business Server 2008 network.
Expand a Windows Small Business Server 2008 network.

Please note the SBS 2008 courses run after the 1^st December will be delivered in 2 days rather than 3 days. This is in response to Partner feedback with regards to availability to attend courses.

Course Title	Duration	Availability
44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008	3 days	London 1st December
44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008	2 days	London 12th January
44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008	2 days	Edinburgh 15th January
44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008	2 days	Stockport 16th February
44CO101 - Implementing and Administering Windows® Small Business Server 2008	2 days	Birmingham 19th February

We also have the following technical training available:

Partner Onboarding: SBS08 – Online Technical Assessment (30mins)
SBS Technical Learning Path: Useful website to direct you to both online and ILT material
SBS Partner Webinar Series: Landing Page for Webinars and online courses

Sales Training:

Don't forget the sales training that is also available.

There are two learning paths available:

We also have an online course on "Essentials of the OEM Pre-Installation Tool Kit (OPK Tools) for SBS2008 and EBS2008 – (Online)". This course will take you through the business value of using the OPK Tools where they fit with SBS and EBS2008. Why you should be using them and most importantly when you should be using them. We will also cover the essentials of using the powerful “Answer File” with SBS and EBS 2008. This single component adds a tremendous value to both the building of multiple SBS and EBS Servers for sale to customers and to installing the SBS and EBS 2008 servers for clients. We will explore when to use the Answer File for building servers and when to use it for migrations from current versions of SBS to the new products.

Objective:

Understand the value of the OPK Tools.
Install and configure the OPK Tool kit for creating Server Images.
Understand how to use an answer file to build SBS and EBS 2008 Servers.

Go here to register.

The Official SBS Blog : SBS 2008 Launch Success

UK SBSC — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:07:34 GMT

Taken straight from The Official SBS Blog, I wanted to make sure you all saw this post about some videos available on SBS 08 and EBS 08 from the TechNet Edge team:

Thank you to all who attended the live webcast and launch event for the Windows Essential Server Solutions product line! The event was a great success, and we keep hearing how excited everyone is that SBS and EBS are finally out in the market.

Just in case you didn’t get enough of SBS and EBS, check out the below videos from the TechNet Edge team.

EBS remote access video interview

Kannan C. Iyer, program manager for EBS, tells us why EBS chose the remote access methods they use, gives us a walkthrough of the Remote Web Workplace (RWW) UI and options, and also lets us in on the future thinking for EBS RWW.

EBS virtualization video interview

EBS is publicly available and you can attend the live virtual launch event today! In light of this, I decided to interview Steve Bourne, virtualization program manager for Essential Business Server. Steve gives insight into EBS virtualization, tells us what is supported, uses the whiteboard to help determine what EBS virtualization scenario will work best for you, and also shows a quick demo of EBS running in Hyper-V.

SBS 2008 remote access demo and interview

Magesh Narayanan, program manager for SBS, gives us a detailed list of the new remote web workplace (RWW) features in SBS 2008 since SBS 2003 and tells us the design goals they had with remote access for this release.

If you happened to miss the event, you can still visit the DreamServer website for the on-demand replay.

The Official SBS Blog : SBS 2008 Launch Success

We have launched!!

UK SBSC — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:18:20 GMT

Yesterday Microsoft officially launched Windows Small Business Server 2008 and Windows Small Business Server 2008!

If you missed the webcast check it out here... Steve Ballmer and a host of executives talk about what these solutions will mean for SMB customers & partners.

This launch represents a significant opportunity for you to capitalize on as a SBSC in the UK marketplace so make sure you are up to speed and ready to deploy to your customers. Visit the partner portal pages to identify materials that can help you gear up.

Don't forget the Liverpool user group meeting next week!

UK SBSC — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:45:56 GMT

Are you a Microsoft partner based in the Liverpool region? If so, don't forget to sign up and attend the Liverpool Partner User group next Wednesday (19th November). David Bold is getting this partner user group going, having already met once a month or so ago. David has invited Microsoft to come along and deliver and partner readiness session on Windows Essential Server Solutions (that's SBS 2008 and EBS 2008) for this kick off meeting.

Here are the details:

When? – Wednesday 19th November, 5:30pm start
Where? - Gardner Systems, 1 Faraday Road, Wavertree Technology Park, Liverpool, Merseyside, L13 1EH
What? – The agenda for the first meeting, looks like this:

WESS Product Launch overview - Jamie Burgess, Microsoft Partner Technology Specialist
Marketing Fundamentals – Julie Simpson, ResourceIT (External Speaker)
Refreshment break – (Buffet)
The Small Business Specialist Programme – Emily Lambert, Microsoft Community Development Manger
Q & A

If you would like to attend please contact David Bold so that he can account for numbers.

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.