WPC and Microsoft Partner Network: Whats It All About?

Now that I'm finally recovered from jetlag and the thrills of cancelled flights, long delays and plane food, I'm looking forward to blogging on my personal highlights from WPC.

For now, you can check out keynotes and other stuff on Digital WPC.

As you’ve probably heard, one of big announcements at WPC was about the changes to the Microsoft Partner Network and you can find out more details of these announcements on Digital WPC or by visiting the Partner Portal.

At the moment, not all of the details have been revealed and internally at Microsoft there is some fine tuning going on, based on Partner feedback and feedback from Microsoft subsidiaries.

Over the coming months, Sarah Arnold and Inese Kingsmill from Microsoft will be coordinating roadshows for partners to learn more about the changes to the Partner Network. Stay tuned for further details on those events.

In the meantime, you can subscribe to Sarah's blog or ask Sarah a question using the Live Messenger plug in on her blog.



Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

WPC09 New Orleans - Jazzed To Be Here!

New Orleans is a great city for a partner conference, southern hospitality, great weather and some of the best eating I've experienced in a long time.

Each year WPC is a great opportunity to catch up with other partners and Microsoft execs on a kind of level playing field. Everyone is playing away and a sense of openness of communication generally prevails, making for some genuinely interesting exchanges of ideas.

The agenda for this years WPC has been restructured significantly and I'm finding it much easier to navigate the content that I'm looking for. For me, last years agenda was really disappointing with alot of subject/content mismatch.

At Monday's keynote Allison Watson (Corporate VP, Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group) announced the new Microsoft Partner Network and outlined the transition that will take place from the current Microsoft Partner Program over the next 18 months or so. Already there are some interesting consipiracy theories about exactly what shape this will take and what it will mean for partners in the SMB space and for the Small Business Specialist program. I'm looking forward to sitting down with Sarah Arnold later today, where Wayne Small and myself will be getting more details and raising some of the questions coming out of the user groups and wider SMB community. I'm looking forward to bringing further information to you.

I've also got a number of meetings to attend in my new role as SBSC PAL and I'm anxious to find out more about the role and how I can assist partners and Microsoft to get more value out of working together and to navigate some of the fantastic opportunity being driven my many innovative products Microsoft will be brining to market over the next few years.

As always in this industry, change dominates and its a reminder of why we have chosen to make our careers and businesses in this industry - its dynamic, exciting and we get the buzz of being a conduit for innovation and productivity in the community.

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.

Count Down to WPC 09 - New Orleans

We're just over a month out from this years Microsoft Worldwide Partner conference and I have a list as long as my arm to complete before we head off. Before we leave, we have to get a couple of new recruits bedded in, review various options for new office premises, get end of financial year preparations in order and I need to finish writing by presentation for the ICT Factor Conference. Not to mention getting to grips with being Microsoft's Australian SBSC PAL for 09-10!


Last year's WPC was held in Houston, a city which left me thoroughly uncharmed (possibly something to do with having spent two weeks in New York before WPC and a week in Bora Bora afterwards). So I'm really looking forward to New Orleans - a city famed for its history, food and music.


The format of this years conference has been changed to allow for Solutions Track Breakout Sessions, Segment/Industry Breakout Sessions and Business Model Breakouts with keynotes from the usual suspects like Kevin Turner, Allison Watson and Steve Ballmer. Lets hope Allison's not making another music video this year! One special keynote that is sure to be popular with the partners is Wednesday morning's session with Jack Welch. There's also a golf tournament and the WPC Day of Giving where you can roll up your sleeves and help out with the ongoing rebuilding work in New Orleans.

Aside from getting involved with a whole bunch of PAL related activities, I'm also hoping to get more out of meeting other partners using WPC Connect this year.


If you haven't already registered its not too late!

You can find out all about WPC09 and New Orleans by checking out these links:


Info on WPC09
https://partner.microsoft.com/40018508
http://www.digitalwpc.com/



Conference Agenda
http://www.digitalwpc.com/Agenda/



Things to See and Do
http://www.neworleansonline.com/
http://www.neworleanscvb.com/

Keira McIntosh is the General Manager at Directions Technology - an Australia owned small business providing managed and reliable IT Support in Brisbane. You can also find her on Twitter and Linked In.