Microsoft SMB Partner Roadshow - Save the Date

I wanted to make sure everyone reading along is aware of the upcoming SMB Partner Roadshows coming to a city near you.

This is a great opportunity to learn more about:

• Microsoft Partner Network Update
• Licensing
• Online Services
• Windows 7 and Windows Server Opportunities for SMB
• Management Opportunities with Hyper V, Virtual Machine Manager and MDOP
• Growing your Business with Partner Marketing Centre and the Customer Insight Tool
• SMB Campaigns & Marketing Opportunities

This is also your opportunity to meet Mark O'Shea, recently appointed SMB Partner Technical Advisor who I'm sure you'll agree is a welcome addition to the Microsoft SMB lineup.

And if that's not enough the roadshow will conclude with networking drinks - a great opportunity to chat with the team from Microsoft and other partners.

Here's the dates:

Brisbane 18 March
Melbourne 19 March
Adelaide 22 March
Perth 24 March
Sydney 30 March

Full details in this month's edition of Spark. You can register here.

If you're in a regional area - don't despair! Brad Clarke and other Partner Territory Managers are planning to get out on the road and see more partners - if you'd like a visit in your area please let me know.

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.

Virtualisation and SMB

I've had more than a few partners contact me with feedback and frustration about the Virtualisation content in the last Microsoft SMB roadshow (November 2009). Be assured I have passed on your feedback and mine to Microsoft and I do hope that they provide some more appropriate and useful content on this important subject soon. As you know, I am no engineer or technician but it's obvious to me that virtualisation is as important for SMB clients as it is at the Enterprise level.

You can get in a froth about virtualisation cos its cool and everyone else is doing it, but utlimately its a smarter way of doing things that can have enormous benefit to your clients. The trick is to get it right and make your life easier too.

In the meantime, check out the Wookie's post on Hyper V virtualisation. This covers many of the gotchas (plus there are a couple of others highlighted in the comments). It also provides links to some other great Hyper V virtualisation resources, information on licensing and even provides info on other SMB appropriate virtualisation platforms.

I'd encourage you to post links to any other good resources in your comments so they can be shared with others.

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.

SBS 2008 training opportunities

I know from talking to many Microsoft partners that you found the training provided for SBS 2008 less than acceptable and this feedback was very clearly channelled back to Microsoft via Hilton Travis who was last years PAL for Australia.

A number of training and readiness initiatives are being prepared for the Australian Microsoft Partners and these are going to mean very very good things for SMB partners.

In the meantime, I wanted to make sure that you are aware that you can now download the SBS 2008 Hands On Labs. The download is 12 GB, but the Microsoft Readiness team are working providing physical media to local partners and I'll provide details of that as soon as they are available.

In the meantime, for those partners whose internet connection and download limit is up to it, you can find the details of the SBS 2008 Hands on Labs over on Sean Daniel's blog.

There are four labs available on Microsoft Connect:

• SBS 2008 Administration
• Managing Clients on SBS 2008
• SBS 2008 Installation
• Migration from SBS 2003

I hope to have details of physical media ordering for these Hands On Labs soon.

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.

Challenges and Community

2010 has got off to a bit of a challenging start for me and I've had to stop and do some deep thinking about my personal and business priorities.

Whilst this has been refreshing in some ways, there is a great deal of hard work and challenges ahead. At times this feels completely overwhelming and highlights one of the challenges of running your own business - isolation.

When things get tough in small business, you may feel utterly isolated, wondering what to do and how to do it. For me, having regular conversations with business and peers and mentors is a great help.

I know a number of Microsoft partners are also members of the SMBiT Professionals groups that are operating in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth and these groups provide a great forum to talk amongst other business owners and key staff who face similar challenges - of both technical and business nature.

As these groups mature, they are becoming less of a geek hangout where matters technical is the focus and I believe this is where they will become more powerful and useful.

If you haven't already become a member you can find details on the SMB iT Professionals website. The membership fees are low and you'll find a vibrant community of enthusiastic group of technicians and business owners. Much work is underway to strengthen the SMB iT Professionals group and create a national industry association. Watch this space.

There are also communities like the HTG Peer Groups, Robin Robin's Technology Marketing Toolkit and those facilitated by MSP and PSA platforms like Kaseya, Connectwise and Autotask.

Getting along to vendor events like the roadshows and other events Microsoft have planned for this year is also a great opportunity network with your peers.

I'm interested to hear if you feel peer groups and networking events benefit you and your business and which ones you feel are the most valuable.

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.

Recognition for Sarah Arnold, Microsoft Partner Program Manager

Those of you how know Sarah Arnold, would know how tirelessly she works to assist Partners and to improve the experience for committed Microsoft Partners. Many of you may have recently met Sarah for the first time at the recent Microsoft Partner Network roadshow or at the Australian Partner Conference on the Gold Coast.

The transition from the current Partner Program to the Partner Network looks like being a very positive one for partners and our customers and Sarah is driving these broad changes at a local level.

So I'm excited to be able to tell you that in recognition of her hard work and commitment to partners, Sarah will be attending the Microsoft Partner Program Managers in Paris from 28 September. This summit brings together Partner Program Managers from around the world to work on the final details about launching MPN and giving feedback on advance competencies, benefits and more.

This is a great opportunity for Sarah but also for us as partners, as Sarah takes our feedback to this event for discussion and action.

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.

Awesome Brisbane Event for Microsoft Office Devs and Power Users

UQ will play host to OfficeDevCon a from 31 October - 1 November. This is the third year for the event which will feature Microsoft and industry experts from around the world who will present advanced topics the following products.

• Access
• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• InfoPath
• Groove
• SharePoint
  and more....

Find out more about it here.

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.

Get Ready for Microsoft Pinpoint

Thanks to the awesomely hardworking Sarah Arnold of Microsoft , Australian Partners will soon be able to take advantage of Pinpoint, the fantastic new tool which will replace the very average Find a Partner we currently have in Australia.

Australia will be one of only four Microsoft subsidiaries to have Pinpoint and I'm optimistic it will be a good source of leads of partners for small and medium business focussed partners who take advantage of its capabilities.

To get things rolling, Microsoft have a special offer for partners who want to prepare for the launch of Pinpoint in 2010 - here are the details:

Prepare your company for the launch of Microsoft Pinpoint in Australia

Get a free professionally written company profile
Microsoft Pinpoint is Microsoft’s unified online business marketplace. It is designed to help customers find the right Microsoft Partner to enable them reach their business goals. To prepare for the 2010 launch of Microsoft Pinpoint, we’re giving your business the chance to shine by helping you create a promotional blurb to upload into the Partner Solution Profile tool.

To qualify for this offer you must:
Be a qualified Small Business Specialist within the Microsoft Partner Network, with a head-office in Australia.
Fully complete the template below to the best of your ability before sending it through.

The first 40 fully completed templates that we receive will be eligible. You will be notified if your request has been successful.

6 Steps to Creating your Profile
Download and complete the template.
Send the template to libby@writeminded.com.au with Solution Profiler in the subject line.
If your template is one of the first 40 received, you’ll receive confirmation of your request with an indication of the production time.
Final copy will then be sent back to you, which you’re free to amend yourself.
The final step is for you to upload your completed copy into the Solution Profiler tool under ‘Solution Description’.

Work with a leading online copywriter
To help you create a great profile, Microsoft has engaged the services of write-minded Pty Ltd director and online communications consultant, Libby Varcoe. Libby was one of Australia’s first online copywriters. Her clients include True Local, Optus, Qantas, ninemsn, MBF, The NSW Premier’s Department and The National Museum of Australia. Libby also runs web writing workshops for the Department of State and Regional Development’s small business program. She has helped hundreds of businesses like yours find and express their voice online. For more information about write-minded visit: http://www.writeminded.com.au/.
Terms and conditions
This offer is open to all qualified Small Business Specialists, within the Microsoft Partner Program, who have a head-office in Australia.
To accommodate the Solution Profiler Tool, your company solution will be no longer than 1200 characters.
The information that will be included in your company profile will be derived from what you include in the template. Please fill this out to the best of your ability.
Once final copy is sent to you, it remains your responsibility to make any changes and upload the copy into the tool.
Offer ends October 1 2009.

More details at the Partner Network blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/auspartners/archive/2009/09/10/prepare-your-company-for-the-launch-of-microsoft-pinpoint-in-australia.aspx

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.