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.

Get the juice on the new Microsoft Partner Network

Microsoft's Aussie Partner Program team are on the road again, holding a series of sessions about the new Microsoft Partner Program.

They're holding sessions in major centres around Australia where you can learn more and also ask your questions of those in the know. Here's the details:

Date & Locations:
August 17: Victoria, Melbourne - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423237&Culture=en-AU
August 18: Perth, WA - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423242&Culture=en-AU
August 19: Adelaide, South Australia - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423238&Culture=en-AU
August 20: Canberra, ACT - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423239&Culture=en-AU
August 25: Brisbane, QLD - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423241&Culture=en-AU
August 26: Sydney, NSW – http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423245&Culture=en-AU
August 31: Gold Coast, QLD - http://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032423243&Culture=en-AU

You can also learn more at Microsoft Partner Portal.

There are some details of the new Partner Network which are being fleshed out by Microsoft who are doing a great job of consulting with partners to get their feedback and incorporate some suggestions into the program.

I'm particularly excited about Customer Satisfaction coming to the fore in the new program, and the compentencies becoming easier for SMB clients to understand and navigate.

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.

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.