At the recent Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Washington DC, we were lucky enough to get an indepth preview of SBS7 and Aurora in multiple sessions. I'll be blogging more about this just as soon as I can convert all that info into something easy to consume. There's plenty of info on the technical specifics that you can already find elsewhere so I will be endeavouring to blog about the business opportunity, leaving the technical stuff to those with more credibility.
However, something you won't find all in one place is the product brochures that Mark O'Shea has kindly aggregated into a blog post on the A. You will find info both products, as well as details of presentations Mark is conducting next week on these products. Leave a comment on Mark's blog if you would like more details of those forthcoming events.
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.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Technology Forecast: Increasingly Cloudy
As talk of the cloud in IT media circles increases to deafening point, many SMB focussed providers are facing the reality that the push to the cloud could have real impact on their business.
Thats not to say that if you're focussed on the SMB market you should pack up your toys and open a lawnmowing business and leave selling IT services to Telstra. Rather, cloud services needs to be part of your business plan, even if it sits in the category of stuff you don't plan on offering right now.
The simple reality is that many of us already offer cloud services to our customers - remote monitoring and management, hosted exchange, backup replication to a data centre. So really, cloud services in SMB are nothing new. What is new is the immediate need large vendors have to fill their scorecards with cloud services sales. Those SMB IT providers helping vendors like Microsoft and Telstra to hit their targets will be rewarded with actual face time from a partner account manager they never got when they were selling on premise solutions. Will this face time help your business achieve higher levels of success?
Cloud services are no easier or harder to sell than on premise. And that is the key. You must decide if cloud services are part of your product offering, how you will attract customers who want this service and how you as a business owner will make a sustainable product on their sale. Its clear that the margins available on the Microsoft/Telstra BPOS offering are low, so simply reselling this service, or that of Google or any other cloud vendor will only work if your business relies on volume. If, like many SMB IT business owners, your business predictably hits a 20 - 30% margin, then you'll need a good suite of services to add to your cloud services sales if you intend to transform their sales into a sustainable business.
If your business doesn't have a predictable sales engine or regular marketing actions to attract new customers, then frankly it doesn't matter what you sell. You will be left behind as SMB IT service delivery is aggregated and streamlined.
So before you waste another breath on explaining to a vendor or fellow SMB IT community member why you think cloud services won't work, make some time to document your business plan and how you will make sure that you have customers this year, next year and for years to come. The names and specifics of technology has always mattered more to those in the SMB IT community than it has to customers. What technology delivers the business results to customers is irrelevant - what counts is the valuable services you deliver in packaging those solutions into a consumable product that delivers consistent profits to your bottom line.
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.
Thats not to say that if you're focussed on the SMB market you should pack up your toys and open a lawnmowing business and leave selling IT services to Telstra. Rather, cloud services needs to be part of your business plan, even if it sits in the category of stuff you don't plan on offering right now.
The simple reality is that many of us already offer cloud services to our customers - remote monitoring and management, hosted exchange, backup replication to a data centre. So really, cloud services in SMB are nothing new. What is new is the immediate need large vendors have to fill their scorecards with cloud services sales. Those SMB IT providers helping vendors like Microsoft and Telstra to hit their targets will be rewarded with actual face time from a partner account manager they never got when they were selling on premise solutions. Will this face time help your business achieve higher levels of success?
Cloud services are no easier or harder to sell than on premise. And that is the key. You must decide if cloud services are part of your product offering, how you will attract customers who want this service and how you as a business owner will make a sustainable product on their sale. Its clear that the margins available on the Microsoft/Telstra BPOS offering are low, so simply reselling this service, or that of Google or any other cloud vendor will only work if your business relies on volume. If, like many SMB IT business owners, your business predictably hits a 20 - 30% margin, then you'll need a good suite of services to add to your cloud services sales if you intend to transform their sales into a sustainable business.
If your business doesn't have a predictable sales engine or regular marketing actions to attract new customers, then frankly it doesn't matter what you sell. You will be left behind as SMB IT service delivery is aggregated and streamlined.
So before you waste another breath on explaining to a vendor or fellow SMB IT community member why you think cloud services won't work, make some time to document your business plan and how you will make sure that you have customers this year, next year and for years to come. The names and specifics of technology has always mattered more to those in the SMB IT community than it has to customers. What technology delivers the business results to customers is irrelevant - what counts is the valuable services you deliver in packaging those solutions into a consumable product that delivers consistent profits to your bottom line.
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.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Media Downloads for SBS/EBS 2008
So if you've spoken to me about this subject you'll know one of my pet peeves is the distribution model for the product.
I recently spoke with Brad Clarke (NSW Partner Territory Manager) and Inese Kingsmill regarding these issues and Brad has courageously taken on the fine fight to get some more sensible distribution going for the SBS and EBS open license products.
Read more about it on the Microsoft Australia Partner Network Blog.
I'd also be interested in hearing your comments regarding VLSC.
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.
- You can't download it from VLSC
- You can't get your license keys from VLSC
- ....and to add insult to injury since around August 2009 your disty could no longer fulfil your media order (or prompt you to order media with your licensing purchase).
I recently spoke with Brad Clarke (NSW Partner Territory Manager) and Inese Kingsmill regarding these issues and Brad has courageously taken on the fine fight to get some more sensible distribution going for the SBS and EBS open license products.
Read more about it on the Microsoft Australia Partner Network Blog.
I'd also be interested in hearing your comments regarding VLSC.
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.
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:
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.
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
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.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
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.
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:
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.
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
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.
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.
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