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RedmondChannelPartnerwww.rcpmag.com ■ April 2006
Dr iv ing Success in the M ic rosof t Par tner Communi ty
+
Bring Businessto Microsoft
Showcase Customer Wins
Make Friends in the Product Groups
Cultivate Your PAM
Attend Microsoft Events
A field guide to making your way through Redmond’s corporate maze 20A field guide to making your way through Redmond’s corporate maze 20
Allison Watson Talks Partner Profits 4Winning the Talent Wars 28
Does Microsoft ‘Get’ SMBs? 32Simple Steps for Successful Partnerships 46
0306rcp_Cover.v5 3/9/06 7:16 PM Page 1
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Project2 3/9/06 10:32 AM Page 1
RedmondChannelPartnerDr iv ing Success in the M ic rosof t Par tner Communi ty
A p r i l 2 0 0 6
C OV E R S TO RY
20 Navigating MicrosoftMicrosoft is a massive, complex organization.Finding your way through it isn’t easy, but savvy partners know it’s essential to their success.
28 Hire PowerHere are super ways to win the high-stakes competition to recruit top talent.
32 Still Too Little? Redmond has been reaching out to small businesses, but some partners say they’re still getting mixed messages.
38 Reaching the Decision MakerGetting past voice mail is a challenge. Persistence,a message focused on your customer—not yourself—and recognizing the diffusion of decision-making power are key.
43 Defining the Digital Decade Bill Gates has been chatting up the concepts of “digital lifestyle” and “digital work style.” But what do these terms really mean—especially for partners?
46 Building a Lasting Partnership Partnerships can be powerful, and powerfully tricky. Follow these simple steps to put your partnership on a solid foundation.
FEATURES
COVER PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION BY BIG SESH STUDIOS
DEPARTMENTS
4 CHANNEL REPORTAllison Watson: New Tools for Driving Partner Profits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
ANATOMY OF THE DEAL: Hummingbird Ltd. . . . . . . . .10
Microsoft Partner Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
12 SOLUTION SPOTLIGHT Systems Management Server 2003: SMS gives your customers mature configuration management with a low TCO.
16 PARTNER SPOTLIGHTThe SAM Specialists: Refusing to rest on itsLAR laurels, ASAP Software makes a name foritself in software asset management.
COLUMNSPARTNER ADVOCATE: Scott Bekker
Catching the Desktop Train . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
PARTNER VIEW: Stephen Dress, Netrix LLC
3 Steps for Maintaining Regulatory Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
MARKETING MICROSOFT: Mac McIntosh
Making 1 + 1 = 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
THE MICROSOFT VIEW: Margo Day
A Nurturing Role . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
SELLING MICROSOFT: Ken Thoreson
Building a Sales Team That Manages Itself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
DIRECTIONS: Paul DeGroot
Flying Low with Microsoft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
RCPmag.com
43
28
20
10
Get Your Daily News Fix
Want the latest industry news, Microsoft happenings
and partner updates? Visit RCPmag.com.
Every day, throughout the day, we update the site with
the latest news Microsoft partners need to know, including
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0406rcp_TOC_1.v5 3/10/06 5:06 PM Page 1
T
CATCHING THEDESKTOP TRAIN
2 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
By Scott BekkerThere’s an opportunity train comingdown the tracks in Windows Vista andMicrosoft Office 2007 later this year. Willyou be ready?
The two products are the major mon-eymakers in Microsoft’s lineup, and they’regathering steam. In recent months,Microsoft went through two key pre-delivery routines. One was unveiling thepackaging of the products. The WindowsVista operating system will come in HomeBasic, Home Premium, Business,Enterprise, Ultimate and Starter editions.Office 2007 editions will include Enterprise,Professional, Professional Plus, SmallBusiness, Standard, Home, Studentand Basic.
Microsoft went one better with Office,providing prices for most of the packages.It’s very early in the release cycle for a pric-ing announcement, given that the productsaren’t planned to ship until late this year.
The other pre-delivery routine is broadpublic testing of pre-release code. For Vista,Community Technology Previews (CTPs)replaced betas. The company cycledthrough CTPs aimed at partners and theenterprise with the consumer-focusedCTP right around the corner. On the Officeside, a technical beta went out in November,with the main beta pending at press time.
The CTPs and betas aren’t exactly on an authoritarian train schedule. After com-mitting to a monthly CTP late last year,Microsoft slipped into a less predictablequality-bar approach for Vista CTPs. Still,few seriously believe Microsoft will missthis ship date. Too much of the high-tech
economy is banking on Vista driving a con-sumer computer-buying binge this holidayshopping season.
Which is where you come in. Launchesof major products like Windows andOffice require the full engagement ofMicrosoft’s partner machinery. The part-ner engine started humming last year forindependent hardware vendors. Themomentum kept building early this year asindependent software vendors beganattending “Touchdown” and other ISVevents. In the next few months, all resellersand integrators will be ushered aboard fortechnical training.
The Worldwide Partner Conference inBoston this July should be a key event,where resellers and integrators will get thegoods on opportunities and possibilities inthe new products, and maybe even a few hints on how Windows “Longhorn”Server and the next version of Exchangewill fit in. Leading up to the show,Microsoft plans to make training resourcesavailable online for sales, marketing andtechnical types alike to begin learning theins and outs of the new desktop products.The company also encourages Certifiedand Gold Certified Partners to load, testand evaluate preview releases of the newproducts. Microsoft partner officials notethat the slow summer months tend to be agreat time for partners to get up to speedon new technology.
We’re eager to know your plans. Willyou have online training in June? CreateWord 2007 docs in July? Build out Vista testnetworks in August? Do nothing? Write meat [email protected]. ◆
Publisher Henry AllainRedmond Media Group
Editorial Director Doug BarneyRedmond Media Group
Associate Publisher Matt N. MorolloRedmond Media Group
Editor in Chief Scott [email protected]
Executive Editor Anne [email protected]
Senior Editor Lee [email protected]
Managing Editor Wendy [email protected]
Solution Spotlight Editor Lafe [email protected]
Editors, RCPmag.com Becky [email protected]
Michael [email protected]
Associate Editor, Web Daniel [email protected]
Art Director Scott Shultz
Senior Graphic Designer Alan Tao
Director of Marketing Michele Imgrund
Senior Web Developer Rita Zurcher
Marketing Programs Videssa DjucichAssociate
Editor, ENTmag.com Scott [email protected]
Editor, MCPmag.com Michael [email protected]
Editor, Redmondmag.com Becky NagelCertCities.com [email protected]
President & CEO Jeffrey S. KleinExecutive VP & CFO Stuart K. Coppens
Executive VP Gordon HaightSenior VP & General Sheryl L. Katz
CounselSenior VP, Human Michael J. Valenti
Resources
RCPmag.comThe opinions expressed within the articles and other contents
herein do not necessarily express those of the publisher.
Postmaster: Send address changes toRedmond Channel Partner, P.O. Box 2166,
Skokie, IL 60076
Enabling Technology Professionals to Succeed
April 2006 ■ VOL. 1 ■ NO. 6
PARTNERADVOCATE
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News ■ Analysis
NEW TOOLS FOR DRIVINGPARTNER PROFITSA conversation with Microsoft VP Allison Watson.
4 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
CHANNELREPORT
PH
OTO
BY
JO
HN
E. H
OL
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GS
WO
RT
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By Scott BekkerOne of Microsoft Corp.’s main initiatives for 2006 is an effort to raise profitabilityfor the company’s partners. In short, Microsoft commissioned and is releasingresearch into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that determine how prof-itably its partners operate.
Allison Watson, vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group& Worldwide Small Business Group, explained the thinking and the meth-ods behind the plan in a recent discussion with Scott Bekker, editor inchief of Redmond Channel Partner.
On other topics, Watson raised the possibility of new customer reference requirements, and she advised partners on Windows Vistaand Office 2007 planning. Following are some highlights from theirconversation:
RCP: What is Microsoft doing that’s new to drivepartner profitability?Watson: While I can’t commit to taking accountability for a third-party company’s profitability, what I can commit to doing isunderstanding what are the levers that drive their profitability andhow [Microsoft investments] should be driving it. [I can] help have adialogue that’s very driven about profitability so we can be mutually bene-ficial in the marketplace.
We went out to research what are the real levers that drive profitabilitybesides just the facts of “What is your contribution margin at the bottomof your profit statement and is it positive or negative? What are the leversthat help you get positive numbers at the bottom?”We realize that in anycomplex business, it’s never justone. In the channel partnerbusiness, there may havebeen a reliance in the earlydays, that still exists, on amargin-based relationshipwith a vendor that was driving [just] one aspect of apartner’s performance.
Sometimes a partner mightmeasure a vendor and a ven-dor might measure a partner
A PROFIT YARDSTICK
By researching its own partners, Microsoft developed 14 key performance indicators (KPIs)
that point to profitability. The company is beginning to make white papers and blueprints
available to help partners monitor their performance against these new KPIs.
Company Performance Profit Margin (%) Cash Flow from Ops. (%) Revenue Growth (%) Gross Profit Margin (%)Business Velocity Sales Speed ($/month) Delivery Speed ($/month) Deal Growth (%) Customer Growth (%)Service Fulfillment Capacity Utilization (%) Daily Bill Rate ($/day) Change in Bill Rate (%)Deal Execution Average Deal Size ($/deal) Sales Cycle (month) Implementation Time (month)SOURCE: MICROSOFT
“We are changing the industry with our approach to partner business performance.”
0406rcp_ChannelRep_4-11.v7 3/9/06 5:36 PM Page 4
©2006 Trend Micro Incorporated. All rights reserved. The Trend Micro logo is a trademark or registered trademark of Trend Micro Incorporated.
All other company and/or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners.
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Project3 3/10/06 11:23 AM Page 1
on that alone. We’re introducingsome excellent framework thinkingthat says, “Hey, these 14 KPIs thatyou see listed here all are relevant andthey interrelate to make up prof-itability.” (See the table of Microsoft’sKPIs on p. 4).
Where did the data forthose KPIs come from?[IDC] conducted research [for us]across 830 channel partners inGermany, the U.S. and the U.K. Wedid that to determine if there were signifi-cant differences or not. And what wefound was that the KPIs are consistent.Not only are the KPIs consistent, but onceyou get to the specificity of line of business,the actual business results are similar. So wefeel good that we’ve got a consistent model.
What are you doing with the results?We’re taking this model and applying itto our competencies. We are introducingresearch that will show for an AdvancedInfrastructure competency and for anInformation Worker competency, whatare the KPIs that partners in those com-petencies have against these dimensions.[For example,] they’ll see the average salesspeed for business velocity forInformation Worker. So we will belaunching for the first time the data thatnot only shows that we have a profitablebusiness opportunity, but also creates abenchmark for partners to [measure]themselves against on all of these KPIs.
We will also then take the data andpublish guidelines and blueprints that say,“If you want to get into a new market, hereare the things that you need to do to. Hire,build a practice and potentially price, etc.,to then put it into action so that you canachieve these KPIs.” So we’re releasing,for example, in the Small Business Specialistarea, which ties up with our infrastructurecompetency area, a set of six white papers—
[such as] how to build a Small BusinessServer business for managed services. Wewalk through what are the indicators ofbuilding all of that and what KPIs youneed to set up and you should expect, andhow much you have to invest and whatyour return should be over time. And wehave six [sets of] guidelines and best prac-tices like that.
We are changing the industry with ourapproach to partner business performance.We believe it requires understanding whatthe metrics are in the market, understand-ing how our partners perform relative tothose, or could perform, and then helpingcreate guidelines and best practices for part-ners by competency and by area.
Microsoft recently addedsome specializations and competencies to its PartnerProgram. How is the currentmix working out?[Right now we have] 14 horizontal areasof focus. There are specializationsunderneath it. So if you’re looking forhosting, or Exchange or CRM, they fitunderneath these competencies. Thesewere designed to help partners tell uswhere they’re focused, and to help usdrive our investments in a focused way.This was a very mindful selection ofcompetencies designed from partnerfeedback, customer feedback and goodresearch that we believe is meant to last,
but we also believe will change andgrow over time as the technologyindustry changes.
Partners do have a bar to be in thecompetencies and specializations.That bar is unique in the industry inthat it requires technical compe-tence as measured by certification ofindividuals, it requires customer ref-erences in the specialty on an annualbasis and it requires a customer satis-faction index. So in addition to hav-
ing a reference customer, we ask foran index of the satisfaction of your base ofcustomers, which is handled by a thirdparty. It’s fairly industry differentiating inthis respect. It creates a higher bar, but it’salso based on the feedback that our part-ners gave us about how they want the barto be set.
Are there any changes on the way in terms of special-izations and competencies?Our industry and vertical approach thusfar has been: “Tell us what solution areasunder a product or service you sell in themarketplace, and we will help you marketwith that solution.” We do not have a barin the program for these areas, with someexceptions in that we are starting to ask forcustomer references as well. So it’s onething to say, “I have customers that doInformation Worker,” but if you reallywant to market Information Worker intofinancial services, we’ll ask you to [providecustomer references that match that com-bination]. It’s not really a bar, but it’s a rec-ommendation and we may make it a bar, Idon’t know. But we will take feedbackbefore we would do that.
Windows Vista and Office 2007are scheduled to ship later thisyear. What should partners bedoing to get ready?We will be very concrete at the WorldwidePartner Conference with the set of assets in
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 7
CHANNELREPORT
A BOOMING PROGRAM
Microsoft is in the midst of re-enrolling partners
for the largest partner program in the industry.
Partner ranks continue to grow. Figures were
provided in February:
Partner Level 2006 2005 IncreaseGold Certified 7,000 3,500 100 %
Certified 30,000 25,000 20 %
Registered 325,000 205,000 58 %
SOURCE: MICROSOFT
0406rcp_ChannelRep_4-11.v7 3/9/06 5:36 PM Page 7
By Lee PenderAnother giant has entered the soft-
ware as a service (SaaS) game.
Enterprise software developer
SAP AG jumped into the SaaS
arena in February with its
announcement of its SAP CRM
on-demand offering. SAP, which
brings IBM Corp. in as its hosting
services partner, joins Oracle Corp.,
with its Siebel CRM OnDemand line,
and Salesforce.com in the growing
market for hosted enterprise appli-
cations. (As RCP reported in
March, Microsoft, too, is on the
SaaS bandwagon.)
SAP’s first hosted application is
the SAP Sales on-demand offering,
a sales force automation and
analytics package available now.
The German juggernaut plans to
roll out other elements of the full
CRM suite throughout 2006.
Like other SaaS offerings, SAP’s
will let companies implement
CRM technology without large
investments, Robert Bois, research
director at Boston-based AMR
Research, noted in a recent “AMR
Alert Highlight.” However, he
wrote, SAP isn’t necessarily aiming
for Salesforce.com’s target market
of midsize companies. In fact, Bois
said, SAP is shooting for larger
companies and current SAP ERP
customers that haven’t yet imple-
mented CRM.
The IDC eXchange blog asked
whether SAP will equip its hosted
offering with full CRM functionality
or hold back some features to pre-
vent cannibalizing its traditional
offering. Framingham, Mass.-based
IDC recommended that SAP go all
out: “If SAP holds back, it risks
badly damaging its standing in
this expanding model of software
[and business service] delivery,”
Frank Gens, IDC’s senior vice pres-
ident for research, warned in the
blog entry.
Meanwhile, Salesforce.com,
the San Francisco-based CRM
provider, has been busy soothing
frustrated clients.
Last fall, the company completely
overhauled its hardware and soft-
ware stack just before releasing a
new version for winter 2006, says
Bruce Francis, the company’s vice
president for corporate strategy.
The upgrade and release led to
some well-publicized system
outages in December and January.
In February, in an effort to reas-
sure nervous customers, the
company launched a Web site
providing system status updates
(http://trust.salesforce.com). “We
realized they needed more infor-
mation both when [the system] is
great and not so great,” Francis
says. The site provides users
access to current and historical
performance information and
updates, incident reports and
maintenance schedules. A color-
coded system categorizes service
status: for instance, yellow dots
denote “issues that last longer
than 10 minutes” while red indi-
cates “disruptions that last longer
than 30 minutes.” ◆
local languages to have training and devel-opment tools ready.
We encourage our Gold and Certifiedpartners, through our Partner Programmembership, to participate directly in the[Community Technology Previews].
In the May-June time frame, we shouldhave all of the readiness assets for broadpartner sales, marketing and technicalreadiness available through our PartnerLearning Center.
Because Vista and Office are so funda-mental, I would anticipate that a large per-centage of every channel organizationshould go through basic readiness of theproducts and we will have good online waysto get them there. [The online resources]will be chunked down to what I’d call man-ageable [blocks] of time. So in 20-minutesegments, or maybe for an hour at a time,everybody needs to do something [online].And then we’ll have a plan that will bringlevels of readiness for your technical staff… both IT pros and developers.
You mentioned that Microsoftis looking at how manyemployees it has if you countthe partner ecosystem. Whatare you finding?We could have as many as 20 millionemployees when you look at everythingfrom [partners] the size of Accenture allthe way down to the small businesses.We’re going to refine and understandbetter our employee population to ourpartners, because it’s a really interestingthing about the dynamics of the market-place. So we end up with our program, ifyou will, or the relationship Microsoft hasin the economy, [which not only involves]hundreds of thousands of companies, butalso impacts the lives of many, many indi-viduals. We’re kind of proud of that, andwe also realize we have to be concernedwith that. ◆
CHANNELREPORT
8 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
SAP MAKES A HOSTEDTHRUST, SALESFORCE.COMSEEKS CLIENT TRUST
Postscript
0406rcp_ChannelRep_4-11.v7 3/9/06 5:36 PM Page 8
MICROSOFT CORP.-HUMMINGBIRD LTD.AGREEMENT: FEB. 7, 2006
THE PARTNERToronto-based Hummingbird
Ltd., a Microsoft Gold
Certified Partner that
provides enterprise content
management (ECM) and
network connectivity
applications. Hummingbird,
founded in 1984, recorded
revenues of $236 million
(in U.S. dollars) in fiscal 2005.
THE DEALHummingbird and Microsoft
will align product manage-
ment and development
teams to integrate
Hummingbird Enterprise, the
company’s flagship ECM
product, into various
Microsoft applications and
platforms. The partnership
will give customers access to
Hummingbird Enterprise
through Outlook, SharePoint
Portal Server, Office and
Internet Explorer.
Hummingbird will offer
native support for SQL
Server 2005 and early
support for Office 2007.
Hummingbird has also
pledged support for
Microsoft’s .NET strategy.
THE TERMSSpecific terms of the deal
were not disclosed, but
Kyle McNabb, senior analyst
at Forrester Research
Inc. in Cambridge, Mass.,
speculates that Microsoft
has made a “significant
joint marketing investment.”
He says the deal is in
the top third of all Microsoft
partnerships in terms
of importance.
THE MARKETThe partnership will focus on
marketing integrated appli-
cations to three vertical
industries—legal, govern-
ment and financial services—
primarily in the midmarket
space. ECM software lets
companies manage the
lifecycle of corporate infor-
mation from capture
and storage to retrieval
and dissemination.
Forrester cites
Hummingbird as a strong
player in a crowded market
that also includes companies
such as EMC Corp., FileNet
Corp., Interwoven Inc.,
Mobius Management
Systems Inc., Open Text
Corp., Stellent Inc., and
Vignette Corp., as well as
giants such as IBM Corp. and
Oracle Corp. and, to an
increasing extent, Microsoft.
HOW PARTNERS WILL BENEFITHummingbird is looking to
the Microsoft channel to pro-
vide expertise in the three
targeted verticals.
“We want to engage more
aggressively with the
Microsoft channel because it
is a channel that has under-
standing of these markets,”
said Andrew Pery, CMO and
senior vice president of
marketing at Hummingbird.
“We see the midmarket as
a significant opportunity for
incremental growth. The
demand for enterprise con-
tent management solutions
is really accelerating
with midmarket customers.”
HOW USERS WILL BENEFIT“The new and exciting
[aspect] will be the funda-
mental recognition that
users who use
[Hummingbird Enterprise]
spend most of their time
in the Office suite to begin
with,” McNabb says.
“Now you’re going to get
much more comprehensive
functionality exposed
through that environment.
The Office suite becomes a
platform and not just a pro-
ductivity tool.”
HOW HUMMINGBIRD WILL BENEFITForrester’s McNabb says
Hummingbird is wisely
staving off Microsoft in the
ECM arena by embracing
Microsoft platforms.
“It’s not so much Microsoft
helping Hummingbird get
into the midmarket as it is
Microsoft encroaching on the
space where Hummingbird
has been a leader,” he says.
“Do you want to fight
Microsoft or embrace it?
Hummingbird has chosen to
embrace it. The sooner you
embrace the infrastructure
from the likes of IBM and
Microsoft, the better. You
don’t want to be left on an
island trying to compete for
infrastructure spend. For
Hummingbird, it’s a very
wise move.”
HOW MICROSOFT WILL BENEFITIntegration of Hummingbird
Enterprise should help speed
widespread adoption of
Office 2007, McNabb says.
“It is important for Office
2007,” he says. “Microsoft
wants to avoid the issues it
has had with adoption of
Office 2003. It’s that much
more of a driver for [compa-
nies] to say, ‘I’ll move
forward with Office 2007.’”
— Lee Pender
10 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
Anatomy of the DealThis is the first in an occasional series offering an inside look at prominent deals in the Microsoft partner community.
CHANNELREPORT
ILLU
ST
RA
TIO
N B
Y G
ET
TY
IM
AG
ES
0406rcp_ChannelRep_4-11.v7 3/9/06 5:36 PM Page 10
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 11
CHANNELREPORT
FOLLOWING ARE LISTINGS for
upcoming events that may be of interest
to Microsoft channel partners. Please
note that times and dates are subject to
change; visit www.microsoft.com/events for updates.
ConferencesMicrosoft Management Summit 2006
April 24-28, San Diego Annual conference focuses on technical
aspects of and best practices for
Microsoft management products and
technologies, including: ■ Microsoft Systems Management
Server (SMS) 2003 ■ Microsoft Operations Manager
(MOM) 2005 ■ Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2
management technologies … and others
The summit features more than 100
technical sessions and presentations by
product teams and industry experts,
plus an expo showcasing Microsoft and
partner solutions.
For registration fees and other informa-
tion, visit: https://www.mms2006.com.
Microsoft Worldwide PartnerConference: Velocity 2006
July 11-13, Boston The Microsoft Partner Program’s pre-
miere annual gathering will be packed
with information sessions, keynote
presentations, hands-on learning labs
and plenty of networking opportunities.
If last year’s event in Minneapolis is any
indication, the conference will sell out,
so if you plan to attend, sign up early.
Online registration opens on April 19.
For details and to sign up, visit
www.microsoft.com/partner/events/wwpartnerconference.
Partner Events, Presentations, BriefingsTS2 events and Microsoft’s quarterly part-
ner briefings are free, but pre-registration
is required. To sign up or find more
information, visit www.microsoft.com/events, where you can search by event
ID code or browse listings by date.
TS2 EventsMicrosoft’s TS2 Team has scheduled a
series of partner events nationwide in
April and May. Each half-day session,
which typically runs from 1 to 5 p.m.,
includes previews, demonstrations and
discussion of Microsoft products and
services, including:■ Microsoft Windows Vista ■ Windows Server 2003 R2■ Small Business Server 2003 R2■ The Small Business Specialist
community ■ Microsoft’s volume-licensing
program
April 18Colorado Springs, Colo. (Event ID: 1032291469)
Newport, Ky. (Event ID: 1032291559)
North Charleston, S.C. (Event ID: 1032291560)
Burlington, Vt. (Event ID: 1032291561)
April 20 Englewood, Colo. (Event ID: 1032291565)
Lanesboro, Mass. (Event ID: 1032291564)
Charlotte, N.C. (Event ID: 1032291563)
Columbus, Ohio (Event ID: 1032291562)
April 25 Fayetteville, Ark. (Event ID: 1032291584)
Santa Clara, Calif. (Event ID: 1032291587)
Branford, Conn. (Event ID: 1032291586)
Boca Raton, Fla. (Event ID: 1032291585)
April 27Little Rock, Ark. (Event ID: 1032291588)
Vallejo, Calif. (Event ID: 1032291591)
Tampa, Fla. (Event ID: 1032291589)
Westbury, N.Y. (Event ID: 1032291590)
May 2 Grand Junction, Colo. (Event ID: 1032291992)
Mishawaka, Ind. (Event ID: 1032291991)
Lexington, Ky. (Event ID: 1032291989)
King of Prussia, Pa. (Event ID: 1032291990)
May 4 Melrose Park, Ill. (Event ID: 1032291995)
Louisville, Ky. (Event ID: 1032291993)
West Nyack, N.Y. (Event ID: 1032291994)
West Jordan, Utah (Event ID: 1032291996)
TS2 PresentationsMicrosoft’s TS2 Team offers a two-hour
presentation, “Competitive Tools and
Resources,” describing current market
opportunities for partners with Lotus
Domino or Novell migration expertise.
Times vary.
April 19 Cincinnati (Event ID: 1032288728)
May 3 Chicago (Event ID: 1032288734)
Mountain View, Calif. (Event ID: 1032288650)
Malvern, Pa. (Event ID: 1032288714)
Salt Lake City (Event ID: 1032289204)
May 9 Denver (Event ID: 1032288690)
May 10 Bloomington, Minn. (Event ID: 1032288732)
Bellevue, Wash. (Event ID: 1032288680)
Microsoft Quarterly Partner Briefings Times and agendas vary.
April 12 Mountain View, Calif. (Event ID: 1032278469)
April 18Durham, N.C. (Event ID: 1032289761)
April 20Charlotte, N.C. (Event ID: 1032289762)
April 27 (EPG)California, location to be determined
(Event ID: 1032291697)
April 27 (SMS&P) California, location to be determined
(Event ID: 1032291704)
For more information and to register, visit www.microsoft.com/events.
>>MICROSOFT PARTNER CALENDAR
0406rcp_ChannelRep_4-11.v7 3/9/06 5:36 PM Page 11
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12 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
SOLUTIONSPOTLIGHT
By Jim ThompsonWhen you talk to any IT manager, thesubject of accurate and successful asset andconfiguration management is bound tocome up.This has long been a challenge atcompanies both large and small.
Microsoft Systems Management Server(SMS) 2003 is often the solution of choiceto help your customers keep these manage-ment tasks and the steady flow of servicepacks and patches in check.
SMS addresses the myriad technologystruggles faced by organizations trying tomaintain consistency and currency acrosstheir infrastructure.Also, it can provide thesame level of functionality as several of itsbiggest competitors with a substantiallylower total cost of ownership (TCO).
SMS is still the same asset deploymentand management tool we’ve come to knowand love. Now it also has a number ofnotable advancements that help support thechanging way your customers work:
Advanced Client RoamingOne of the greatest improvements to SMS2003 is that it allows mobile workers tomove between different local and remote IPsegments with no negative impact on soft-ware deployment, updates or inventory.It also provides intelligent bandwidth andsensitive connections to SMS site resourceswhile leveraging Active Directory to pro-vide mobile user configuration options.
Security Patch ManagementSMS 2003 Service Pack 1 adds the newInventory Tool for Microsoft Updates
(ITMU) to help administrators determinethe compliance level of their managed sys-tems. This tool is tightly integrated withMicrosoft Windows Software UpdateServices (WSUS). Your customers can useITMU to take advantage of the WSUSpatch management technology withouthaving to administer separate patch man-agement infrastructures.
Configuration ManagementCustomers can use SMS to ensure configu-ration settings remain intact and consistentfor all server builds throughout their organi-zations.Administrators can use it to detectnon-compliance with standard server con-figurations. It supports WMI, AD, IISMetabase,Registry and File System settings.
Active Directory IntegrationSMS 2003 lets your customers use AD sitesas a boundary for mobile devices. Because itstores this information in global catalogservers, it’s readily available and centrallymanaged.This makes it easier to control theoverall SMS 2003 site boundaries. Because
of its extensible nature, your customers canalso customize AD to let their mobile usersroam beyond their defined site boundaries,while still letting them contact core SMSsite resources like distribution points.
Now more than ever, Microsoft seemsto regard SMS as part of the foundationfor its systems management initiatives. Abeta release for an R2 version and talkabout plans for a 4.0 release in about 18months solidifies the role of SMS as a keypart of its management product roadmap.
Microsoft will continue to enhance SMSin future releases, including integrating anXML-based modeling technology it callsSystems Definition Model (SDM).Microsoft wants to help developers furtherintegrate SDM-based management modelsinto their applications. In turn, they’ll beable to feed this configuration informationto future SDM-enabled versions of SMS, aswell as other systems management tools.You should keep in mind this message ofplatform longevity and future integrationwhen presenting SMS to your customers.
COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPEThere are many players at many levels inthe asset and configuration managementarena. A key competitor to SMS 2003 isIBM’s Tivoli family of products. Tivoli istruly a heavy hitter in the industry, althoughits higher overall TCO and administrativeoverhead can make SMS 2003 an easierchoice—and that’s not just referring tohomogeneous Windows networks.
To fully replicate SMS 2003’s config-uration, patch, asset and mobile device
Systems Management Server 2003SOLUTIONSPOTLIGHT
SMS HELPS TIE UP LOOSE ENDSSystems Management Server 2003 gives your customers mature configuration management with a low TCO.
Release: Nov. 2003Base Price: $1,219 with 10 deviceConfiguration Mgt. Licenses (CMLs)Web Site: www.microsoft.com
Systems ManagementServer 2003
Microsoft Corp.
0406rcp_SolSpot_12-14.v6 3/9/06 2:21 PM Page 12
management functionality, your cus-tomers will have to implement at least threeseparate Tivoli products.At first glance, thetwo products would appear difficult tocompare and contrast. However, strictlyfrom a software cost perspective, deployingSMS 2003 can be as much as 40 percentcheaper per managed system than Tivoli.
Some of the IBM Tivoli components thatcompare to what SMS does include:
■ Configuration Manager
■ NetView
■ Application Dependency
Discovery Manager
■ License Manager
■ Provisioning Manager
■ Remote Control
IBM is just now preparing to release asmall to midsize business (SMB) version ofTivoli (suitable for organizations of 5,000seats or less) called Tivoli Express.Reportedly, there will be as many as sixmodules to this new SMB version.
Tivoli isn’t the only enterprise-classconfiguration management suite. The HPOpenView family has a similarly expansivearray of components, including:
■ Application Management
■ Configuration Management
■ Infrastructure Management
■ Mobile Configuration Management
■ Network Services Management
■ PC Configuration Management
■ Server Configuration Management
■ Server Management
■ Windows Management
CA’s infrastructure and configurationmanagement tools give enterprise cus-tomers a range of solutions for comprehen-sive desktop, application, middleware,database, workload, server and networkmanagement. CA’s UniCenter tools aregrouped as follows:
■ Infrastructure Management
Solutions
■ Desktop Management
■ Application Management
■ Network Management
■ Server Management
■ Database Management
■ Job Optimization
■ IT Documentation and
Visualization
The ZENworks 7 suite is Novell’sanswer to managing diverse technologyresources. It includes an integrated set ofcross-platform tools that automate manage-ment tasks for desktops, laptops, servers andhandheld devices:
■ Desktop Management
■ Linux Management
■ Patch Management
■ Server Management
■ Handheld Management
■ Personality Migration
■ Data Management
■ Software Packaging
MARKETING AND SALESAs with many of its system-level products,Microsoft provides live and on-demandwebcasts, technical FAQs and how-to whitepapers on the Web.
These resources offer invaluable datagathered from actual SMS deployments that
are built to last in environments with upwardof 130,000 managed systems. One of thecompanies profiled in these case studiesboasts a savings of almost $22 million in thefirst two years after it deployed SMS 2003.
Besides proving value during your salespresentation, you can also add value. TheTCO Assessment for Small and Medium-Sized Organizations Project Guide givesyou simple, step-by-step approaches toassess and improve a customer’s opera-tional efficiency.
There’s also a series of Microsoft ProjectGuides that give you tools you can use todevelop specific, solution-focused servicesfor your customers. These will be mosthelpful with your vertical market cus-tomers or those with extremely focused,specific requirements.
There is a Technical DemonstrationToolkit (TDT) available for MicrosoftCertified and Gold Certified Partners. Atthis partnership level, you’ll receive onecomplimentary TDT subscription. Thesubscription includes DVDs with cus-tomer-ready demonstrations, includingsupporting material such as PowerPointpresentations, demonstration scripts,videos and other pre-sales collateral.Think of it as your sales pitch on a disk.The September 2005 update featuredSMS 2003 deployment.
THE FINAL WORDMicrosoft’s Systems Management Server2003 is an all-around logical choice forsystems management. Besides its overalllower TCO, you can point your customersto its ease-of-use, design, deployment andday-to-day administration. ◆
Jim Thompson, MCSE, is a Principal
Consultant (and resident NASCAR enthu-
siast) at Trinity Consulting, a Microsoft
Certified Gold Partner in Marlborough, Mass.
Reach him at [email protected].
SOLUTIONSPOTLIGHT
14 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
Spotlight Highlights
KEY FEATURES■ Ability to let mobile clients “roam”■ Updated patch management■ Active Directory integration
COMPETITIONIBM Tivoli CA UniCenterHP OpenView Novell ZenWorks
OPPORTUNITIES■ Direct integration with other Microsoft technologies■ Future longevity and integration of platform■ Point out lower TCO, as compared to competitors
0406rcp_SolSpot_12-14.v6 3/9/06 2:21 PM Page 14
Copyright © 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved. Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.
“Since the inception of our partnership six years ago, we haveexperienced over 3,000 percent growth directly related
to our relationship with Oracle.”
Win with us today.Call 1.800.323.7355
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Individual circumstances will vary, and Oracle does not warrant that you will experience growth in connectionwith Oracle PartnerNetwork membership.
Oracle PartnerNetwork
Sheldon Arora, President and CEO, esoftsolutions, Inc., Certified Partner
Project28 6/15/05 4:21 PM Page 1
T
16 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
By Paul DesmondThe year is 1984, and PCs are just starting to creep into the work-place. Most organizations buy software from one of a few bigretailers, but Scott Wald recognizes that that model isn’t the opti-mum one.He sees a need for business-to-business and business-to-government purchasing channels that can provide a moreeffective, efficient and accurate way to fulfill software purchaseorders. So he launches ASAP Software to meet that need.
Fast forward to 2001 when—largely through its dealings withMicrosoft—ASAP posits that it’s becoming increasingly importantfor organizations in almost every industry to accurately determinenot only what software they own, but also what they’re activelyusing.The company launches its eSmart Asset Management Suiteto help companies do exactly that.The solution proves so success-ful that the company promptly wins a string of awards, the most
recent being the 2005 MicrosoftPartner of the Year Award honorin the Licensing Solutions,Software Asset ManagementSpecialization category.
“We have a good track recordof looking ahead to what cus-tomers and partners will needand bui lding solut ions inadvance of that,” says HarryZoberman, senior vice presidentof marketing and operations forASAP, which is based just outsideChicago in Buffalo Grove, Ill.
ASAP’s Evolution It’s hard to argue with Zoberman’sassessment, given that ASAP hasdelivered 15 percent growth ineach of the last five years andpulls in more than $1 billion in revenue annually. The companyemploys about 425 people in 40 locations in North America andEurope and is a Microsoft Certified Partner. ASAP also has about100 members of its own partner program,ASAPartner Net.
Much has changed since 1984,of course, including the compa-ny’s ownership. In 1996, Wald sold ASAP to Broomfield, Colo.-based Corporate Express Inc. and left the firm not long after. ButASAP remains one of only a handful of Microsoft large accountresellers (LARs) in the United States. It also sells software andhardware from other major vendors. These days, though, ASAP’scorporate identity centers largely on what the company calls its“technology management ecosystem.”
At the foundation of that ecosystem is Tracker, a proprietarypurchasing database that stores software license contract and pur-chasing activity for ASAP customers.ASAP E-Way is a portal thatprovides access into Tracker, enabling customers to purchase soft-ware, track their software and hardware assets, and run reports.
The final piece, eSmart, adds the ability for customers to see
PARTNERSPOTLIGHT
THE SAM SPECIALISTS Refusing to rest on its LAR laurels, ASAP Software makes a namefor itself in software asset management.
ASAP Software Inc.
Headquarters: Buffalo Grove, Ill.
President: Paul Jarvie. Leadership also includes Harry Zoberman, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Operations
Founded: 1984
Line of Business: Software and hardware sales, IT asset management,license management services, managed services
Microsoft Partner Program Level: Certified
Microsoft Competencies: Licensing Solutions
Annual Revenue: More than $1 billion
Growth Rate: About 15 percent annual growth, 2000-2005
Employees: 425 worldwide
Customer Base: SMB and enterprise markets, all industries; governmentand education, all levels
Awards: Microsoft Partner of the Year Award, 2002, 2005; North AmericanFinalist, 2004; Microsoft Canada Northern Lights and Impact Awards, 2002,2003, 2004; SIIA Codie Award, 2002; Finalist, 2005
www.asap.com
“We were thrilledto see Microsoftput a spotlight onsoftware assetmanagement. Wethink it’s a greatendorsement ofthe value that theLAR channel canbring.”— Harry Zoberman,
Senior Vice President,ASAP Software
0406rcp_PrtnrSpot_16-19.v7 3/9/06 2:11 PM Page 16
what they’ve actually deployed and compare that to what they’vepurchased. It also provides software usage level data and licensingcompliance reports.
eSmart requires only a small software agent to run on eachclient system that it monitors. At a predefined interval—say,once a week—the agent ships an update to the ASAP networkoperations center on the activity for that client machine, whichcan be anything from a desktop to a BlackBerry device. If theclient is running Microsoft Project for the first time, the cus-tomer’s profile gets nicked for one additional copy of Project.Customers can check on their usage profiles at any time and beassured that they’re always up-to-date.
Seven-Figure Shelfware eSmart came about after ASAP recognized, along with Microsoft,an opportunity to help clients get a better return on their soft-ware investments by making sure they’re actually using whatthey bought. There’s an ulterior motive at work as well: “We candemonstrate to Microsoft—and [the company] knows this to betrue as well—that customers who have purchased Microsoft
products under a major volume licensing agreement are muchmore likely to renew when they’re actively using what theybought,” Zoberman says. Conversely, if customers never deploythe software they buy—and many don’t, without ever realizingit—they naturally won’t see the value in it.
In its role as a LAR, ASAP already provided customers withan understanding of the purchasing and licensing side of soft-ware management. “We thought we could provide a higher-touch relationship,” Zoberman says, by getting into the softwareasset management (SAM) and deployment business.
SAM,which involves determining what software you’ve got andwho’s running it, is hardly a new endeavor.But it has taken on a newdegree of urgency as companies seek to comply with various gov-ernment regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, andto avoid the cost and embarrassment of being caught with illegalsoftware (for more on the practice, read “Meet SAM,” RCP, March2006). Another difference, Zoberman says, is that today’s SAMtools are much easier to use than their predecessors.
“Asset management historically was an intimidating projectto tackle,” he says. The agent required with eSmart is easy to
PARTNERSPOTLIGHT
18 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
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0406rcp_PrtnrSpot_16-19.v7 3/9/06 2:11 PM Page 18
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 19
push out to clients by, for instance, using login scripts. SaysZoberman: “We have examples where we’ve deployed eSmart tomore than 4,000 desktops in 10 countries within 48 hours.”
The Many Faces of SAM SAM starts with simply making sure software gets deployed, whichleads to increased productivity and decreased waste.Accurate SAMdata also enable help desks to more quickly resolve problems andcan play a large role in improving security by helping to ensure thatthe proper tools are deployed.
SAM also helps customers—and their value-added resellers(VARs)—prepare for software upgrades, Zoberman adds. Whenthe time comes to implement Office 2007, for example, eSmartwill instantaneously provide a simple profile of each target clientmachine, indicating whether it can run the new software immedi-ately, requires an upgrade or needs replacement.
Microsoft apparently agrees about the importance of SAM’s role.Late last year, the company launched its Licensing Solutions compe-tency and included a SAM specialization, which ASAP quicklyjumped on.ASAP is participating in a number of pilots, championed
by Microsoft, either on its own or with another VAR partner, aimedat helping clients conduct internal audits using eSmart.
ASAP’s partners are happy to be working with a LAR thatactually brings them some business, says Andrew Peters, presi-dent of Peters and Associates, a 25-year-old, 50-person serviceprovider in Elmhurst, Ill. When Peters was looking for a SAMsolution, Microsoft got him talking to ASAP. The two companieswere involved in a handful of deals within the next six months.
“We’re bringing them into accounts that we work with for vol-ume licensing. In turn, they’re bringing us into accounts to helpwith planning and deployment,” Peters says.
The give-and-take attitude is no accident,Zoberman says.ASAPrecognizes that it serves two constituencies: its partner community,which consists of software publishers and specialized VAR partnerslike Peters, and its customers, Zoberman says: “The role of thechannel is to always understand the needs of those constituenciesand build practical tools to allow each to achieve its goals.” ◆
Paul Desmond is president of the IT publishing firm PDEdit in
Southborough, Mass. Reach him at [email protected].
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FEATURE
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0406rcp_F1NavMS_21-26.v5 3/10/06 4:25 PM Page 20
Navıgating
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 21
MicrosoftAsk Liz Eversoll to name a time when knowing her way around Microsoftpaid off, and she’ll tell you it happens every day.
Eversoll is vice president of the Microsoft practice at Madison, Wis.-basedBerbee Information Networks Corp., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with sixcompetencies and offices in 11 cities. Press her for a specific instance when under-standing who’s who in Redmond profited Berbee, and she’ll tell you about thetime a major customer considering a wholesale move of its infrastructure ontoMicrosoft technologies began voicing doubts. With the deal in jeopardy, Eversollcalled someone she knew in Microsoft’s consulting organization for help with thepitch. “We were able to take a stronger story to the customer and get them to buyinto the entire platform upgrade,” she recalls.
Microsoft is a massive, complex organization. Findingyour way through it isn’t easy, but savvy partners knowit’s essential to their success. By Rich Freeman
0406rcp_F1NavMS_21-26.v5 3/9/06 5:46 PM Page 21
Stories like Eversoll’s are anything but rare. In fact, many part-ners call a deep pool of personal Microsoft relationships anessential asset. Filling your Rolodex with Microsoft contacts, theysay, usually translates into more referrals, better assistance withsales opportunities, and earlier access to new product releases.
Alas, making acquaintances at a company as large and complexas Microsoft’s isn’t easy. The software giant employs more than
63,000 people worldwide and its headcount has been growing byan average of 11.4 percent annually for the last five years. “I haveabout 15 direct reports that have to overlay with hundreds ofMicrosoft folks,” says Eversoll.
The upshot is that while knowing the right people at Microsoft is critical, trying to know everyone is a hopeless task. To navigatethe Microsoft labyrinth successfully, you must approach it strategi-
cally, pursuing the right connections in the right places.According to Ted Dinsmore, co-author (with EdwardO’Connor) of Partnering with Microsoft: How to Make
Money in Trusted Partnership with the Global Software
Powerhouse (CMP Books, 2005), that’s a subtle gameinvolving high stakes.“You can set yourself up to be suc-cessful,” he says, “or just waste a lot of time.”
RECOGNIZING THE GREAT DIVIDE Step one to plotting your course through Microsoft isunderstanding how the company is structured. Thesoftware maker’s byzantine org chart intimidates manyof its own employees, but all that most partners reallyneed to grasp up front is that everyone at Microsoftultimately falls into one of two categories: people whowork at the company’s Redmond HQ (aka “corpo-rate”) and people who don’t (aka “the field”).
Following a major reshuffle announced in September2005, the bulk of Microsoft’s corporate operations arenow split into three divisions, each run by its own pres-ident. The Microsoft Platform Products & ServicesDivision, co-led by Kevin Johnson and Jim Allchin(until Allchin’s pending retirement, scheduled to followthe release of Windows Vista around the end of thisyear) is responsible for Windows client and serverapplications, developer tools and MSN. The MicrosoftBusiness Division, under Jeff Raikes, overseesMicrosoft’s information worker offerings (includingOffice and SharePoint) as well as the Dynamicsproduct line. The Microsoft Entertainment & DevicesDivision, headed by Robbie Bach, manages a hodge-podge of largely consumer-oriented technologies, rang-ing from Windows Mobile to the Xbox.
Organized into 102 national subsidiaries, Microsoft’sfield organization reports to Kevin Turner, the com-pany’s chief operating officer. Personnel in the sub-
"There are all these different field reps out there. Don't blastthem all initially. Call into ones you're going to bring value to."— Liz Eversoll, Vice President, Berbee Information Networks Corp.
FEATURE | Navigating Microsoft
22 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
0406rcp_F1NavMS_21-26.v5 3/9/06 5:46 PM Page 22
24 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE | Navigating Microsoft
sidiaries drive sales, design and execute local marketing campaignsand deliver services. The U.S. subsidiary, by far the biggest, is fur-ther sub-divided: employees focused on enterprise customers aredeployed across three geographic regions containing 12 districts.Four industry sales units—covering financial services; healthand life sciences; retail; and manufacturing—support the districtteams on vertical opportunities. Meanwhile, a separate teamserving small and mid-market customers is also grouped intothree regions, enclosing 14 “areas.”
In theory, corporate and the field play neatly complementaryroles. Corporate creates products, and the field sells them.Corporate writes code and the field helps support it. Corporatecrafts global marketing strategies, and the field rolls them out tocustomers and partners. For example, consider the relationshipbetween the Worldwide Partner Group, under Allison Watson,and the U.S. Partner Group, under Margo Day. Watson’s team,part of the Microsoft Business Division at corporate, sets policy
for the Microsoft Partner Program, while Day’s organizationapplies that policy for the U.S. subsidiary.
In practice, however, the interplay between corporate and thefield is more complex, for the subsidiaries enjoy surprising lati-tude in enacting Redmond’s directives. So while corporate produces Microsoft’s official list of go-to-market (GTM) cam-paigns every year, it’s the field that decides which ones actuallyget executed. Similarly, though the Worldwide Partner Groupissues guidelines for identifying Microsoft’s best partners, thesubsidiaries ultimately pick their own favorites.
Further complicating matters is a less tangible but equallyimportant cultural divide often separating corporate and the field.Corporate accuses the field of missing the big picture. The fieldaccuses corporate of failing to appreciate the pressures of workingon the front lines with customers and partners. Corporate resentsthe field for selectively implementing its plans. The field resentscorporate for distracting it with barrages of unimportant infor-mation and pointless reporting exercises. And if partners aren’tcareful, they can get caught in the crossfire. For example, warnsDinsmore: “If you go to corporate and learn about some cool newinitiative, keep your mouth shut when you go back to the field.They don’t want to hear about it.”
TAKING THE FIELDDinsmore speaks from experience. In addition to being an author,he is also a managing director at Conchango plc, a U.K. Internet
professional services firm and Microsoft Gold Certified Partnerwith offices in New York and Boston. Sales happen in the field,Dinsmore argues, so relationships in the field are the first andmost important ones to cultivate. “You’ve heard the phrase ‘Allpolitics is local’? All sales are local, too,” he says. “In Microsoft, it’sall about relationships on the ground.”
For most partners, the field contact they interact with most reg-ularly is their partner account manager (PAM). Full-time partneradvocates, PAMs have traditionally spent their time tracking downinformation and resources, facilitating connections with otherMicrosoft employees and collaborating on business planning. In itscurrent fiscal year, Microsoft has been pushing PAMs to focusmore on assisting partners with pipeline and opportunity manage-ment. Key performance metrics for a PAM today, in addition topartner satisfaction, include revenue growth, share growth, com-petitive migrations and partner engagement with Microsoftaccounts. A typical PAM covers eight to ten partners, though
“telePAMs,” who provide phone-based support, work with 40 to 60partners each. (See related article in the March issue, “CertifiedPartners to Feel the Love.”)
Which partners qualify to have a PAM? “If there was a rule ofthumb,” says Don Nelson, Microsoft’s general manager for part-ner sales and readiness, “it would be that Gold Certified partnershave PAMs and Certified partners have a telePAM.” In realitythough, the subsidiaries decide who gets a PAM, and exceptionsoccur. “Our goal would be for every Certified or Gold Certifiedpartner to get one or the other,” says Nelson, but it doesn’t alwayswork that way. Ultimately, asserts Dinsmore, the critical ingredi-ent is revenue. If you’re making good money for Microsoft and areat least a Certified partner, odds are strong you’ll be assigned aPAM or telePAM.
In the small business and midmarket space, where Microsoft’ssales efforts are 100 percent partner-led, a PAM is often a partner’smost important contact. Few partners that focus on enterprise cus-tomers, however, consider them key to getting in on opportunities.“Honestly, [PAMs] tend to be good traffic cops,” says David R.Romig II, president of The Computer Solution Company Inc.,a Midlothian, Va.-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner thatprovides consulting and application development services toenterprise businesses. “If you have a question, they can answerthose. When it comes down to it, though, they truly don’t affectwhether an account rep uses you or not. The account rep makesthat decision.”
“The way to get attention is be successful in the marketplace.” — Don Nelson, General Manager, Microsoft Partner Sales and Readiness
0406rcp_F1NavMS_21-26.v5 3/9/06 5:46 PM Page 24
Account reps, formally known as account managers, essentiallyserve as the quarterback of an enterprise customer’s account team.Every account team includes a variety of players, such as an accounttechnology specialist (who provides pre-sales technical guidance),several solution specialists (who contribute pre-sales assistance onspecific products and applications), and a technical account manag-er (who oversees a customer’s post-sales technical support require-ments). When a new opportunity arises, the account managercoordinates the team’s efforts, and makes the final call on which part-ners are invited into the deal. PAMs, it’s worth noting, work withaccount teams but aren’t part of them.
Romig encourages partners to court account managersaggressively. Eversoll, of Berbee, agrees, adding that the reps tocontact first are the ones who call on your company’s existing cus-tomers. “There are all these different field reps out there,” sheobserves. “Don’t blast them all initially. Call into ones you’re goingto bring value to.”
That last point is crucial, says Romig. Microsoft account managershear from partners they’ve never met all the time. “You have to bringthem information, bring them in on opportunities,” he says. Do that afew times, and they’ll usually reciprocate.
Same goes for people attached to Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS). MCS has personnel in every subsidiary; in the United States,there are MCS consultants in every district. According to Eversoll,they’re worth knowing. “Since they work [both] with the sales teamand post-sales, they have a similar, but different, pipeline of opportu-nities,” she says. Romig says MCS sometimes sub-contracts work tohis firm. “Often,” he adds, “MCS refers work to us as an alternative totheir higher bill rates.” The key to winning such referrals, Romigasserts, is bringing opportunities to MCS first: “The last thing theywant is someone begging for work who hasn’t reciprocated.”
For new partners without a rich pool of prospects to share, gain-ing entrée with the field can be trickier. SourceCode TechnologyHoldings Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and businessprocess management software vendor, faced that challenge sever-al years ago. According to Jeff Shuey, global alliance director forthe Redmond, Wash.-based firm, arranging meetings with U.S. dis-trict leaders proved to be the solution. “We asked for half an hourto do a business presentation on what we’re doing, how we’re doingit, and how we plan to be successful,” recalls Shuey. What resultedwere agreements to pursue joint opportunities.
Shuey counsels partners seeking to replicate SourceCode’s tacticto prepare thoroughly beforehand. “You need some basic tools to go in and get Microsoft’s attention,” he contends. Prepare concisePowerPoint decks that summarize your qualifications, outline themarket opportunity and concretely specify how you intend to helpMicrosoft go after it. “Have at least a thumbnail sketch of a businessplan for how you expect to target accounts in that territory,” Shueyadds. Microsoft will want to know you can back up your promiseswith results.
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 25
Here are a few relationship-building secrets from veteran Microsoft partners:
FIND THE INFLUENCERS. Some field relationships are
more valuable than others, says David Romig of The
Computer Solution Company. “In each regional office,
there tend to be movers and shakers,” he notes. “If you
can influence them, they in turn can influence the
remainder of that geography.” Those key players aren’t
necessarily at the top of the org chart, Romig adds,
so watch all your field contacts to see which ones have
the most pull among their peers.
SPECIALIZE IN SPECIALISTS. In every U.S. enterprise
district, a “specialist team unit” containing technology
and solution experts works alongside the account
teams, providing pre-sales technical support. Get to
know them, advises Liz Eversoll of Berbee Information
Networks. “They have broader account coverage than
the account manager, so they have insight into all
of the opportunities that are in your particular area of
technical expertise,” she says.
GET IN ON EVENTS. Jim Rutherford, of ProClarity,
advises partners to sponsor Microsoft events such as
Tech·Ed and the Worldwide Partner Conference.
“Not only is that a good marketing opportunity for you,
but it’s also a venue where you can meet and connect
with more people,” he says.
CONCENTRATE ON COMPENSATION. The more you know
about how your Microsoft contacts are compensated,
says Romig, the more effectively you can work with
them. “If 75 percent of somebody’s compensation has
to do with [Microsoft Business Solutions], trying
to get them to refer you .NET custom application
development opportunities is going to be a tough row
to hoe,” he observes. — R.F.
More Tips for Finding Your Way Around
Microsoft
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26 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE | Navigating Microsoft
MAKING FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACESField relationships are critical, but contacts in Redmond can beequally beneficial, especially if your firm does business nationally orinternationally. Just ask Jeff Rutherford, worldwide director ofstrategic alliances at ProClarity Corp., of Boise, Idaho, a maker ofbusiness intelligence software. When Microsoft released SQLServer 2005 last fall, strong ties with corporate enabled ProClarityto play a role in numerous launch events. Though local offices had significant leeway in shaping those events, lobbying fromRedmond on ProClarity’s behalf made an impact. It’s a patternRutherford has seen before. “I wouldn’t say it’s impossible to getresults in the field without corporate, but it’s a much higher degreeof difficulty to do it that way,”he says.
For many partners, the most coveted relationships at cor-porate are with people in Microsoft’s products groups. TheComputer Solution Company, for example, uses its contacts on the Office and Visual Studio teams to offer input on potential
improvements and sneak early peeks at pre-releasecode. “We get the capability to fold in functionalityon behalf of our clients without having to wait andsee if it’s going to be there in the next version,” saysRomig. Having friends in Redmond also buildscredibility with local account teams, he adds. For herpart, Eversoll uses her connections among productmarketers at corporate to get the inside scoop onupcoming GTMs.
The easiest way to get in touch with productgroups is through a PAM. But don’t expect instantresults if you haven’t yet built up a reputation as adependable source of revenue. “That’s what typicallywill get access and attention at corporate,” saysShuey, of SourceCode. As always, companies thatbring value to Microsoft are generally the first toget rewards back from it. Newer partners shouldconcentrate on establishing a track record in thefield before asking a PAM for introductions to theproduct groups, partners say.
There are ways to make contacts at corporatewithout a PAM’s assistance. The simplest is to attendMicrosoft events such as Tech·Ed, the ProfessionalDevelopers Conference and the Worldwide PartnerConference. Those gatherings are often effectivevenues for meeting people from the products groupsand elsewhere at Microsoft. Romig has struck upconversations at events that later landed his compa-ny in invitation-only early adopter programs.
EARNING ATTENTIONNelson, of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Group,discourages partners from fixating on the relation-
ship hunt. “I personally believe that partners spend too much time on this,” he says. Participate actively in events, trainingclasses, and other offerings, argues Nelson, and relationships willevolve naturally over time. Above all, he counsels, keep your eyeon the bottom line: “The way to get attention is be successful inthe marketplace.”
Few partners would disagree with that last assertion. “Microsoftrelationships are very important, but you have to earn them,” saysEversoll. “You have to come to the table with value, and once youdo that the word spreads.” It’s worth the effort, says Romig.In somerespects, at least, working with Microsoft is no different fromworking with any other company: “Regardless of how structuredthe org chart or processes may seem to be,” he says, “business stillcomes down to relationships.” ◆
Rich Freeman is a Seattle-based freelance writer specializing in
business and technology. He can be reached at [email protected].
Demystifying the
Managed Partner“MANAGED PARTNERS” are widely regarded to be the cream of the
Microsoft channel. But what exactly is a managed partner? “That’s
a holdover term that we’d almost like to get rid of,” says Don
Nelson, Microsoft’s general manager for partner sales and readi-
ness. “It comes from a few years ago. If you had a PAM, you were
considered managed.” Back then, there was less consistency
across geographies in how Microsoft assigned PAMs. Today, states
Nelson, “if you’re Gold or Certified in the program then you will be
getting managed resources, either a PAM or telePAM.”
Which is not to say that all Certified and Gold Certified part-
ners are managed equally. For example, in addition to working
with PAMs, U.S. partners with multi-regional or national customer
bases get assistance from business development managers
(BDM) in Redmond who perform the same functions as a PAM on
a subsidiary-wide scale. In addition, the top several hundred ISVs
worldwide, as measured by revenue, have BDMs with similar
responsibilities in Microsoft’s Developer and Platform Evangelism
Group and the very biggest partners (such as SAP, Accenture, and
HP) have BDMs in the Enterprise and Partner Group.
Interested in acquiring a BDM? No need to call us; we’ll call
you, Nelson says. Companies big enough to rate a BDM
inevitably attract Microsoft’s attention. — R.F.
0406rcp_F1NavMS_21-26.v5 3/9/06 5:46 PM Page 26
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28 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE | The second installment in our series on management best practices
Here are super ways to win the high-stakes competition to recruit top talent. By Fred Bayles
Hire PowerTHE PAST COUPLE of months have been busy ones for JanineCremers. The vice president for human resources at Seattle-based ePartners Inc. has tendered job offers to 25 prospectiveemployees during that time. And she still has another 40 to50 positions to fill. IL
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Like executives at many other Microsoft partner companies,Cremers sees no relief from those sorts of numbers. With a tight-ening job market increasing the competition for fewer candidates,she expects to be scrambling for the foreseeable future.
“It’s going to be tough because we, like everyone else,are look-ing for A+ talent with lots of experience,” says Cremers, whoseconsulting firm is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.“Unfortunately, the people we’re interested in are getting multiplejob offers.They’re not sitting by the phone, waiting for it to ring.”
These days, stories about the future of employee recruitmentoften come with headlines that seem more suited to describingthe latest horror movie at the local multiplex. Words and phrasessuch as “crisis,” “black hole” and “crash” add a sense of approach-ing doom to the substantial gloom companies already face as theyseek qualified recruits to fill a growing list of jobs.
But there’s evidence that you shouldn’t lose faith. Although it’sclear that a recovering U.S. economy, combined with theapproach of unforgiving demographic realities, will make it hard-er to fill those empty desks and cubicles, employment experts saythe task won’t be impossible for companies that take steps todayto prepare for tomorrow’s employment wars.
CREATIVE APPROACHFor Cremers and others like her, that means a more creative,aggressive form of recruitment, including offering options to jobcandidates seeking perks beyond paychecks. One example: theopportunity to telecommute (an activity that Cremers can speakto directly; she works at home three days a week). “You can’t com-pete with just a good compensation package,” she says.“People arenow interested in other aspects, especially the work-life balance.”
While companies in almost every industry will find them-selves competing to hire the best job candidates, software and ITservices companies are among those most likely to face the great-est talent shortages—and the fiercest battles.
In fact, many employment experts agree that the hiring crunchis already upon us. With the economy growing slowly but steadi-ly, the nation’s unemployment rate was at 4.7 percent in January2006, the lowest level since August 2001. Companies thatimposed hiring freezes during the recent recession are now fillingvacancies and adding new positions. The 4 million jobs that theU.S. Department of Labor says has been added nationwide overthe past two years speak to the fact that it’s quickly becoming ajobseekers’ market.
“Employers are finding it harder to get the people they want,and employees are finding more freedom to look for jobs and dic-tate what it is they want,” says John A. Challenger, CEO ofChallenger, Gray & Christmas Inc., a Chicago-based employ-ment consulting firm.
Such trends are expected to continue into the next decade,creating the possibility of worker shortages at both the highand low ends of the job market. The numbers clearly speak tothe difficulties ahead.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the U.S.economy will create 18.9 million new jobs by 2014, an increase of13 percent over 2004 levels. But that’s only part of the picture.The bureau estimates that there will be 54.7 million total jobopenings during that same period. That breathtaking numberincludes both those newly minted positions and the spots beingleft behind by retiring baby boomers—that huge cohort ofAmericans born between 1946 and 1964.
Bottom line: The 77 million baby boomers, who will begin toreach traditional retirement age in 2010, are followed by only 44million Generation Xers, generally defined as those Americansborn from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. Those numbershave long-term implications for the job market no matter howthe nation’s economy fluctuates in the coming years.
“What you’re seeing in the job market now is the normal partof the business cycle,” says John Dooney, manager of strategicresearch for the Society of Human Resources Management(SHRM), an Alexandria, Va.-based professional association. “Butover time, as the demographics change, it’s going to be a muchmore systemic problem.”
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 29
»54.7 million:*Estimated number of U.S.job openings by 2014
*includes new positions and retirement-related vacancies
SOURCE: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
0406rcp_F2Hiring_28-32.v5 3/10/06 4:39 PM Page 29
And don’t expect that overseas outsourcing will reduce the competition for skilled employees in this country. The Associationfor Computing Machinery, a New York City-based coalition of academic, government and industry officials, recently reported thatwhile some 2 percent to 3 percent of American IT jobs are movingto India, China and other overseas locations every year, overallgrowth in the field means that the number of workers needed athome should still easily outpace the exports.
The math to be derived from these projections is simple andunpleasant. More jobs to fill minus fewer potential employees to fillthem equals tremendous competition among growing businesses.
Obviously, the employment-war winners will be the compa-nies who best learn how to compete for top talent. That requiressome attitude adjustment, especially among hiring managers.Often, Dooney says, those managers are stuck in the mindset of the1980s, a time when they were entering a tight and competitive mar-ketplace where employers had the pick of the field.
NETWORKING TOOLS The first step into this brave new world is realizing that the daysof trolling for qualified job applicants through newspaper ads andjob fairs are over. Companies can no longer wait for responses toold-fashioned, haphazard systems that rely on job seekers comingto them. Instead, the most competitive now keep tabs on andreach out to potential hires through a variety of sources fromMonster.com to outsourcing companies offering specialized con-tract workers. Some even use in-house databases to track the rec-ognized talent in the field.These systems act as virtual proud par-ents, automatically collecting data on an individual’s career paththat can be accessed anytime a manager or HR department has ahot opening to fill quickly.
Karl Muhlbauer, manager of recruiting for InsourceTechnology Corp., a Houston-based Microsoft Gold CertifiedPartner specializing in system design and implementation,visits social and professional networking Web sites, such asLinkedin.com, to find talented people who aren’t even necessarilylooking for jobs.“These sites don’t give you individual resumes, butthey do give you an overall profile of what these people havedone,” he says. “It’s another tool in the tool box.”
Meanwhile, keep in mind that many top candidates may havealready scoped you out by talking with your own workers. LeighBranham, founder of Keeping the People Inc., an Overland Park,Kan., employment consulting firm, recommends that companiestake advantage of such networking to entice top applicants.
“Your employment plan is communicated through your work-force,” Branham says. “Your reputation is your brand, and yourreputation is being built by word-of-mouth when workers fromdifferent companies gather at backyard barbecues.”
Many companies already take advantage of this grassroots net-working by encouraging existing employees to steer good prospects
FEATURE | Hire Power
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30 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
7Tips for Highly
Effective Hiring Following is some additional advice forrecruiting top talent:
Recognize the new reality. When it comes to hiring, we’re now in a buyer’s market—and it’s the job-seeker, not the employer, who’s doing the buying.
Start early. Offer internships or develop other programs with local colleges—and even highschools—to connect with potential future employees.If you’re a small employer, consider banding togetherwith other partners to launch such efforts.
Sell yourself. Push your human resources department to market your company to job candidates the same way you market your productsor services to prospective customers. Promote itaccordingly not just to prospective hires, but alsothroughout the industry.
Use the grapevine. When you’ve got a specificjob opening, let the channel know. Post messages inonline forums or tell your peers in person in eventssuch as TS2 meetings and the annual WorldwidePartner Conference. You never know: Someone mayknow someone who’s an ideal candidate.
Share information. Hiring managers regularlyinterview applicants who, while highly qualified,aren’t quite right for the jobs in question but might fit in well elsewhere. Encourage non-competing partners to steer good prospects your way, and dothe same for them.
Ask your PAM. Microsoft Partner AccountManagers are plugged into many different companies;yours may know, for instance, of a laid-off specialistwho’s seeking a new job or a recent retiree interested inpart-time consulting work.
Emphasize retention. Replacing employeeswastes money, time and energy. — F.B.
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RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 31
their way. As they did during the heady Internet bubble days of the1990s, many companies are again offering employees cash incen-tives for bringing new workers into the fold. For instance, ePartnersencourages employees to recruit their talented friends, offeringthem bounties ranging from $1,500 to as much as $10,000 for hard-to-fill jobs.
There are other ways to encourage networking. Cisco SystemsInc., a veteran of the 1990s Silicon Valley employee wars, has useda link on its main Web site, labeled “Make Friends @ Cisco,” thatencourages potential recruits to contact a list of the San Jose,Calif.-based company’s employees to find out what their workinglives are like.
Tamara Erickson, executive officer of Concours Group, a con-sulting firm with offices in Kingwood, Texas, and Watertown,Mass., says efforts like Cisco’s point to the need for firms to sellthemselves to potential employees.
“The future HR department will have to have marketingskills as good as the company’s marketing department,” saysErickson, co-author of the just-published book Workforce Crisis:
How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent (HarvardBusiness School Press, 2006). She and others say such companybranding efforts aren’t just important for attracting applicants,but making sure that new employees—who cost a bundle torecruit and train—will stay with you, an effort that should beginduring the job interview.
“Too often, there is not enough frank talk from both sides ofthe table,” Branham says. A serious applicant may want a job sobadly that he or she doesn’t ask about potentially negative aspects.Meanwhile, the interviewer doesn’t offer any such insights forfear of losing a highly qualified candidate.
That lack of candor can lead to a new employee’s quick departure—and the additional expense and bother of finding areplacement. “It’s better to lose them up front with a realistic jobpreview,” Branham says. [The next installment in RCP ’s manage-
ment series will cover employee retention.—Ed.]In defining your company’s “brand” of employment, experts
encourage you to consider new options to attract the often-choosybest job candidates into your fold. That can mean changing yourstaffing policies and job definitions so that you can accommodatecontract workers, telecommuters and—one of the biggest potentiallabor sources out there—baby boomers who might opt for some-thing more than retirement and less than a full-time job.
To attract the most desirable candidates of any age, companiesmust look beyond the traditional in-the-office, 9-to-5, Monday-
through-Friday model, Erickson says. “A lot of people don’t wantto be traditional employees—the younger for philosophical rea-sons and the older for lifestyle reasons,” she says. “Part of themessage now is, ‘Think outside the box and make the concessionsnecessary to tap into those new realities.’”
THE BOOMER BENEFIT Nowhere is the challenge to think creatively greater than when itcomes to those baby boomers. Employment experts admit that noone is sure exactly what this massive population will do as itsmembers reach retirement age. But there’s great potential forthem to be the salvation for the tight job market—especially interms of retention.
George LaVenture, president of Trinity Consulting Inc., aMicrosoft Gold Certified Partner based in Marlboro, Mass., hasalready brought in semi-retired boomers to work on special proj-ects, augmenting Trinity’s 10-person work force.
“It gives me access to tremendously talented, experienced peo-ple without having to worry about the overhead of benefits andtaxes,” says LaVenture, whose company specializes in designingand implementing database and messaging systems. “They get towork on a project they enjoy and we get to bring talent to ourclients. All three parties win.”
Erickson recommends that companies begin developingstrategies to retain their own boomer-age employees in differentroles, or even hire boomers part-time after they retire from com-peting businesses. “Companies are going to need these peopleand these people are going to want to do something,” she says.“The question will be: Can companies come up with jobs that areappealing to the baby boomers?”
All these new strategies leave no doubt that the world ofemployee recruitment and hiring is shifting rapidly. Your successwill be determined by how well you deal with these changes asopportunities rather than crises.
“People are accepting this new world conceptually, but manyare still wrestling with putting it into perspective,” Ericksonsays. “The bottom line for success is to realize that you aregoing to have to accommodate a lot of new perspectives on whata job is. The ones who surrender to this idea are the ones whowill succeed.” ◆
Fred Bayles, a Boston-based freelance writer, writes frequently
about business issues. He is a former national reporter with TheAssociated Press and USA Today.
The days of trolling for qualified job applicants through newspaperads and job fairs are over. Companies can no longer wait forresponses to old-fashioned, haphazard systems that rely on jobseekers coming to them.
0406rcp_F2Hiring_28-32.v5 3/9/06 5:05 PM Page 31
FEATURE
0406rcp_F2SMB_32-36.v5 3/9/06 5:56 PM Page 32
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 33
Does Microsoft “get it” when it comes to small businesses?
A: Depends on whom you ask.
If you ask Harry Brelsford, Microsoft is doing plenty these days
for both its smaller partners and the SMBs they serve. “In true
Microsoft fashion, they’re responding en masse to demand,” says
Brelsford, CEO of SMB Nation Inc., a training and consulting service
based on Bainbridge Island, Wash. Brelsford cites the new Microsoft
Small Business Specialist (SBS) designation as just one example of
Redmond’s intensified interest in companies whose fortunes are far
below those of the Fortune 500. “You can’t even keep up anymore
with Microsoft’s [offerings for] the small business,” says Brelsford,
among the first to earn the new designation (see RCP January 2006,
“Microsoft SBS: What’s in It for You?”). PH
OTO
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StillTooLittle?Redmond has been reaching out to small
businesses, but some partners say they’re stillgetting mixed messages.
By Anne Stuart
Q:
0406rcp_F2SMB_32-36.v5 3/9/06 5:56 PM Page 33
But if you ask Roman Pawnyk, “Microsoft” and “small busi-ness” still don’t belong in the same sentence, at least not when itcomes to how the company treats partners who are SMBs them-selves. “You don’t have clout because you’re not a million-dol-lar-plus partner,” says Pawnyk, CEO of the R.M. Pawnyk Corp., a Cleveland, Ohio-based Microsoft Certified Partnerthat sells and supports only Microsoft products. “Your partneraccount manager [PAM] doesn’t want to talk with you becauseyou’re too small,” he adds, noting that his company has fiveemployees, including himself and his wife. “You bring in rev-enue, but if you have a problem, they don’t want to talk to youbecause you’re too small.”
And if you talk to almost anyone else, you’ll probably get ananswer somewhere in between, something like Bob Hood’s. “DoesMicrosoft get it—or does any vendor get it—when it comes toSMBs? By and large, no,” says Hood, who heads the Chicago-basedHood Consulting Group, a MicrosoftRegistered Member. “Microsoft has gottenbetter.They’re getting there.But they’re notthere yet.”
MEDIOCRE TRACK RECORDIf there’s one thing that nobody disputes,it’s that, for most of its 30-year history,Redmond hasn’t had a stellar relationshipwith SMBs. If the company didn’t exactlyignore smaller partners and customers, itdidn’t exactly pursue them, either. “Thereis a legacy resentment in the SMB channel,and there’s a basis for that resentment,”Brelsford notes. One example: SmallBusiness Server. “It’s in its ninth year oflife, and for six years, [Microsoft] did apoor job of embracing the SMB customerand reaching out to partners,” he says. “I think our people holdonto that.”
Arlin Sorensen, president of Heartland Technology SolutionsInc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner based in Harlan, Iowa,has been in business for 21 years, selling Microsoft products formost of that time. But until a few years ago, he wasn’t convincedthat anybody in Redmond realized his 40-person IT support andservice company existed. “It was 16 or 17 years before I ever had aMicrosoft person get engaged with us directly,” he says. “I’m notsure they really believed small companies were out there.”
Even a key point person for Microsoft’s fast-growing SmallBusiness Specialist Community—himself a former small-busi-ness partner—acknowledges that Microsoft traditionally over-looked its smaller partners and customers. “If you go back severalyears, there weren’t a whole lot of resources dedicated to thatmarket,” says Eric Ligman, now the Redmond-based U.S. senior
manager for small-business community engagement, but previ-ously the owner of a Chicago-area Microsoft partner company.
Today, Microsoft is clearly trying hard to ditch that legacy,reaching out to the very companies that, whether by strategy oraccident, it has traditionally overlooked. And the mandate to doso comes straight from the top: In announcing the launch ofOffice Small Business 2006 last fall, Microsoft Chairman BillGates said: “We see small business as something that’s a bigopportunity for us, that’s something you’ll see us carry through inall the things that we do.”
Whether they’re succeeding is a question that, again, dependsupon whom you ask.
SMALL BUSINESS, BIG OPPORTUNITYGates wasn’t kidding about the market’s potential. Microsoft—which defines small businesses as those with 50 or fewer employ-
ees—estimates that there are 5.5 millionsuch companies in the United States alone.“It’s a huge market that’s underserved,”Ligman says.
And as Ligman himself notes, it’s also amarket that’s historically taken care of itsown. “When I was a partner, the resourceswe had were each other,” he recalls.
To some extent, that’s still the case. Smallpartners who specialize in serving smallcompanies remain a remarkably cohesiveand self-motivated bunch. The attendancefigures for Brelsford’s annual SMB Nationconferences—primarily designed forMicrosoft partners who focus on SMBs—best illustrate that grassroots growth. Thefirst event, held in Indianapolis in 2003,attracted 101 attendees. In 2004, 225 people
showed up for the Seattle event. More than 600 people signed upfor last year’s conference in Redmond. And Brelsford has cappedattendance for this year’s event, scheduled for Sept. 8-10 inRedmond, at 800—the maximum the local fire marshal will allow.He’s also scheduled smaller gatherings in New York andAmsterdam, the Netherlands, this spring.
Then there are several dozen small-business “user groups,” suchas the Chicago-area one co-founded by consultant Bob Hood thatgrew out of that first SMB nation event in 2003. “Here 100 peoplefrom around the world show up, and they’re all having the sameproblems we’re having,”Hood says of that conference.“We all said,‘It would be a shame to lose that sense of community—let’s stay intouch.’” So they did, going to Microsoft partner gatherings andasking their peers whether they’d be interested in getting togetherindependently. Apparently, they would: “At our first meeting, wehad 39 people show up,” Hood recalls one cold February night as
FEATURE | Small Business
34 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
“If you get the combined
voices of 90 usergroups around
the world,Microsoft’s goingto listen big time.”
— Bob Hood, President, Bob Hood Consulting
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he’s driving from a client’s server crash in Chicago to a user groupmeeting in suburban Vernon Hills.The group now has 170 peopleon its mailing list and still attracts 25 or 35 to every session, wherethey eat dinner, network and listen to speakers. Many drive twohours or more to more to attend.Why do they bother?
“We finally realized the power of community and you have topay a price for that.And the price for that is time,” Hood says.“Oneof us really isn’t going to get Microsoft’s ear. Even my user group,with 35 [regular members], is going to have a rough time gettingMicrosoft’s ear. But if you get the combined voices of 90 usergroups around the world, Microsoft’s going to listen big time.”
In fact, Microsoft is listening. While the Chicago grouporganized spontaneously, its leaders always invite Microsoft rep-resentatives to attend and the group often meets at Microsoft’slocal offices. Says Hood: “We want [Microsoft] to be an activeparticipant because we want Microsoft to know what our painpoints are.”
In some cases, Microsoft has followed the groups’ lead inaddressing those pain points. For example, many partners had longcomplained about the lack of SMB-specific Microsoft messaging.Brelsford, whose SMB Nation Web site serves as kind of a hub forSMB partners, says that, a couple of years ago, the Portland, Ore.,user group took matters into its own hands. “They took the initia-tive to establish a tax, a user-group fee,” he says. “They took thatmoney and used it to purchase a radio ad on an AM news station inthe Portland area because they felt that Microsoft wasn’t doing any-thing” to help them reach SMBs.The grassroots ad campaign suc-cessfully raised local awareness about partners’ offerings, Brelsfordsays, “and they did it a full two years in advance of Microsoft itselfrunning a radio ad for the small-business market.”
Now, though, there’s plenty of evidence that Microsoft is tak-ing a proactive approach to reaching partners who server SMBs.In addition to creating Ligman’s national-level job as an SMBengagement manager a few years ago, the company has created 14similar regional positions across the country within the last year.As a team, their goal is to tap into those user groups and the mush-rooming ranks of Small Business Specialists (more than 1,500partners nationwide have qualified for the designation since itbecame available last year). The new regional liaisons provide “a
connection between corporate and the field, a direct line of com-munication and feedback,” Ligman says.
MORE MICROSOFT INITIATIVESBrelsford points to two other recent indications that Microsoft ishitting its stride with small businesses.
First, there’s the new sales strategy for Small Business Server,which is now available off the shelf at Best Buy retail electronicsstores.“That’s a mature market strategy that’s in line with the age ofthe product,” Brelsford says. And while that might initially soundlike bad news for channel partners, there’s a twist.About 130 of thechain’s stores will have “business centers” staffed by MicrosoftSmall Business Specialists. “Best Buy has committed to havingthree Small Business Specialists per store in order to make surethings are done right,” Brelsford says.“This is great thinking.”
He and others also cited the first-ever Microsoft SmallBusiness Summit, which was scheduled to take place in mid-March. Like similar conferences designed for executives fromlarger companies, the four-day event’s agenda was packed withpresentations on finance, sales, productivity, security and othertopics. But in developing the conference, Microsoft acknowl-edged its target audience’s tight budgets. So unlike other sum-mits, the small-business event was free to all. And the event wasscheduled to take place entirely online, allowing participants tosave a bundle on travel costs. (The agenda did include a face-to-face opening-day gathering in Redmond, but that, too, wasoffered as a live Webcast for those who couldn’t attend in person.)
Along the same lines, Microsoft is sponsoring a variety ofSMB-oriented workshops that are either free or a fraction of thecost of past events. Brelsford, a Microsoft Certified Trainer,teaches a Small Business Specialist certification-prep workshop.The two-day course costs $175, which Brelsford calls “ a far cryfrom the old days when a five-day course would cost $1,500” – aprice simply out of reach for most SMBs.
Ligman says all those efforts—combined with the estimatedmillions of dollars that Microsoft has spent researching the mar-ket—indicate that the company now understands very well thatsmall companies are far different creatures than their largerbrethren. “They’re not just a ‘light’ version of an enterprise cus-
“In the last two years, there’s been a lot of engagement. We have a lot more positive relationship with people in Redmond who are helping us approach our customers and serve our customers.” — Arlin Sorensen, President, Heartland Technology Solutions Inc.
0406rcp_F2SMB_32-36.v5 3/9/06 5:56 PM Page 35
tomer,” he says. “Our approach is specifically targeted to theirneeds.” One example: The resource-stocked online MicrosoftSmall Business Center, launched last year in response to feedbackfrom small businesses who found the company’s main Web sitestoo overwhelming or too enterprise-oriented. “It’s not just ‘Here’s[Microsoft] Office,’” Ligman says of the content. “It’s giving themideas about how they can leverage technology to do the thingsthey want to do.” And because SMBs often prefer to work withother local businesses, the site includes a searchable SmallBusiness Specialist locator allowing smallcustomers to find the specialist closest totheir own ZIP codes.
Has all this made a difference in terms ofMicrosoft’s relationship to its smaller part-ners—and to their relationships with theirsmall-business customers? Once again, thatdepends on whom you ask.
BETTER THAN BEFORESorensen, of Heartland TechnologySolutions, no longer wonders whetherMicrosoft knows his company. “In the lasttwo years, there’s been a lot of engage-ment,” he says. “We have a lot more posi-tive relationship with people in Redmondwho are helping us approach our cus-tomers and serve our customers.”
Microsoft also seems to know thoseSMB customers better these days.
Even a few years ago, if Microsoft “ran ads in the SMB channelspace, it was still an enterprise message. They didn’t under-stand small business pain points,” Sorensen says. “It really boilsdown to a few simple things: They’re looking to simplify, theydon’t have an IT staff and they just want [the problems] to go away.Microsoft used to say, ‘Here’s the next set of new features.’ Smallbusinesses would say, ‘We can’t get the old stuff to do what wewant, so why would we care about the new stuff?’” he recalls, thenadds: “That’s changed. They now understand that small businesscustomers have different needs than enterprise customers.”
And those SMB customers seem to be receiving Microsoft’smessages, Sorensen adds. Just a few years ago, “customers werepretty much in the dark about products being brought to marketbecause there was no advertising in their space. It was a tough sell.It required a lot of education,” he recalls. “Now they all knowthere’s a new desktop operating systemcoming up. We don’t have to fight the bat-tle of what it is and what it does. It’s a lotsimpler for us to focus on process of help-ing their individual businesses than havingto do ‘Microsoft 101’ for them.”
Hood, the Chicago consultant, views the creation of the regis-tered level of the Microsoft Partner Program as an important out-reach effort for smaller partners.“That has gotten us plugged into awhole lot of things,” he says. “We are being invited to TechNet andTS2 meetings. Most recently, we’ve started to be invited to theMicrosoft quarterly partner briefings and we’ve been rubbingshoulders with the big guys.They’re recognizing us and inviting usto come inside the barn door.” And, he adds, being able call yourcompany a Microsoft partner—even on the program’s lowest
rungs—“carries a little bit of weight” withcustomers and prospects.
STILL ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENTBut Pawnyk, the Cleveland-based MicrosoftDynamics reseller, isn’t feeling the love.Several years ago, when his company soldReal World accounting software, he says, hecould pick up the phone and call that compa-ny’s president. (Real World was acquired byGreat Plains, which was later acquired byMicrosoft.) “Whether it was about a market-ing plan or a client or something I needed tocommunicate to him about the direction thechannel was taking, I always had directaccess,” Pawnyk recalls. “I realize it’s not pos-sible to have that at Microsoft, but the organ-ization is so closed it’s impossible to establisheven minimal communication channels.Contacting Microsoft is basically shooting
into a big cave. You hear something reverberating in there, butnothing ever comes back out.”
When Microsoft does reach out to its smaller partners, Pawnyksays, the message is often still off-target. “I’ve attended any num-ber of partner programs where folks say that if you want to bringin 12 prospects, you need to spend $200,000,” he says with a snort.“Come on, folks. This isn’t the enterprise environment.”Meanwhile, he says he gets his best leads and opportunities fromneither Microsoft nor ad-hoc partner groups, but through a $110-a-year networking organization sponsored by his church.
While acknowledging that Microsoft’s legacy has been farfrom perfect, Brelsford, of SMB Nation, says the company hasmoved ahead light years in dealing with smaller partners and cus-tomers. Much of the criticism “doesn’t reflect the progressMicrosoft has made in the last 18 months,” he says. “When
Microsoft makes a decision, they go for it.They really do.” ◆
Anne Stuart is executive editor of RedmondChannel Partner. You can reach her at
36 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE | Small Business
“ContactingMicrosoft is
basically shootinginto a big cave. You
hear somethingreverberating in
there, but nothingever comes back out.”
— Roman Pawnyk, CEO, R.M.Pawnyk Corp.
Log on to RCPmag.com for additional small businessresources, including SMB Nation’s Web site and thehome page of Microsoft’s Small Business Summit2006. FindIT code: TooLittle
GET MORE ONLINE
0406rcp_F2SMB_32-36.v5 3/9/06 5:56 PM Page 36
Y38 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE
ILLU
ST
RA
TIO
N B
Y G
AR
Y A
LP
HO
NS
O
You could have the greatest SQL Server-based,Windows Server-optimized, Outlook-friendly, software-as-a-service-enabled offering the world has ever seen. But your company’s notgoing anywhere unless you reach people inside potential customercompanies with the authority to buy your solution.
Reaching decision makers seems harder than ever. Sales efforts aremore scattershot, and communication is less personal, with voice mailand e-mail predominating over opportunities to make real connectionswith people.
Several experts, who write about techniques for reaching decisionmakers and consult with Microsoft partners on a regular basis, sharedtheir tips and techniques for reaching the right person with Redmond
Channel Partner magazine.What they say might surprise you.
FINDING DECISION MAKERSReaching decision makers is actually a two-part task. One part is find-ing them, the other is reaching them. But how do you find them?
The temptation to rush out and buy a database of leads can beoverwhelming, but the first step is to turn the spotlight on yourself.
Getting past voice mail is
a challenge. Persistence,
a message focused on your
customer—not you—and
recognizing the diffusion
of decision-making power
are key. By Scott Bekker
DecisonMaker
The biggest treasure trove of information on the kind of deci-sion makers who will actually want to buy your services orsoftware is your own files.
“Get together with your team, and make a list of your top 10customers. Rank them in order of revenue, profitability and easeof doing business, which is especially important,” says BrianCarroll, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, whichMcGraw Hill is publishing next month.“What I encourage peo-ple to do then is look at the attributes.Who was involved in thebuying process? Who was the most interested?”
Called vertical marketing by Microsoft, and niche market-ing by others, the process is generally used to identify theniches where you’re having the most success. The same tech-niques can be extended to aligning your sales process with the
Reaching the
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person or job role in your company’s prospects who historicallyshows the most interest in your product or service. “Let’s say youspecialize in Great Plains. Well, the CFO could be concernedabout that,” Carroll says. “But you may want to talk to the manu-facturing people in the company, too.”
While you’re at it, looking at the other side can be an equallyvaluable exercise. Developing a list of your 10 worst engagementsmight reveal that the involvement of certain job roles tend to dragout the process.
So that’s the homework on yourself. Now it’s time to do somehomework on your clients.
First, you need a broad understanding of the way things havechanged within corporate America—and that some of the saleswisdom from the old days doesn’t hold up. Reaching decisionmakers is different now from the old days.
“[It’s] an old sales technique [from] 20 years ago. If I meet withyou, at the end of the meeting, will you be able to make a decisionto go forward or not? If you couldn’t get an answer to that, youwouldn’t waste your time. That doesn’t work so well anymore,”says Mac McIntosh, a marketing consultant and columnist forRCP magazine. “I think in the old days the decision makers were,perhaps, more autocratic. They still did listen to their committee.But the committee today appears to have more influence.”
Committee-based decisions are much more common now.This makes sales easier in some ways, and harder in others. It’sharder to figure out who to talk to because there’s usually not oneperson with all the power. On the other hand, it can be easier toinstigate a productive conversation, because there might be adozen people who can influence your sale. That also means salesare more complicated.You can’t just convince one person.Suddenly,selling requires matching your a client’s buying process.
How do you plug into that process? McIntosh recommends asking open-ended questions that your counterparts will answer:
■ How do decisions like this get made at your company?■ Do you have a specific process or committee that’s involved?■ What departments and people are on the committee? Next, get down to specifics at your prospect firm. There’s
something else that’s different from 20 years ago: you’ve got theInternet as a research assistant. The Web is a great way to go deepinto a company, finding as many contacts as you can.
Jill Konrath, a consultant and author of Selling to Big Companies,offers another suggestion that’s worked for some Microsoft part-ners and other technology companies she’s advised: work withlocal companies in your own niche, as long as they’re not doingthe same thing as you.
“If they’re targeting the warehouse market, who else sells intothe distribution channel? Who else sells into the retail stores inareas that are contiguous to what you’re offering? You wouldwant to become partners or friends with other people who sell tothe same customer.You can share your knowledge,” Konrath says.
Whether you research contacts online or in person, aim fordepth. “Many people, at VARs especially, are targeting one or twoindividuals. I would rather see companies have 500 companies intheir database rather than 2,000 or 3,000, with five contacts ateach,” Carroll says. “The key we found to getting sales moving isthat more than one person is involved in the buying process. Youneed to figure out ways to get the conversation going. If it’s just inone person’s head, your sale’s not going to happen.”
Aside from researching the people, another key is to find trig-gering events that make a good entry point—mergers, acquisi-tions, new offices, a new executive—some internal change thatyou can relate to.
CRAFTING YOUR MESSAGEOnce you have an idea who you’re going after inside a potential cus-tomer’s company, it helps to try and put yourself in that person’shead. “Most people don’t realize what’s going on in the corporateworld. For public companies,Wall Street wants immediate results.The corporate decision maker that these people are trying to reachis swamped, overworked, as well as gun shy and risk-averse,”Konrath says.
That’s where all the research you did into your customers’business comes in. The research isn’t just about identifying anopportunity—it needs to form the bulk of what you talk about.
Konrath mentions a client who’s had success selling an ITsolution to investment banks. “The secret is [he] hardly men-tioned his product or his company.”
DELIVERING YOUR MESSAGENow that you’ve figured out who you want to talk to and what youwant to say, the challenge becomes getting them to want to talk toyou. Your main option is the telephone. It’s a great tool—exceptnobody answers.
“Most people leave this nice little voice mail message.‘Hi Bob, I’m a Microsoft partner. here’s what we specialize in,I’d like to find out what you’re doing in this area,’” saysKonrath, adding that the usual fate for that type of message isdeletion. She recommends a three-part formula for mindingyour phone manners:
1. Within 10 seconds you must establish credibility—thebest ways are by referral or demonstrating knowledge of a firm bymentioning a triggering event.
2. Building on the idea that Microsoft software is viewed asa commodity, you must move quickly to presenting your valueproposition and the difference you can make—not a messageabout the software or service you provide.
FEATURE | Reaching the Decision Maker
40 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
Go to RCPmag.com for links to online resources for finding, researching and reachingdecision makers. FindIT code: Decision
GET MORE ONLINE
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3. Close the call with confidence. “When you say, ‘I’dlike to meet with you at your earliest convenience,’ that soundslike groveling,” Konrath says. Instead she recommends closingwith something along the lines of, “Bob, we’ve made a real differ-ence over at this company that I mentioned.We could make a realdifference at yours. Let’s get together.”
TAKING THE LONG VIEWSo, you leave your beautifully crafted message backed by hours ofresearch, and you never get called back.What now?
“The fact that nobody calls you back is of no significance. Youhave to mount a campaign, not one or two calls,” Konrath says.Most sales require a minimum of seven to 10 touches, she says, andmost people quit before five. Not all contacts are phone calls.They might be e-mailed white papers or invitations to Webinars.“There’s going to come a point where they’re going to answer thephone by mistake, or the letter comes in where you’ve included awhite paper that’s of value,” she says.
One-to-many marketing e-mails also have a role—in fact, theymay be your only route to influence a final decision maker. Mostsales target companies that are ready to buy now. Marketing e-mails
can plant the seeds for the majority of companies that are not at thatstage. “With Microsoft partners, what they have to do is figure outwho are the right customers, put them in a database, and marketthem over and over again,” McIntosh says. While the 1.5 percentresponse rates typical of marketing e-mails seem paltry, McIntoshpoints out that sending e-mails 12 times per year brings theresponse rate for the file to 12 percent to 18 percent.
Much sales traction is generated lower down the org chart, butCEOs too busy for personal pitches are often more receptive toreceiving one-to-many style marketing e-mails. “Do I think theCEO will be the one who will bring me in? No.But he should be get-ting my newsletter, so when the committee comes in, he can say, ‘Ohyeah, I’ve heard of them,’”McIntosh says.
Once you’ve gotten a champion within the company, it’s impor-tant to recognize that the deal isn’t done. Your champion, be it thegeneral manager for manufacturing, the vice president for IT orthe CFO, may end up being the one taking your solution before thecommittee or the final decision maker.
“I’ve seen cases where partners have sold the champion, butthey haven’t given the champion the tools to sell the boss. Youneed to arm them with information to help sell to the decision
maker, because you may not be able to get to thedecision maker yourself,” McIntosh says.
MAKING A CONNECTIONWhen it comes to selling, we live in interesting times.In the old days, keeping current on potential cus-tomers was an art form requiring intuition, researchskill and networking. Now, search engines and mod-erately priced online tools give everyone nearlyinstant access to information that makes them asinformed as company insiders.
Decision makers use technology, too, in the formof voice mail and e-mail.They wield those technolog-ical tools like a huge shield between them and the peo-ple selling them solutions.With electronic barriers, itcan be that much harder to make that personal con-nection that causes the decision maker to consideryour solution.
The experts we spoke with agree that gettingbeyond the delete key is a challenge, but clearly itcan be done by using solid research to inform cus-tomer-centric messages that focus on business ben-efits, rather than technology features. Repeatedtirelessly, with a constant focus on bringing valuableinformation tailored to the decision maker, you canget through. ◆
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond ChannelPartner magazine. Reach him at [email protected].
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 41
T E L E P H O N E
TradecraftShut out at the phone bank? Stuck in
voice mail limbo? Here are some tips fromour experts (who don’t necessarily want to
be associated with the suggestions).
Ask for the sales department. Confess that you’re not a
prospect, and ask, one salesperson to another, for some
help reaching the right person.
Make an ally of the CEO’s administrative assistant. That person
can often direct you to the right person. They know how deci-
sions get made. While they’re deflecting your call from the
boss, they also recognize things need to get done.
Misdialing extension numbers—on purpose. You’re trying to
reach Fred, who won’t take your calls. You misdial and reach
Sally. When Sally answers, you say, “Oh sorry, I was trying
to reach Fred.” This is the sneakiest technique of all because,
depending on the company’s phone system, when Sally
transfers you, you’ll show up on Fred’s phone as Sally.
Call before or after hours or on lunch break. People aren’t
as heavily scheduled and may pick up the phone.
12
3
4
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RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 43
FEATURE
Bill Gates hasbeen chatting upthe concepts of‘digital lifestyle’and ‘digital workstyle.’ But whatdo these termsreally mean—especially forpartners?
By LaurenGibbons Paul
If his recent public speeches are any indication, Bill Gates is on a mission, promoting a vision of the future that falls under the dualheadings of “digital lifestyle” and “digital work style.”
Defining the DigitalDecade
“Every computer will be connected up to a single network and every activity,whether it’s TV watching or telephony, will likewise be connected to the logicalInternet, which will be made up of both wired and wireless pieces. Really, theonly difference between computers will be the size of their screen[s]. You’llhave a wristwatch that will be like Dick Tracy’s that will just give you glanceableinformation. You’ll have your pocket-sized device, which will be the successorto the phone but far more capable.”
— Bill Gates, describing his vision for a “digital decade” in a presentation at ColumbiaUniversity, Oct. 13, 2005
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44 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
FEATURE | The Digital Decade
Whether addressing college students throughout NorthAmerica last fall or dazzling the packed Consumer ElectronicsShow (CES) in Las Vegas in January, Gates returned to thosephrases again and again to describe his view of a coming trans-formation in computing.
At CES, Gates dubbed the next 10 years the “Digital Decade”and demonstrated a blended home/work life scenario that he calledachievable by 2010. At home, a user would see an on-screen mapshowing the real-time locations of all family members and theirschedules for the day. That same screen would link to news clips ona user’s pre-selected list of topics: for example, warnings about badweather that could disrupt his company’s supply chain. Once in theoffice, he could view that same screen on any PC, staying up-to-date on home and work information.
In fact, we’re in the early stages of that transformation, Gatessaid during last fall’s college-campus speaking tour: “We’re alreadyseeing [a digital lifestyle] in terms of moving from film to digitalphotography. We’re seeing it with music, where there won’t be afuture physical format after the CD. ... It will all be purely digital.”
Gates has also provided some examples of the digital lifestyle’spotential capabilities: Enabling seamless connection among col-leagues, friends and family members or reducing the constraints ofphysical location by making more and richer information availablein formats ranging from PC to tablet to cell phone to PDA.
But beyond that, precisely what the concepts might mean isanyone’s guess. So while Gates has made it clear that he expectsMicrosoft technology—including the forthcoming WindowsVista release, Microsoft Office 12 and the Xbox 360—to drive thatchange, channel partners could be forgiven for wondering whattheir role in all of this might be.
MICROSOFT EVERYWHERE Most observers (whether in the analyst community, the technologypress or the blogosphere) seem to agree that Gates’ “digital lifestyle”
vision involves leveraging Microsoft’s reach across PCs, hand-heldcomputers, cell phones, gaming consoles and the Internet. SaysMary Jo Foley, editor of the independent Microsoft Watch newslet-ter and Web site: “This is about Microsoft’s goal of making con-sumer experiences seamless and ubiquitous.”
Exhibits A through D, from Gates’ speech at Columbia,described how an individual’s cell-phone camera might provide aconstant link to information and functionality from moment tomoment: “If you’re shopping, you take a picture of a product or abar code that can be recognized, and your phone can tell you whereyou might get a better price or [whether] you should buy a differ-ent product,” he said. Or, he continued, if you’re traveling and runinto a sign in a foreign language, you can use your phone to take adigital photo and transmit the image to a server that, in turn,displays the language translation on the phone. In addition, youmight use the phone to photograph the restaurant receipt for abusiness meal; the associated software will compare the transactionwith your schedule and automatically fill out an expense-reimbursement form, routing it to the appropriate person at work.
Finally, you can use the technology toget automatic traffic updates androuting information.
In his fall college speeches,Gates identified several devices thathe said will form the backbone ofthe digital lifestyle. The list startswith handheld PDAs and cellphones (with built-in cameras,MP3 players and location-basedservices). “That phone will replaceeverything you think about in yourwallet—your photos, your cash,your credentials, all put together onthat device,” he told students and
faculty at Columbia University.Next comes the tablet computer, which will include some cellphone or PDA-like functionality. “This is something where youcan read large documents, where you can annotate, where youcan author them. You’ll sometimes have a keyboard connection,you’ll sometime just use the pen, sometimes you’ll use the voiceand pen together,” he said. At the top of the hierarchy in Gates’vision, desktop machines will take up a user’s entire desk, com-bining several display areas onto which multiple applications willbe projected.
The “digital work style” covers similar ground, Foley says:“This is the flip side of the ‘digital lifestyle’ coin. It simply meansseamlessly connected work experiences.” Microsoft’s ultimate goalis to bridge the two concepts, providing users capabilities such asbeing able to share personal and work calendars electronically ormonitor office meetings from their cars or homes.
“This is aboutMicrosoft’s goal ofmaking consumerexperiences seamlessand ubiquitous.”
— Mary Jo Foley, Editor, MicrosoftWatch Newsletter and Web Site
0406rcp_F2DigLife_43-45.v8 3/9/06 2:32 PM Page 44
As Gates described the digital work style in his CES speech, theconcept relates to handheld devices and PCs working together sothat users can effortlessly access desired information—fromweather reports to market updates to messages—all in one place.
Also key to Gates’ vision of the digital work style is providingbusinesspeople with easy access to their companies’ most importantinformation. He described it this way: “knowing what customers arethinking, being able to really track numerically what’s going on withquality, [being able to] dive down into sales data, and to have thatinformation at their fingertips.”
Central to both aspects of digi-tal life is the notion of experiences.“Consumers are getting more andmore connected. They’re gettingricher experiences, and software isreally at the center of that,” Gatessaid at CES. On the lifestyle side,Foley says, “you aren’t simply shar-ing photos, you’re involved in a photo creation/editing/storage/sharing experience.” And on thework style side, she continues, “youaren’t entering a record into aCRM database, you’re immersedin the customer-relationship expe-rience,” including knowing whichcustomers drive the most profit and which metrics you shoulduse to measure satisfaction.
To Joe Wilcox, senior analyst at JupiterResearch, the key-stone to Gates’ vision is the continued blurring of the linesbetween work and home. “The technology used in both places isthe same. It’s the context that changes,” says Wilcox, who editsJupiter’s Microsoft Monitor blog.
Already, more and more people work full-time at home, athrowback to the pre-Industrial Revolution days of cottageindustry, Wilcox points out. That’s possible, of course, becausetechnology has made geography and physical presence irrelevantfor many jobs. Gates’ speeches are a signal that Microsoftintends to continue leading the way in the continuing mergerbetween home and work life.
MEMO TO MICROSOFT PARTNERS Gates hasn’t yet drawn an explicit road map for how channel part-ners fit into the digital life- and work style vision, although he didmention at CES that “partners of all kinds … [are] now coming inand seeing the opportunity for interactivity” (go to RCPmag.comand use FindIT code: DigLife to read speech excerpts). But ana-lysts say that it’s possible to extrapolate a few possibilities.
Wilcox sees an untapped opportunity for partners to assistthat growing market of companies with employees who work at
home full time. “Companies often leave it to the workers to buythe goodies and tools they need,” Wilcox says. “The employeesbuy things like computers, PDAs, phones, Internet service andthen get reimbursed.” Microsoft channel partners might helpboth parties by creating bundled product and service offeringsspecifically to serve telecommuters, he says.
To Mark Stahlman, technology strategist at New York invest-ment bank Caris & Co., “digital lifestyle” and “digital workstyle” are little more than vague marketing terms. But, he adds,
the fact that Gates is talking up his digital vision is another signof Microsoft’s intense, if recent, focus on how both enterprisesand consumers are using its technology.
“Microsoft has become very methodical in conducting usagescenarios for its technology. This is a new and important phe-nomenon,” says Stahlman. “This isn’t just Bill Gates winging it.There are hundreds of people at Microsoft thinking about howpeople use their technology and planning for future uses.”
The newfound focus on real-world usage scenarios is significantto Microsoft partners, as the tech giant will continue uncoveringareas where it needs partners to serve users’ needs. For example,Stahlman says, Microsoft continues to aggressively court partnersin the mobile embedded space: “Even if [Microsoft] somedaybuilds a Microsoft cell phone or handheld video machine, there aregoing to be dozens of other companies they have to work with.”
Obviously, much about the digital lifestyle remains to bedefined. But this much is clear: Whether you believe the concept isa realistic vision or just fodder for Microsoft’s next big marketingcampaign, it’s likely to generate partnering opportunities in thedigital decade and beyond. ◆
Lauren Gibbons Paul, a freelance journalist based in Waban,
Mass., writes frequently about business and technology. You can
reach her at [email protected].
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 45
“This isn’t just Bill Gateswinging it. There are
hundreds of people atMicrosoft thinking about
how people use theirtechnology and planning
for future uses.”
— Mark Stahlman, Technology Strategist,Caris & Co.
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FEATURE
0406rcp_F2EffctvPrtnr_46-49.v5 3/10/06 4:48 PM Page 46
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 47
ill Breslin understands the power of partner-ship. The sales director for a mid-size serviceprovider and Microsoft Gold Certified Partnerwas just about to enjoy a Hootie & the Blowfish
concert at a recent Microsoft Worldwide PartnerConference when he received an urgent call: a client’s
Exchange server was down. It was 6 p.m. on a Friday, and hisExchange experts were unavailable. Just then, a partner Breslin washaving dinner with piped up.
“The smallest partner at the table said, ‘I think I can helpyou,’” says Breslin, of Houston-based Insource Technology Corp.and president of the International Association of MicrosoftCertified Partners. “By the time the concert ended two hourslater, they had rebuilt the server.”
Breslin’s experience illustrates how partners can help eachother keep clients satisfied and businesses running smoothly. Inthe IT industry, partnerships have played a critical role in help-ing companies maintain and build empires.
But most of the time, partnership is neither simple norstraightforward. It can be fraught with risks and potential prob-lems. Partnering can be a powerful and necessary business tool,but companies need to follow a few basic, critical steps to makepartnerships succeed.
1. SET MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL GOALSCompanies seek partners to provide their clients with a product orservice that they do not offer. Companies can partner to co-developunique offerings or keep larger, wealthier competitors at bay.
But partnerships have to live up to their name. Matches that ben-efit one partner far more than the other can have disastrous conse-quences for the second-place side—companies that dump resourcesinto an unfruitful relationship can find themselves wasting time andmoney and losing clients. At the same time, a company realizing thevast majority of the benefit from a partnership could quickly findits partner ending the relationship, eliminating the advantage thecompany sought by partnering in the first place.IL
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Buildinga lasting
partnershipPartnerships can be powerful, and powerfully tricky. Follow these simple steps to put yours on a solid foundation. By Lee Pender
0406rcp_F2EffctvPrtnr_46-49.v5 3/9/06 2:46 PM Page 47
“If there’s a partnership by which one party stands to gain 90percent of the advantage, they have to wonder if it’s not some-thing which would be beneficial enough and require too manyresources of the partner that’s not getting anything,” says CarlsonColomb, director of business development at LPI LevelPlatforms Inc., a Gold Certified Partner based in Ottawa.
One way to avoid that situation, says Matt Pease, Microsoft vicepresident for the Western region, is to set specific goals at the rela-tionship’s outset that will ensure mutual benefit.
“They can be sales goals, goals relative to business develop-ment or marketing,” Pease says. “They can be goals relative to competencies. There’s got to be a foundation to build thepartnership on.”
2. MAKE A CULTURAL CONNECTIONSimply finding equilibrium of benefit, though, is not enough toguarantee a successful partnership.Analyzing a partner’s corporateculture, as well as your own, to assure a match is a critical step infinding the right partner.
“Many partnerships fail because the two corporate partnersdon’t have in common what they think they have in common,”says Edward O’Connor, managing partner of consultancy ExertusPartners in New Haven, Conn., and co-author of the bookPartnering With Microsoft: How to Make Money in Trusted
Partnership with the Global Software Powerhouse (CMP Books,2005). “Some corporate cultures are driven by voice, others by e-mail. We speak the same language, but words don’t always havethe same meaning.”
Determining cultural compatibility, though, is not as simple as iscomparing products and services and setting concrete goals. This is
a soft-skills area in which those responsible for forging partnershipsmust rely on their judgment.
“A lot of times you do have to go by your gut instinct,” saysDean Bickmore, sales associate at Tulsa-based services firmSilverTree Technology Corp., a Gold Certified Partner.“Everyone gives you cues—if they’re talking more about theirbusiness and less about the customer, you kind of get the feel-ing that it’s all about them. I’m not giving any of my customersout to anyone until I know that [a partner] has the same type ofatmosphere that I have or the same type of commitment.”
3. START WITH BABY STEPSOnce companies have established competitive and cultural com-monalities, they can begin to move forward with a partnership.Jumping in head-first, however, could be risky. A more prudentway to develop a relationship with a long-term partner is to startoff slowly and let the relationship grow.
“What I recommend is to take baby steps,” Colomb says.“You can begin in terms of forming a relationship whereby you will refer companies to each other. Slowly associate yourself more with an organization as you discover that yourbusinesses are aligned. If the partnership is one which is going to last, it will evolve, and you will have an extremely close relationship.”
But let that evolution happen gradually. Companies that puttoo much faith in a partner too quickly could find themselveshurting their own businesses. After a bad experience, customersare more likely to react negatively toward the company withwhich they already have a relationship rather than toward thepartner that botched a job.
FEATURE | Partnerships
48 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
PERHAPS THE BEST known and
most important partnership in the
history of the IT industry is the
famous Wintel alliance between
Microsoft and Intel. Although the
duopoly has had its ups and downs,
it has remained an industry jugger-
naut for nearly two decades. It is, in
many ways, a model partnership.
It was also Wintel that led two
other industry titans to partner
unsuccessfully, as noted by Edward
O’Connor and co-author Ted
Dinsmore in their book. In the early
1990s, IBM and Apple formed two
organizations aimed at knocking
Microsoft off of its operating-system
perch. Kaleida Labs was created in
1991 to develop the Script-X multime-
dia programming language. The oil-
and-water cultures of the two very
different companies soon clashed,
and the technology found few takers.
“Almost from the start, engi-
neers had haggled over job respon-
sibilities, and board members were
distracted by more important jobs,”
BusinessWeek reported in December
1995. Four years after its opening,
Kaleida Labs closed.
The companies’ other joint effort,
Taligent, met with similar results.
By 1995, IBM had folded Taligent into
itself as a subsidiary.
The technologies born from IBM
and Apple’s ill-fated joint efforts
failed to make a serious dent in the
Wintel machine.
— L.P.
A Tale of Two
Partnerships
0406rcp_F2EffctvPrtnr_46-49.v5 3/10/06 4:57 PM Page 48
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 49
“You can lose a lot of customers,” Bickmore says. “It only takesburning the bridge one time and that customer’s going to say, ‘Idon’t want you here anymore.’ We’ll give [partners] leads that arenowhere near our best customers, but it’s a way to evaluate them.I’m going to call that customer back and find out how they did.”
That is not to say, however, that companies should fear com-mitment once a partnership starts to click. In fact, the opposite istrue: trusted partners should be like best friends—reliable, honestand always willing to lend a hand. Companies, especially smallerfirms, should not be afraid to partner with competitors to resolvegaps in service or solution coverage, or respond to emergencies.Regional alliances can often come in very handy for smaller firms,even among competitors.
“I’ve reached a point here in Houston with some of my com-petitors that I call one and say, ‘Can I borrow your Active Directoryguy?’” Breslin says. The competitor’s employee then does the jobas if he worked for Breslin’s firm. “[The competitor] makes a littleless money and I make a little less money, but we’ve got a happyclient down the road.”
Microsoft’s Pease agrees. “Most partners don’t do everythingthat a customer needs from an IT standpoint. The customer some-times wants a broader solution. Partners that partner with otherpartners to provide a complete solution can be quite successful.Partners that avoid that [type of collaboration] limit themselvesand sometimes miss opportunities.”
4. COMMUNICATE OFTEN AND CLEARLYPartnerships built on solid foundations can succeed at the outset,but maintaining a successful relationship requires as much work asestablishing one. Undoubtedly the most critical aspect of a mutu-ally beneficial long-term partnership is proactive communicationon the part of both parties.
“Partnerships often fail due to lack of communication andtherefore lack of collaboration,” O’Connor says. “If you can’t talkwith your business partner, you won’t be able to interact withyour business partner.”
Strategies for keeping communication open include the sim-ple—regularly scheduled meetings, emergency availability, eventhe odd social outing. But O’Connor says there is a more subtlestrategy for making sure partners are on the same page.
“Put like people with like people,” he says. “Don’t put a sales guyin charge of talking with a tech guy and hope for good results. Youhave two people with a higher probability of speaking the same lan-guage about the same thing.”
Speaking is not all there is too it, though. Partners should listento each other as closely as they listen to their customers.
“I think it has to do with active listening,” Bickmore says. “A lotof the time, when I’m with a customer, to make sure we’re on thesame page, I will repeat back to them what I thought they saidinstead of interpreting what they said.”
Good communication, like so many other aspects of a part-
nership, relies on trust and reliability. If partners are consistentlyresponsive to one another—especially in emergencies—they will be more likely to keep a dialogue flowing every day.Furthermore, Pease says that surprises are not a good thing.Predictability is critical.
Microsoft’s best partners have “a regular rhythm of the businesswhere we do things on a scheduled basis,” he says. “Those partnersthat we do have a direct relationship with are religious about stick-ing to [a] process and [a] review schedule.”
And, as always, honesty counts.“It’s standing by your word that is going to make or break you in
the long run,” Bickmore says.
5. REVIEW AND REFINE REGULARLYEven the strongest partnerships need regular evaluation to ensurethat everybody—both partners and customers—is benefiting fromthe match. Regularly reviewing and renewing the goals of thepartnership are critical, but there are other methods that can helpproduce success.
“In defining your partner program, it’s important to be inno-vative and constantly review and refine your program—test infocus groups and either further fine tune or move on to anotheridea,” Colomb says. “Partners are always eager to participate instudies of partner programs or partner benefits because they’ll bethe first ones to benefit from them.”
Because satisfied customers should be a main goal of any part-nership, they should have a say in judging how well the partnershipis working. Customers can also be the “X factor” that keeps partnershonest with each other or injects new ideas into a relationship.
“If you call a partner, they’ll say everything was great,” Bickmoresays. “Then you call a customer, and he says, ‘We think they couldimprove.’ If [a partner] tries to hide the fact, that lets you knowmaybe this is not such a great fit. It gives you that gut feeling again.”
Companies should also guard against letting a partnership—orone side’s participation in it—become static. Like business, partner-ship changes. Flexibility is critical in even the strongest of unions.
“There are times in a partnership when we struggle,” Peasesays. “We generally resolve those [situations] successfully when wego back and look at analyzing why it failed and take correctiveaction. Sometimes we’ve got to change, and we do. Sometimes thepartner has to change. Sometimes we both have to change.”
The work involved with partnering can be tiresome, involvingsignificant amounts of money, energy and hours. But the hardertwo well-matched partners work, the more benefit they willreceive from each other.
“In any relationship, as your commitment increases, as yourengagement becomes stronger, as your interaction becomes morefrequent, special favors begin to accrue to you,” Breslin says. ◆
Lee Pender is Redmond Channel Partner magazine’s senior editor.
You can reach him at [email protected].
0406rcp_F2EffctvPrtnr_46-49.v5 3/9/06 2:46 PM Page 49
federal regulations, the process of address-ing these regulations forces many compa-nies to assess security issues they mightotherwise overlook.
At Netrix, we assess the IT systems ofhealth care organizations, finance compa-nies and law firms every day. In the healthcare industry, the biggest issue is compli-ance with the Health Insurance Portabilityand Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA),which has sparked a whirlwind of concernabout how to best ensure the privacy ofpatient information.
While there are many interpretations ofhow best to address HIPAA, all involve afundamental understanding that HIPAAcompliance requires a documented processfor closely controlling personal health infor-mation. This means that each organizationmust address the security of Microsoft sys-tems that it uses to transfer, store and accesshealth data.
There are three steps IT administra-tors should follow to address regulatorycompliance within their Microsoft systems:1) Assess, 2) Assign and 3) Audit. For exam-ple, if you were to implement a security solu-tion for your home, you would first “assess”
your current security by stepping outsideand looking at potential points of weakness,such as windows and doors. Second, youwould “assign” security controls to thosewindows and doors, perhaps by replacinglocks and bolts. Finally, you would “audit”how the controls perform and decide
whether the new locks and bolts provideadequate protection. By applying the sameprocess to an organization’s IT infrastruc-ture, IT administrators can ensure thatthey’re approaching HIPAA compliance,and the security of their Microsoft systems,in a comprehensive and systematic manner.
By far the biggest security issue for ourcustomers involves file-level permissions—including provisioning, or the allocation offile-access privileges to various employeesbased on their characteristics, roles andphysical locations. During the initial secu-rity assessment phase, consultants can writea complex script to help customers identifypotential compliance breaches related to
file-level permissions, or they can use athird-party tool. Many IT departmentsare in the bad habit of leaving their securitysettings lax in favor of productivity, andothers perform poorly at removing redun-dant employee security permissions asemployees change roles or leave the com-pany. The assessment phase identifiessecurity concerns on the file level as well asother security factors. It is critical thatcompanies look beyond their IT infrastruc-tures and examine all elements of security,including file-level security, access controlsand physical security.
During assignment, the second step ofthe process, companies must assign securi-ty controls to any weaknesses identified inthe assessment phase. Many of our clientsare investigating new technologies, such asdual-factor authentication, whereby morethan a password is needed to access infor-mation. Often, secure tokens are used thatprovide an additional level of protection.
The third phase—having an outsideorganization conduct an audit—is perhapsthe most important step. Some companieshave insisted that they can check the secu-rity of their networks on their own, anapproach that’s ineffective at best. It’s vitalfor companies addressing HIPAA compli-ance, or any other government regulation,
to implement a scheduled set of third-party tests to evaluate the effectiveness oftheir security implementations.
Only with all three steps—assess, assignand audit—can the security of corporateIT be assured. Ensuring compliance withHIPAA and other regulations requires agut check on a company’s basic securityapproaches, both on the IT side and withphysical security, but eliminating securityissues now reduces risk to both the compa-ny and its customers or patients. ◆
Stephen Dress is Director of Bannockburn,
Ill.-based Netrix LLC, an IT reseller and
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.
BY STEPHEN DRESS
50 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
In some ways, today’s enterprise-wide obsession withregulatory compliance is a good thing. While I never liketo hear that clients are experiencing heartburn after
reading about the compliance requirements of the latest
Only with all three steps—assess, assign andaudit—can the security of corporate IT be assured.
3 Steps for MaintainingRegulatory Compliance
Partner View
0406rcp_PrtnrView_50.v4 3/9/06 4:38 PM Page 50
the right column to see an overview ofthe resources at this site and how best touse them.
Partner Event Serviceswww.microsoftpartnerevents.com
This Web site offers Microsoft Partnersin the United States in-depth information,tools and templates for scheduling, prepar-ing and promoting events. It even func-tions as an event promotion and registrationsite where you can send prospective atten-dees to register.
Start learning more by clicking on the“Readiness Center” link in the left col-umn. There you’ll find everything fromtutorials for planning and managingevents to templates and links to otherevent-related resources.
Next, click on the “campaign center”link in the left column to view a list ofready-to-go events.
Microsoft Customer Incentiveswww.microsoftincentives.com
This public-facing site features all thevaluable offers, special financing andincentives available for Microsoft prod-ucts. Use it to keep current on offers youcan make to your clients to get them to buynow. The top of the page features threecurrent promotions, but if you scroll downyou’ll see dozens of additional offers, allgrouped by application or product family.
Although this list should get you start-ed, I’ve created a list of additional Microsoftand third-party Web sites, pages or portalsthat are helpful for partners trying to mar-ket their companies’ products and services.Go to RCPmag.com and enter the FindITcode: Webmarketing. ◆
M. H. “Mac” McIntosh is one of North
America’s leading marketing consultants
and speakers, and an expert in IT market-
ing and sales. Mac has also been providing
marketing and sales consulting services
for Microsoft and its partners for years.
You can reach Mac by e-mail at
1. Do it yourself. This requires thatyour company have the marketing talentand resources available to get the job done.
2. Do it with Microsoft’s help.Thiscombines the advantages of your team’sexpertise with the extensive marketingresources Microsoft offers partners. It’slike 1 + 1 = 3. And it usually beats havingto start from scratch or risk reinventingthe marketing wheel.
Microsoft’s marketing resources rangefrom in-depth market research reports andsuggested marketing messages to response-inducing offers (white papers, case studies,demos, etc.) and templates for direct mail,e-mail, PR or advertising. Microsoft caneven help you buy lists or databases, pro-mote your seminars and register your atten-dees.And in some cases,Microsoft will printand send out mailers on your behalf.
When it comes to marketing resources,you name it and they’ve probably got it.
You can start by actually reading thosenumerous e-mails you receive fromMicrosoft.Yes, I understand you sometimesfeel overwhelmed by the sheer volume ofMicrosoft messages. But, tucked in amongall the alerts about Microsoft’s latest prod-ucts and applications, are descriptions ofnew or updated marketing resources.
Rather than reading all those e-mailsin real time, consider blocking out a halfhour in your calendar each week forcatching up on the news and clicking onthe links, perhaps while having a sand-wich or salad for lunch.
I also recommend blocking a secondhalf hour to munch on some fruit or a cook-ie while visiting a number of key Web sites.You should start with these:
Marketing Guide for Partnershttps://partner.microsoft.com/US/salesmar
keting/usmarketingguides/40018147
This is perhaps the best starting place forpartners trying to determine how to markettheir products and services and to learnwhere to find helpful Microsoft materials.
Marketing Services for Partnerswww.mspartnerdirect.com
This portal takes you directly toMicrosoft’s Marketing Services for Partners
in the United States, where you can buylists or databases of prospects and find cus-tomizable marketing campaigns that canquickly generate leads and sales. Think ofit as a virtual direct marketing agency.
Start by clicking on the “Check out thewebcast” link under “A quick overview” in
BY M.H. “MAC” MCINTOSH
There are two approaches that you, as a MicrosoftPartner, can take in using marketing to drive leadsand sales:
Making 1 + 1 = 3
Marketing Microsoft
RCPmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 51
0406rcp_MktgMS_51.v5 3/9/06 4:28 PM Page 51
■ Business velocity■ Revenue growth■ High-margin services■ Company performance
There is evidence of how important thesekey drivers are throughout the Microsoftpartner network.
For example, one of our larger enterprisenational systems integrators, Quilogy, hassuccessfully built solutions for healthcare,leveraging Microsoft competencies in por-tals and collaboration, business intelligence,and business process and integration. It hasseen a dramatic increase in customer inter-est in providing a “holistic” or suite ofofferings that encompass collaboration,electronic forms, business scorecards, andreporting and analytics within the health-care and other vertical arenas. Quilogy usesMicrosoft SharePoint technology, LiveCommunication Server and even GrooveTechnology to deliver a complete healthcarecollaboration solution.This company’s suc-cess is a shining example of how building aMicrosoft business and enrolling in multi-ple competencies enables partner organiza-tions to capitalize on the Microsoft platformand drive revenue.
Where Do We Go from Here?The work we’re doing now, including theIDC study and other efforts, is really aboutmaking a positive impact on the health ofour partner community. The investment
Microsoft makes in its partner channel hasgrown to more than $2 billion. I look for-ward to an ongoing dialogue with you, ourbusiness partners, on how we can bestdirect that investment to enable your ownprofitability and performance.
Every vendor in the industry talksabout partner profitability as a top priority.At Microsoft, we’re committed to backingthose words up with action and results. ◆
Margo L. Day is vice president of the U.S.
Partner Group at Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft has invested heavily in researchand development to deliver a new breed ofsoftware applications and services that man-age complexity in the background and auto-mate low-value tasks, enabling people towork more effectively and maximize theirimpact with higher value work.This wave ofinnovation has already begun, with recentreleases of SQL Server 2005, DynamicsCRM 3.0 and Windows Server 2003 R2.Over the next 12 months, you’ll see evenmore enabling technology with the release ofOffice 2007,Windows Vista and Exchange.
We also want to ensure that our partnersare able to adapt and thrive in this environ-ment. Microsoft partners bring our technol-ogy to life for customers and a critical successfactor for us is whether you are able to buildand sustain a profitable business by doing so.To create an industry partner baseline, wecommissioned a study from IDC last year togain a more holistic view of the health ofyour businesses. IDC conducted a blindstudy of 830 broad channel companies,including partners, who, among other attrib-utes, resell or influence the sale of software.
A Look Back, a Look ForwardOver the past three years, the MicrosoftPartner Program has built a frameworkand delivered tools to help strengthenrelationships. Our overall goal is to createan industry-leading approach to providingyour business the resources necessary toachieve long-term business health.
Reports from around the world and theIDC study confirm that those of you whoengage with us via certifications,competencyprograms and joint marketing efforts experi-ence substantial benefits in terms of yourability to land new engagements, and executeon them more efficiently.
One of the most important findings fromthe IDC study revolves around the impor-tance of the key drivers of your business’performance.These key drivers include:
■ Capacity to fund■ Deal size
BY MARGO DAY
52 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
The Microsoft View
The way we work is changing. Over the last decade,software has evolved. It now gives people power-ful ways to communicate, collaborate and access
data. Now the challenge is less about gaining access toinformation and more about building on the capabilitieswe have to help people adapt and thrive in a complex,information-rich environment.
The investment Microsoft makes in its partnerchannel has grown to more than $2 billion.
A Nurturing Role
0406rcp_MSView_52.v5 3/9/06 3:09 PM Page 52
All company names are registered trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. [email protected]
www.iamcp.orgwww.iamcp.org
Why I joined the IAMCP…
"Networking opportunities with the IAMCP have resulted in sales opportunities we would not have known about otherwise."
"I knew Microsoft would be key to our companyísgrowth. Leveraging IAMCP helped us know how to achieve Gold status quickly and efficiently."
The IAMCP is the trusted voice of the Microsoft Partner Community.
Our MissionTo maximize business opportunities for our members through networking and relationship building with your local Microsoft office.
Who We AreThe IAMCP was formed in 1994 to provide a greater voice into Microsoft and to facilitate mutual growth and business development. We have members and chapters worldwide. Chapters are organized and led by member volunteers.
How To JoinLearn more at www.iamcp.org. Look for a local chapter near you. Complete an application online.
The IAMCP is the trusted voice of the Microsoft Partner Community.
Our MissionTo maximize business opportunities for our members through networking and relationship building with your local Microsoft office.
Who We AreThe IAMCP was formed in 1994 to provide a greater voice into Microsoft and to facilitate mutual growth and business development. We have members and chapters worldwide. Chapters are organized and led by member volunteers.
How To JoinLearn more at www.iamcp.org. Look for a local chapter near you. Complete an application online.
Build Your Relationship with MicrosoftBuild Your Business
®
®
®
®
®
Project1 6/9/05 12:10 PM Page 1
specific sales tactics to be executed duringthe time covered by the plan.
These tools allow managers to monitorcurrent—as well as past—performance,measuring results against each salesperson’sdesired objectives and coaching as necessary.They can also help ensure that your salesorganization is consistently buildingpipeline values that provide enoughprospect opportunity to exceed individualquotas or personal goals. Everyone under-stands what’s supposed to happen; everyonecan monitor how well current activity meas-ures up to planned approaches and results.
Because these tools are developed byindividuals, salespeople will “own” theiractivities and can work steadily towardachieving their goals. At that point, theybecome self-managed.
Finally, salespeople should meet with keymanagement-team members, including theCFO and vice presidents of marketing andproduction, to review the new processes.Individual salespeople should also presenttheir business and account plans to their col-leagues to document their commitment tothe team and create potential for collabora-tion and even a little peer pressure.
These personalized plans’ real powerbecomes evident when they’re measuredagainst actual performance.When salespeo-ple face quarterly reviews in which theymust discuss how successfully they met theirtargets and recommit to their new plans,they truly “get it.”They understand what it
takes to achieve their goals and how specificplanning leads to improved performance.Asyou lead them through this process, you’llsee self-management take hold, movingfrom concept to practice—and from dreamto reality. ◆
Ken Thoreson is a managing partner of
Acumen Management Group Ltd., a North
American consulting group specializing in
sales management. You can reach him at
As a result, many fall into the same trap:They hire those salespeople, turn theirown attention to other aspects of the busi-ness and then check in months later to finda disturbing lack of results.
The good news: It is possible to turn thatdream of a self-managed, high-performancesales team into reality. But doing sorequires a well-coordinated approach, andsuccess depends upon clearly definingexpectations and providing salespeople withthe tools they need to reach their goals.
Any effective self-management initiativewill be based on these three assumptions:
1. Assuming that salespeople can managethemselves with no direction will lead to fail-ure. A completely hands-off approach willresult in missed opportunities, untappedmarkets, wasted sales and marketing budgetsand cash-flow problems.
2. Failing to set clear expectations willcreate frustration for everyone. Managersand salespeople must agree upon targets formonthly and quarterly activity levels andwell-defined margin/revenue goals.
3. Pledging to “inspect what you expect”is critical for self-management success.Thismeans validating that all salespeople can sell,
understand your offerings and representyour organization professionally. Whencombined with a couple of simple tools, thismindset ensures that your sales team is aseffective as possible.
Begin by having salespeople create indi-vidual, six-month business plans describingtheir goals, training needs, quotas and fore-casts as defined by specific clients and prod-ucts. Plans should also include sales-activitygoals and coordinating local marketing
activities with Microsoft marketing pro-grams. This creates a road map that every-one can review regularly to gauge progress.
Next, have each salesperson prepare aquarterly account-planning document list-ing up to five specific steps or methods foropening or further penetrating specificaccounts. This tool allows salespeople todefine important aspects of each account,including key contacts, competition andpast successes. With that information, theycan develop account strategies, including
BY KEN THORESON
54 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
It’s the dream of every Microsoft partner’s sales leadership:“We’ll hire the best people and let them go sell so thatwe can focus on running the business. After all, they
should know what to do.”
It is possible to turn that dream of a self-managed,high-performance sales team into a reality.
Building a Sales TeamThat Manages Itself
Selling Microsoft
0406rcp_SellingMS_54.v5 3/9/06 4:22 PM Page 54
rcpmag.com ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ April 2006 ■ 55
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ADVERTISING SALESMatt Morollo Associate Publisher508-532-1418 phone508-875-6622 [email protected]
RCPRESOURCES
IT Certification & Training—USA, EuropeAl TianoAdvertising Sales Manager818-734-1520 ext. 190 phone818-734-1529 [email protected]
Online Sales—ENTmag.com andTCPmag.comTanya EgenolfAdvertising Sales Manager
760-722-5494 phone760-722-5495 [email protected]
ProductionKelly SmithProduction Coordinator818-734-1520 ext. 164 phone818-734-1528 [email protected]
REDMOND Channel Partner April 2006 Ad IndexAdvertiser Page URLAvaya Inc. 9 www.avaya.com
BackupAssist 6 www.BackupAssist.com
Barracuda Networks 42 www.barracudanetworks.com
CCH Tax & Accounting 3 www.cch.com
Citrix Systems Inc. C3 www.citrix.com
D& H Distributing Co. Inc. 13 www.dandh.com
Diskeeper Corporation 19 www.diskeeper.com
GFI Software 18 www.gfi.com
GriSoft 17 www.grisoft.com
Int’l Association of 53 www.iamcp.comMicrosoft Certified Partners
The Neverfail Group C4 www.neverfailgroup.com
Oracle Corporation 15 www.oracle.com
Phoenix Technologies 23 www.phoenix.com
Raritan Computer C2 www.raritan.com
Redmond Channel Partner Subscription 27 www.RCPmag.com
Sunbelt Software 37 www.sunbelt-software.com
Trend Micro Inc. 5 www.trendmicro.com
EDITORIAL INDEXCompany Page URLApple Computer Inc. 46 www.apple.com
ASAP Software Inc. 16 www.asap.com
Berbee Information Networks Corp. 20 www.berbee.com
CA Inc. 12 www.ca.com
Caris & Co. 43 www.cariscompany.com
Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. 28 www.challengergray.com
Cisco Systems Inc. 28 www.cisco.com
Conchango 20 www.conchango.com
Concours Group 28 www.concoursgroup.com
ePartners Inc. 28 www.epartnersolutions.com
Heartland Technology Solutions Inc. 32 www.heartlandtechnologies.com
Hewlett-Packard Development Co. 12 www.hp.com
Hummingbird Ltd. 10 www.hummingbird.com
IBM Corp. 12, 46 www.ibm.com
Insource Technology Corp. 32, 46 www.insource.com
Intel Corp. 46 www.intel.com
International Association of Microsoft Certified Partners (IAMCP) 38 www.iamcp.org
Keeping the People Inc. 28 www.keepingthepeople.com
LPI Level Platforms Inc. 46 www.levelplatforms.com
Netrix LLC 50 www.netrix.com
Novell Inc. 12 www.novell.com
Pawnyk Corp. 32 www.rmpcorp.net
ProClarity Inc. 20 www.proclarity.com
Quilogy Inc. 52 www.quilogy.com
Salesforce.com Inc. 33 www.salesforce.com
SAP 27, 56 www.sap.com
SilverTree Technology Corp. 46 www.silvertree.net
SMB Nation Inc. 32 www.smbnation.com
SourceCode Technology Holdings Inc. 20 www.k2workflow.com
The Computer Solution Company 20 www.tcsc.com
Trinity Consulting Inc. 28 www.trinity-inc.net
Northwest
Bruce HalldorsonNorthwestern Regional SalesManager209-473-2202 phone209-473-2212 [email protected]
No. CA, OR. WA, Alberta, BritishColumbia, Saskatchewan
West/Mid West
Dan LaBiancaWestern Regional Sales Manager818-674-3417 phone818-734-1528 [email protected]
AK, AZ, So. CA, CO, HI, ID, IA, IL,IN, KS, MI, MN, MO, MT, ND, NE,NM, NV, OH, OK, SD, TX, UT, WI,WY, Manitoba, Pacific Rim,Australia, New Zealand, India,Pakistan
East
JD HolzgrefeEastern Regional Sales Manager804-752-7800 phone253-595-1976 [email protected]
AL, CT, DE, FL, GA, KY, LA, MA,MD, ME, MS, NC, NH, NJ, NY, PA,RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, WV, Quebec,Ontario, Europe
0406rcp_Index.v2 3/10/06 3:57 PM Page 55
products and the extent to which otherproduct teams work with the team.Unfortunately, getting that informationrequires a more intimate knowledge ofthe company than most partners have thetime to build.
So how do you develop productive,low-level relationships with Microsoft?One approach is to use the time-honoredtactic of using the people you know to getintroductions to people you don’t know.It’s not bulletproof, but it is a start.
We also recommend that partners attendMicrosoft conferences, such as Tech·Ed,the Windows Hardware EngineeringConference (WinHEC) and ProfessionalDevelopers Conference (PDC), whereMicrosoft technical staff may be makingpresentations. Those presentations oftenhave insider e-mail. Order the conferenceCD and start building your own list of contacts inside the company.
Make use of the official partner pro-grams or your official partner contacts inthe company. Though these channelsappear less direct, they may lead you moreaccurately to resources that will truly help.If your issue isn’t technical, but marketing,for example, you’ll waste your time byfocusing on engineers.
Bloggers, many of whom operate underthe radar of official Microsoft PR, are
another useful way to identify potentiallyhelpful people inside Microsoft.
Finally, be prepared for rejection andkeep in mind that if you crash, you won’tfall far if you’re flying low to begin with.There are many doors into Microsoft, andif you hit one that’s closed, try another. ◆
Paul DeGroot is an analyst with
Directions on Microsoft, an independent
research firm focused exclusively on
Microsoft strategies and technology. Reach
him at [email protected].
Microsoft has a flat, decentralizedorganization where important decisionscan be made at relatively low levels. Atother firms, geeks are caged in the ITdepartment and managed by trained han-dlers, but at Microsoft they are privilegedand often have a lot of influence on howproducts are designed and positioned.
That can create some interesting situa-tions. One of the basic principles of alliancemanagement is that the people sitting acrossthe table from each other should haveroughly parallel authority to make commit-ments. More than one partner has brought avice president to a meeting with Microsoft,only to find that Microsoft’s side is repre-sented by someone two ranks below VP (andgiven the fact that Microsoft has more than100 VPs, that’s saying something).
One of my favorite stories about flyinglow involves one of our customers thataced its competitors by being the only ven-dor that got drivers for its hardware builtinto a major Microsoft product.The secretweapon was an employee who helped outwith a Microsoft hockey team and foundhimself talking with just the right engineerat the after-scrimmage pub. The partner’s
offer of free hardware and technical assis-tance resulted in endorsement gold. NoVPs within a mile of that deal.
This story isn’t a “how to,” merely a for-tunate coincidence. But it illustrates thatyou don’t need to be on a first-name basiswith Steve Ballmer to develop a fruitfulrelationship with Microsoft. A relationship
with the right person well down on the orgchart can be just as effective.
An important caveat: Microsoft has anamazing tolerance for duplicate and paral-lel development projects, many of whichwon’t even make it to beta. So don’t make amajor investment in a relationship untilyou have some evidence that your Microsoftcontact is part of a team that is likely to winthe Darwinian race to version 3.0. To do it,you need to know who is running the team,which business unit contains the team, thebusiness unit’s track record for shipping
BY PAUL DEGROOT
56 ■ April 2006 ■ Redmond Channel Partner ■ RCPmag.com
Directions
Fly low and live long. It’s a principle that doesn’t workfor some—game birds and aircraft, for instance—but it’s one my team recommends for organizations
that want to work with Microsoft.
Microsoft has a flat, decentralized organizationin which important decisions can be made atrelatively low levels.
Flying Low with Microsoft
0406rcp_Directions_56.v4 3/9/06 4:15 PM Page 56
You gain access to the estimated $21.6* billion access infrastructure market.
You can offer your customers the Citrix Access Suite™—the most completeaccess infrastructure system available for secure, on-demand access toany corporate information resource, from anywhere, over any network.It creates a wide array of component markets that create servicesopportunities for you.
You can earn greater profits with Citrix Advisor Rewards. In addition tomargins on product sales, Citrix rewards partners for value-selling activitiesregardless of where the product is fulfilled—up to 10% of suggestedlicensing price!
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orout?
isbig!
insmall
AREYOU
Go to www.citrix.com and click on Partnersthen Citrix Solution Advisors, or in NorthAmerica call 1.800.292.5039.
*Citrix research based on IDC data—April, 2004.
The Global Network of Citrix Partners
Project1 8/8/05 10:45 AM Page 1
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