Saturday, August 30, 2008

A Great Update on HTG

Our friends at Redmond Channel Partner Online just put out an article on HTG 2.0 on their online site. Anne Stuart does a great job of capturing the key changes that are happening as we move into the next generation of HTG. Take a few minutes to check out the news at http://rcpmag.com/news/article.aspx?editorialsid=10154. If you haven't read it, RCP published a fantastic look at HTG in their April 2008 magazine. That captures much of the essence of HTG and is a great way to help people understand what HTG is all about.

I encourage you if you are in HTG to share the original and updated articles with vendors and other partners who may benefit from getting involved with HTG. We are always looking for a few good partners and vendors to make the best peer program in the industry even better.

Thanks to RCP for a great update on our program!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Loadfest 2008 coming to Canada

Loadfest 2008 is just around the corner and you don’t want to miss the activities that are happening...Save the date in your calendar – September 27, 2008 from 8:30 AM to 5 PM, a Saturday and a great day to learn about what is happening with technology for the rest of this year.

Rodney Buike from Microsoft is making the trip out from Toronto to show IT Professionals in Calgary when is coming with relation to Microsoft technologies. Get the technical brief on Small Business Server 2008, especially now that it is RTMed. Also, Rodney will show us Hyper-V and Windows Server 2008. Get 3 hours of technical training on SBS and Windows Server. Play with these great products and ask technical questions to the people that can answer the questions you have.

Curious about Response Point, Microsoft’s latest small business telephone system? Jeff Loucks is an MVP with Response Point and Jeff will be giving a technical demo on Response Point during Loadfest.

Lunch is sponsored by AuthAnvil and Scorpion Software. This technical lunch and learn will show you the technical side of AuthAnvil and how to deploy a higher level of security for your networks and clients. Dana is sponsoring our luncheon and he will be available to address questions and talk technical about AuthAnvil.

Popcorn Technologies will be giving a demo on MOSS (SharePoint Server) and how to fit MOSS into your environments.

Loadfest 2008 is free for everyone to attend. So if you were looking for a reason to go to Calgary - well now you have it. Just make sure you take your passport if you cross the border so you can get back.

Here is our tentative agenda

8:30 AM – Meet and Greet
9 AM – Windows Small Business Server 2008 Technical Demo
10:40 – Microsoft Office SharePoint Server
Noon – AuthAnvil Luncheon
1 PM – Windows 2008 Server and Hyper-V
2:40 –Response Point

Register today at http://www.samuc.com/

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Here comes another one

Our good friend Erick Simpson from HTG1 has announced the next in the best-selling series of books by I.T. Service Providers for I.T. Service Providers! It is called the Best I.T. Service Delivery Book Ever. Erick and the folks at IEnterprise have been helping solution providers make the jump to managed services in a lot of ways. I hear a lot of rave reviews about the books they have produced, and our HTS team has participated in some of the training they provide for helping companies sell managed services. Now they have done it again with a book on how to deliver those services once sold.

Click here http://www.mspu.us/en/publications/the-best-it-service-delivery-book-ever.htm to check out the website with more information and to get access to the pre-order discount where you can save some money and get a good book. Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Go Giver Weekend

Saturday August 23/24 will go down as a great weekend on the farm. About 50 people gathered to discuss a little book called “The Go Giver” that teaches five stratospheric laws to change the world. This event was really about looking at these laws through the context of scripture, and we spent the entire day reviewing how they can make a difference in life and business.
Jim Burnette led a worship team throughout the weekend that brought us into the right mindset for learning. We sang a mix of old and new praise songs and hymns and entered the day in the midst of God’s perfection – a cool gentle breeze which made it very comfortable in the tent.

The day was scattered with personal testimonies from a number of people – Jeff Penland from CNS in St Joseph, Brian Smith, Ken Shetler, Jeff Hundt and Steve Britt from Harlan, Mitch Miller from Dynamic Computer in Topeka, Hal Stevenson from Atlantic, and Pat Dolan from Dallas. These guys shared their heart and lives with us and dealt with the reality that life sometimes deals us some difficulties we need to endure, but there is an answer to all life’s issues. (see the agenda at www.arlinsorensen.com/farm.htm to see how the day played out.

As we dug into the meat of the event Brad Schow from Compudyne led off. He discussed the law of value which says: “Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment”. That is not the normal wisdom of the world. Brad walked through the reality that life is about giving without any concern to what we will get in return. We do this not because we are great people, but because we have been truly blessed and are called to give. God takes care of the details.

Mike Martin from Walnut continued with law #2 – the law of Compensation. “Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them”. Basic customer service 101 right? Not exactly. We need to serve and over serve and continue to serve people. We need to do it joyfully and find ways to do it more. As we do, we will be blessed, maybe not right then and there, but at some point. We need to lead and serve like Jesus. It is about building a servant’s heart. It is all about relationship.

Peter Sorensen from Pioneer spoke on the third law – the law of influence. That law says: “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people's interests first”. Whoa – that is not the conventional wisdom. Here we go with that other people first mentality again. But it is the reality of how life works. When we put aside our own interests and focus on others, good things happen. If we truly want to influence, and that is what leadership really is all about, then we have to learn to put others first. We have to focus on their interests.

Phil Kenealy spoke on law four – the law of authenticity. “The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself”. In our world today, authenticity is sort of a lost art. People don’t want to let anyone know what is really happening. They don’t want the world to see their warts and shortcomings, they just want to have it all seem just fine. But we all know that is not the case. God not only created us but He has a perfect plan for us. He knows what can happen in our lives. He wrote the playbook. It is up to us to understand who really is in control and live that way.

I finished the fifth law by talking about the law of receptivity. “The key of effective giving is to stay open to receiving”. We need to learn to receive. One of the key things in my life is prayer, and I pray this prayer daily: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh that thou would’st bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me! And God granted him that which he requested”. (1 Chron 4:10) Receiving is the key to giving actually happening. Too often we don’t want to let anyone help us – we resist their efforts to give. It stymies the cycle and prevents those who want to give from being blessed. We have to get this right. We have to receive what others want to give so the cycle can occur.

Sunday we concluded with some teaching from Rick Bahl from Chicago on living your faith through work, Dave Boettger from Harlan on supporting leaders, and Jim Burnette on building a life plan. The event wrapped with people heading back to put to work the things they had learned. That will be the measure of success. Vision without execution is hallucination.

Stuart Crawford has captured and written about the weekend in his blog: www.stuartcrawford.com.

He also posted some videos on YouTube.
Day One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InuIMsRHr8I
Day Two Part One - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knYiRsNh7vg
Day Two Part Two - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdd-zhJptfY
Day Two Part Three - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOlprUyIcsw

Life is all about giving and you can learn some important principles in the Go-Giver book. Check it out and put it in action - it will change your life!

Some Thoughts on Shots

Vlad Mazek posted a day or two ago about comments that I (meaning HTG) have sold out to Microsoft with our online version of the program since we are making it available to SBSC members exclusively. You can check it out at http://www.vladville.com/2008/08/as-the-sbs-world-turns.html#comment-36677. I have not read the initial comments he refers to but I hear the rumblings through the very healthy grapevine that exists in the SBS channel. I did want to post on my blog the response to this because it is important to understand just how important having strong vendor relationships is to success, both in our individual companies as well as for HTG. So here are my comments posted to Vlad's blog that expresses my feelings on partnering with vendors.

A few of the folks from HTG notified me of your post regarding “selling out” to Microsoft. First let me say thanks for your comments and support. I don’t have or spend much time worrying about what people think of what we do because like you, I understand that not everyone will agree with it anyway. Being an entrepreneur causes one to just get it done and not worry whether it is popular or mainstream. Success comes to those who do - not those who sit on the sidelines as commentators.

Microsoft has stepped up to help us offer something that is of value to those partners who want to grow their business. The online version of HTG is not designed for the masses, because the mass of partners in the channel don’t want to really grow their business. There is an overwhelming majority that want to be lifestyle partners - have enough business to make a good living and be content with that. Some days I sort of wish I was one of them. But because of the entrepreneurial seizures I continue to have, that doesn’t fit me. Having spent 10 years of my 23 year career in this industry as a sole proprietor or with only one employee - I know how hard it is to grow and made a lot of bonehead mistakes trying to figure it out. And I certainly don’t claim to have that done yet but we have grown to over 17M in revenue with 80 employees so we do have some clue what to do.

This program is designed for those partners who really want to grow their company. From my experience, you don’t do that alone. You need to have strong vendor partnerships and leverage those relationships in many ways to be successful in growing. I don’t really consider that selling out - to us it is partnering with the companies we are building our business around. At HTS that is Microsoft, HP and Sonicwall. We go to market everyday with those three and that relationship has treated us very well. Some would say it is selling out - I would tell you it is part of the secret to success.

Microsoft has stepped up to make the online version of HTG possible. No other vendor has been willing to do that. They have basically provided us the backend resources we need as well as rewarding partners who complete the course with enough value to make it FREE (at completion with the copy of SBS2008 you will recieve). I am not sure how that can be a bad thing.

One of the problems in the channel today is partner profitability and growth. We saw it last year in the pilot program we ran (again with Microsoft so this is not new at all - we did it last year as well). We started with 132 partners last year and a mere 68 completed the course. Some would say that is pretty good but certainly not for HTG standards and not in running a successful program. When someone drops out or fails to fully participate it robs the remaining members of the group of the value that spot needs to provide. HTG is about sharing - not getting. It is totally based on the pricipal of giving more than recieving. If you want to somewhat understand our philosophy - read the little book called “The Go Giver” and it will give a glimpse of the attitude HTG members have to have to succeed. So there is a bar to participate that we hope is high enough to keep all but the totally committed from signing up. We don’t make any money offering this - it goes to pay the facilitators, the content development, the administration and the costs of our celebration event next summer at WPC. But our goal is to build strong partners and give to the channel because I have seen over and over in my life the impact of living that principle. Good things come to those who give.

I think the real focus should be on the fact that a multi-billion dollar corporation that has really little to gain is making investments in small partners in SBSC. Let’s be real, and Vlad has pointed it out before, we cause a lot of issues without selling a lot of product. Even at HTS our sales are miniscule in the grand scheme of things for Microsoft. I realize they really don’t need us. But I am very grateful they allow us to build our success on their products and are willing to partner with us to train, market and drive sales. I will continue to “sell out” to Microsoft because that is how good business happens. To me, it will be called partnering and that is the spirit in which it will happen so it can be a win - win for all.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Holy Cow Batman - It is Finally Here

Dean Paron from the SBS team has announced that the product, both standard and premium versions, have released to manufacturing (RTM) which means they are done and now in the process of being finalized for shipping. This is great news and really is a banner day for those of us who serve the SMB space. SBS has been a staple for us for years, and this new release will be the best ever and allow us to provide more value to our clients than ever before. Plus with all the new technologies now included, we can do more standardization and create better margins, managed service offerings and ultimately more revenue with this product.

November 12 is the official launch date and there will be much information to come regarding that time. For now, it is time to begin talking up the pending SBS release, making those last sales of the 2003 version with SA to lock in benefits like ISA, Outlook etc. and get customers ready for a great product that is on the train headed toward them. Don't miss the opportunity to drive revenue with this new wave of SBS!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Are you Ready?

Live and in living color (Microsoft orange), the new EBS Jumpstart site has been brought to life and is now ready to help begin preparing you for the pending release of Microsoft Windows Essential Business Server 2008. That is a mouthful for sure. Here is the URL: http://www.ebsjumpstartkit.com/index.aspx.

This interactive site has been designed to help partners evaluate where they are in relationship to the needed skill sets required to be successful selling EBS into the mid market. It deals with issues related to technical, sales and marketing and also addresses the real issue - that of ownership. At the end of the day, a decision to add something new to a company's product offering is no small decision. It takes time and energy to learn, train, market and sell anything. So this site is designed to help you count those costs up front, before you jump in and decide you may not be quite ready. It will help you see if there are any areas you need to get up to speed on - areas you may have to make some investments.

There are things about EBS that some won't like. No different than anything else in life. If we surveyed your spouse or kids, they may even know some things about you they don't like. So it isn't a perfect solution. It has some warts and will require a change in thinking for some. But it is worth a close look. It has enough good qualities and opportunities to really be something you should consider seriously and evaluate fairly. I know in my case, if I focus on the things I might have done differently, I can certainly convince myself to push it aside and just determine before even really digging in I don't like it. But that would be a mistake. And just like relationships where I make initial determinations about people only to find out what I thought was true on the surface is not when I dig in a ways - that same experience will likely be true about EBS if you take a little time to learn about it.

My challenge to you is to invest some time - which none of us have - to learn about EBS and give it a fair shake. Business decisions and company leadership depend on those who run the place doing due diligence around opportunities. This is one investment you need to make. You may determine it is not a fit for your company. That result is fine as long as it really results from making a decison based on facts, not on reaction to what "seems to be". When I look at this product and consider how it fits with our HP blade strategy and the needs of our mid market clients, and even some of our smaller clients, EBS has a place in our practice. It isn't exactly how I would have designed it, but then again, had I built it there would likely have been more pressing issues like getting it to work at all......so that is why I am not a software architect or a developer and I leave that to the professionals. My expertise is applying technology to the business pains and needs of SMB clients. EBS fits in my toolbelt to do exactly that.

Take some time and do an evaluation of how this product might fit your client needs. The EBS Jumpstart is an attempt to help with that process. Not all the answers will be "you must go build an EBS practice". It gives you an honest response based on things that need to be in place to succeed. That is what we all want - to succeed in serving our clients and meeting their needs while removing their pain. And of course make a few bucks along the way. EBS can do that for many of us. I hope you don't miss that opportunity for your clients!

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Go Giver Revisited

At our HTG3 meeting this week in Vancouver, we had an assignment to read the book titled "Go Giver" and share a book report on the topic. I assign books to the groups fairly regularly, and there is the normal difference of opinion on what people think. Some books don't get read because they are too long or just don't captivate people. Many books get skimmed and barely touched. But every person had read and enjoyed this little book. Most said once they started they couldn't put it down. It just captivates you and draws you in with the common sense and basic principles of life that work.

The reports were pretty similar - the book doesn't give a lot of room for, nor need to, think deeply and try to disect the truth. It is right there - in five clear laws that apply no matter what the relationship. And the foundation is all about giving. That is the basic building block for any relationship, be it with your spouse, your employees or your clients. The more we give, the more we will recieve. But that is never the motivation, or shouldn't be. It is just the reality. The key is not to keep score. That comment came out a number of times during our three days. People tend to want to keep score and determine who owes who what. But the basis of giving has nothing to do with the score. It has to do with the desire to provide something to someone else without strings attached.

I have recommended it before, but am doing it again. This is a book that gives a great view of how to live life and make a difference in people's lives. The story is focused on money, but it is the concept that is key. It is the investment in others that really will make a difference. We need to be intentional and look for significant opportunities to really impact one another. When we do, everyone gains so much.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

HTG3 meeting in Canada

I am up in Vancouver in the nation north of us to meet with the folks in HTG3. This group has been together a while, and has some unique attributes, but the thing they really get is how to have community. They connect regularly - almost hourly it seems - and work on life together. It makes me smile to see it in action - the power of peer groups in action.

Their assignment for this meeting, among the regular stuff, is to prepare their personal disaster recovery plan. What happens when something happens to them. I have had a lot of interaction with the group as they try to prepare for this meeting. No one wants to think through the things that can happen. Death is the obvious one, but what about an extended illness, even a short term illness or what some fear most, a permanent disability. Do you have a plan to address all those things.

You need to evaluate it in several different ways. First the impact any of those events might have on your family. But what about your business - and if it is not you who has the event occur - what if it is your partner or key employee? Do you have a plan for your business too? I have been facing the reality that I need to get this lined up for my parents who are in their 80's. As an executor, I will be dealing with their estate and honestly am not informed nearly enough. So it makes a lot of sense to spend some time getting the info now while I can get it easily rather than wait til something occurs and then try and figure it out on my own. Sort of like asking directions when I am driving - I never do that even when I am hopelessly lost. But when it comes to personal planning - the stakes are a lot higher than a few wasted gallons of gas and some lost time.

So this exercise is important, and while it has been extremely challenging for some, who seem to think they are immortal, I guarantee than everyone who prepares will have that plan executed at some point in the future. It will happen - I can't tell you when - but I can tell you without a doubt it will happen! So don't be like the shoe cobbler - do what you tell your clients to do and get a plan for your future!

Friday, August 1, 2008

The Mojave Experiment

Microsoft got a little creative in trying to figure out what is wrong with Vista. They found out what I think is also true for most about the economy - most of the issues are perception rather than based in reality. Unfortunately, perception always becomes reality. But check this out. It is time to not only look at Vista - it is time to be using it. Shame on you if you are a partner and still running XP. Shame on some of me too because we are not completely migrated internally yet. Still a lot of old machines (I am cheap) that don't have the horsepower. But all that do and all new machines are firmly running Vista including all 5 of my work and personal boxes. (does that make me an addict?) Check out the details on this experiement:

There was a financial analyst webcast last week and an exciting new marketing/pr initiative called the Windows Mojave Experience www.mojaveexperiment.com was shown. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to share it broadly – it is a very clever way of starting to think about how we can change perceptions on our flagship product.

In short, a focus group of Mac, Linux, or legacy Windows users who had low perceptions of Vista were shown a demonstration of a new operation system codenamed “Mojave” – when in fact it was Vista. The results were amazing: of the 120 respondents polled, on a scale of 1:10 where 10 was the highest rating, the average pre-rating for Windows Vista was 4.4. After they saw the demo, respondents rated Mojave an average of 8.5. It clearly shows, that many of our challenges on Vista are now perception based.

This experiment offers us a great proof point. Vista really is not an issue - it is a bad perception and press that is the issue. Yes it requires the right hardware but the time in now to make the move!

Are you signed up for BPOS

Unless you have been living under a rock, you should know by now that Microsoft has announced their online strategy called BPOS. We are now using 4 letter acronyms as we evidently have run out of shorter ones. But the reality is that this train has left the station and is on the tracks. Cloud computing will come, even to the SMB, but not today or tomorrow for most of our customers. But none-the-less, it is coming and I encourage you to start to learn and understand what it means. Just like any new technology or change in our industry, it takes time to figure it all out and this is no different. We need to start to get acquainted and understand where it fits and how we will engage. It is not about the 12% first year payments, or the 6% ongoing fees - it is about how we learn to build process and value for our clients through implementing these technologies.

CRN quoted Ray Ozzie from Microsoft on this topic yesterday: "Microsoft's opportunity in this space is perfectly aligned with that of our partners to provide them with the platforms and the tools to make this transition, leveraging our experience as well as our substantial economies of scale in embracing the cloud," Ozzie said.

Ozzie also said Microsoft will offer developers and VARs a pay-as-you-go model for the infrastructure they consume, adding that margins will increase as they move higher up in the stack. "I would expect that the lowest-level computation or storage or whatever infrastructure is going to have lower margins than something at the level of a building block, like a SQL in the cloud, which will have lower margins than something at the application level, and so on," Ozzie said.

You can read their story at http://www.crn.com/software/209900488.

This is all about the business triangle concept I have been preaching the last year or so - we have to learn new skills and move up the stack of value to stay relevant. For now, I encourage you to get set up with a BPOS account. I went through the drill the other day and took the training, filled out the legal doc and passed the online test. It takes an hour or so to get done. Here is the link: https://www.discoveronlineservices.com/Pages/Default.aspx. No reason to put it off - no cost - and the time to learn is now.

I encourage you to start getting acquainted with these services and the concept of cloud computing. I don't think it is imminent, but it is coming and those who learn and are ready to leverage it will have a significant competitive advantage when the train arrives!