Top 5 reasons to earn a Small Business competency

Capture the Small Business opportunity.

Small businesses are a key engine for global economic growth, employment, and innovation. With over 148M small and medium-sized businesses worldwide in with 350M PCs, now is the time to grow your small business practice.* As 75% of the market opportunity is comprised of Software as a Service (SaaS) technology solutions, Microsoft recognizes that the growing maturity of cloud computing represents a major revenue opportunity for partners in this market segment. The new Microsoft Small Business competency helps you showcase your expertise in helping small business customers leverage technology to differentiate themselves in the market. The competency equips you with the
sales and technical expertise to lead with Microsoft cloud-based services, while enhancing your ability to deliver enterprise-level capabilities that are cost-effective and highly reliable.

*Source: IDC, Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2010–2014 Forecast, June 2010

1. Differentiate your business
Build your small business expertise and help address small business customer needs by providing cost-effective, enterprise-level IT capabilities in the cloud or on-premise.

2. Gain exclusive competency benefits
Small Business competency partners gain exclusive benefits.
• Access expert Microsoft pre sales support and technical guidance with advisory support hours.
• Internal use licenses.
• Marketing materials in the Small and Medium Business Resource Center.
• Use Microsoft Pinpoint and the Office 365 Marketplace to increase your visibility and develop new customer connections.
• Bing advertising credits.

3. Gain market advantage with cloud technology expertise
Provide a deep understanding of cloud solutions that best fit small business customers’ needs.

4. Offer cost-effective services
Find the most cost-effective way to service customers efficiently with minimum overhead.

5. Expand your existing Partner engagement.
Microsoft partners in the following programs, competencies, and subscriptions today are well-positioned to achieve the new Small Business competency.
• Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC): Partner support will continue during a grace period until MPN and SBSC become a shared community experience. Earn the Small Business competency now to take advantage of deeper engagement with Microsoft, and receive rich benefits to help grow your business.
• Microsoft Action Pack Subscription: Action Pack partners who are investing / building a business in the cloud can gain expertise in small business specialized solutions.
• Mid-Market Solution Provider (MMSP): SMB-focused partners who provide technical expertise across IT solutions can be in the lead as the market transitions to cloud services.
• Cloud Accelerate / Cloud Essentials (CA/CE): Small Business competency creates opportunity for partners new to the cloud or partners actively building a cloud presence, while taking advantage of the incremental IUR and advisory hours not offered in CE and CA.

Small businesses are shifting IT to the cloud—be there when they do! Earn the Small Business Competency now. You can find more information in the Small Business Brochure. For any questions, take a look at our FAQ.

Ignite Webcast – Office 365 ProPlus Deployment

Thank you for attending this Ignite Webcast. If you missed it, don’t worry! You can view the Webcast recording below and download the Webcast Presentation here. The video recording can also be viewed here. Be sure to look out for our next Ignite Webcast sessions here.

Ignite Webcasts are online sessions led by Microsoft Office 365 Product Managers, Engineers and support staff. The Ignite webcast series addresses different Office 365 technical subjects and scenarios and is beneficial to anyone who wants to increase their knowledge of the Office 365 suite. View the Ignite Site for more information about Ignite programs and webcasts. You can view past Ignite Webcast sessions here. Do you want to learn more about Office 365 ProPlus? Are you looking to launch Office 365 ProPlus into your organization? Our upcoming Ignite Webcast discusses several technical facets of Office 365 ProPlus:

• Integrating Office 365 ProPlus with the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit, System Center Configuration Manager and Windows Intune
• Software update management with Office 365 ProPlus

This webcast will be led by Jeremy Chapman, Microsoft Senior Product Marketing Manager. This is a unique opportunity to interact and learn from your industry peers and representatives from Microsoft. Be sure to attend this session to learn more Office 365 ProPlus Deployment and to participate in a Q&A session with Jeremy Chapman.

Remember, to sign up for this webcast please download and save the Ignite Webcast Office 365 ProPlus Deployment Calendar Invite here. We are excited to see you there!

Two-for-one priced exam pack – Cloud

Fast Track to the Cloud with Two-for-One Exams

Get your certification current, and get to the cloud with the limited-time Microsoft two-for-one priced exam pack. Purchase and take a qualifying exam at full price by June 30^th 2012, and receive a voucher valid for a complimentary Microsoft Certified Solutions Associate (MCSA) or Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert (MCSE) exam in the next version of the same technology path when it becomes available. View the offer details.

New Exam Promo’s !

1. Take a  Fast Track to Cloud (MCSE) Certifications with the “Two for One” exam offer

The best path to cloud certifications is to complete your Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP) – or Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD) certification and upgrade to the equivalent MCSE certifications when they become available with the “Two for One” exam offer.

Fast Track to Cloud Certifications for you:

Step 1	Request a voucher code here
Step 2	Purchase qualifying exam at full price with the voucher code provided and take any exam from the technology path below by 30 June 2012: • Windows 7 (Client) • Windows Server 2008 /Private Cloud • SQL Server 2008 • Visual Studio 2010
Step 3	When the next version exams in your technology path release, you will be emailed a voucher code valid for one free exam when redeemed within 90 days of the Certification availability: • Windows 8 (Client) • Windows Server 8/Private Cloud • SQL Server 2012 • Visual Studio 2012

2. Microsoft Data Platform Certification Set of Exams Voucher

Customer saving	N° of exams	Offer Price €	Normal price	Save €	Save %
MCSA Windows Server 2008	3	382.50	450.00	67.50	15%
MCSA SQL Server 2012	3	382.50	450.00	67.50	15%

Go www.prometric.com/microsoft/mcsa

Microsoft Private Cloud Certification Set of Exams Voucher

(excl. MCSA Windows Server 2008)

(incl. MCSA Windows Server 2008)

Customer saving	N° of exams	Offer Price €	Normal price	Save €	Save %
MCSE Private Cloud (excl. MCSA Windows Server 2008)	2	255.00	300.00	45.00	15%
MCSE Private Cloud Incl. MCSA Windows Server 2008)	5	600.00	750.00	150.00	20%

Go www.prometric.com/microsoft/privatecloudCert

Microsoft Data Platform Certification Set of Exams Voucher

(excl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)

(incl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)

Customer saving	N° of exams	Offer Price €	Normal price	Save €	Save %
MCSE Data Platform (excl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)	2	255.00	300.00	45.00	15%
MCSE Data Platform (incl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)	5	600.00	750.00	150.00	20%

Go www.prometric.com/microsoft/SQLDatabaseCert

Microsoft Business Intelligence Certification Set of Exams Voucher

(excl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)

(incl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)

Customer saving	N° of exams	Offer Price €	Normal price	Save €	Save %
MCSE Business Intelligence (excl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)	2	255.00	300.00	45.00	15%
MCSE Business Intelligence (incl. MCSA SQL Server 2012)	5	600.00	750.00	150.00	20%

Go www.prometric.com/microsoft/SQLBusinessintelligenceCert

Practice Accelerator for Microsoft Office 365

Build a Services Practice to Fast Track Your Business

Practice Accelerator (PA) is a Microsoft offering designed to help partners build a technical services practice around Microsoft solutions. PA is a comprehensive set of reusable tools, resources, and best practices introduced in training delivered via Microsoft Live Meeting. PA enables you to identify customer requirements, analyze their needs, scope projects, plan solution requirements, and deploy Microsoft solutions. Practice Accelerator can help you build your business capacity. The complete, reusable documentation set includes project guides, templates, architecture guidance, and planning and design guides, as well as leave-behind materials for your customers.

PRACTICE ACCELERATOR FOR OFFICE 365

Become ready to help your customers transition to the cloud with Practice Accelerator for Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 takes the industry’s most recognized set of productivity and collaboration tools and delivers them as a subscription service. With these cloud services, your customers’ organizations can lower overall costs and deliver the right set of tools for the right users, all with appropriate layers of security and compliance.

You can use your Partner Advisory Hours to pay for Practice Accelerator. Ten advisory hours will be deducted from your organization upon registration.
FREE FOR CLOUD ESSENTIALS & CLOUD ACCELERATE PARTNERS

 

REGISTER NOW!

 

DELIVERY INFORMATION Cost – 10 Partner Advisory Hours (Partner Advisory Hours are the payment method for Practice Accelerator). Cloud Essential and Cloud Accelerate Partners can participate in this Practice Accelerator at no cost.

Attendees –Participants should have basic to intermediate (100- 200) technical level in the solution, but we recommend a 200 level to get the most out of Practice Accelerator.

Delivery method – PA for Office 365 is presented by Microsoft experts via Microsoft Office Live Meeting for 4 hours per day over 4 consecutive days (totaling 16 hours). Daily outline can be found by clicking HERE.

Guidance for Partners Selling into SMB

If you work with small and medium business (SMB) customers, you know they have specific needs. In many cases they also face limitations on time, resources, and even budget.

To guide you through sales conversations with this unique market segment, I’ve outlined a few key priorities and products you can focus on. Here are some recommendations on training and readiness to get you up to speed:

First, lead with the cloud. It’s a buzz word for a reason! Cloud solutions enable businesses of all sizes to reduce overhead and storage costs. This is an especially vital selling point for your SMB customers.

There’s real value for you as a Microsoft partner. Those who lead with the cloud earn more revenue from on-premise product deployments of Microsoft technology.

Get more training through this Cloud Sales Training – SMB Partners learning path.

Next, pull through Small Business Server. This is the optimal server platform solution for your SMB customers because it’s affordable, and simplifies small business IT. Small Business Server 2011 Essentials is a great option for businesses with up to 25 users. It enables those customers to organize and access business info from virtually anywhere — safely. Small Business Server 2011 Essentials integrates with cloud technology — providing a way of seamlessly introducing the server into a cloud conversation. Check out this Windows Small Business Server 2011 Sales learning path as a starting point.

Finally, continue to sell Microsoft Office 2010 with Windows 7. They work better together to help your SMB customers optimize the desktop, work and collaborate better, stay productive anywhere, and protect their work. We have learning paths for both Office 2010 and Windows 7 to help you get started.

Questions on readiness for selling to SMBs? Ask  Brigitte Hayes !

Laat de Cloud geen tsunami voor uw bedrijf zijn, maar surf mee op deze grote golf…/ Ne laissez pas le Cloud vous dévaster comme un tsunami. Apprenez plutôt à surfer sur cette gigantesque vague …

Beste Partner,
Graag nodigen wij u uit om de Business Model Transformation Workshop bij te wonen waar u leert de kansen en opportuniteiten te grijpen die de Cloud u biedt. De voorbije twaalf maanden hebben 250 verschillende partners in België en Luxemburg Cloudoplossingen van Microsoft verkocht en dit is nog maar het begin.
Net zoals u eind jaren ’90 uw bedrijf diende aan te passen aan e-commerce en internet, moet u nu ook de transformatie naar de Cloud voorbereiden. Over de opportuniteiten en de gevaren van de cloud heeft u al een mening. Maar wat betekenen ze voor uw bedrijf? Leer en discussieer erover in deze unieke workshop, voorbehouden voor de bedrijfsleiders van onze partners.
We organiseren 5 gelijke workshops verspreid over België en Luxemburg.
Schrijf je nu in voor 1 van de workshops want de plaatsen zijn beperkt!

Voor meer info kijk hier NL / FR.

Waarom deze workshop bijwonen?
Executive level workshop: we verwachten de bedrijfsleider en de salesmanager

• Noodzakelijk voor strategische evolutie van uw bedrijf
• Ontmoet Microsoft Management en Specialisten

Wat kan u verwachten?
Leer een boeiend verhaal vertellen rond de Cloud op maat van uw prospect en verneem tips om uw interne organisatie, personeel en business model klaar te stomen voor de toekomst. Verder kan je ook bijleren van Beste Practices.

• Bedrijfsleider of General Manager die zijn organistie wil omvormen naar een Cloud-services organisatie
• Salesmanager of hoger kader die samen hun prospecten en klanten willen ondersteunen in de evolutie naar een modern ICT platform met verhoogde rentabiliteit voor alle betrokkenen.
• ICT partners die cloud-oplossingen willen toevoegen aan hun on-premise offerings en die de transitie van box-mover naar service-provider op een doeltreffende wijze willen opstarten of verder zetten.

12.30 – 13.00
Welcome & small lunch

13.00 – 15.30

• The new shapes of SMB markets
• Sales & marketing challenges
• Managerial consequences (organization & finances)

16.00 – 17.30

• 3 paths to the cloud era
• Sales and financial models
• Technical staff motivation & training
• Homework

17.30
Networking & drinks

Voor de cloud sales training klik hier.
Voor de Office 365 training klik hier.
The Belux Partner Team
Voor meer info of vragen kunt u contact opnemen met Stefanie Steenbrugge.

Ne laissez pas le Cloud vous dévaster comme un tsunami. Apprenez plutôt à surfer sur cette gigantesque vague …

Cher Partenaire,

Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter au Business Model Transformation Workshop où vous découvrirez comment identifier et exploiter les nombreuses opportunités que vous offre le Cloud. Durant ces 12 derniers mois, 250 partenaires de Belgique et du Luxembourg ont vendu des solutions Cloud Microsoft… et ce n’est qu’un début.

Fin des années 1990, vous avez dû vous adapter à l’avènement du commerce électronique et à l’expansion de l’internet. Aujourd’hui, vous devez vous préparer à la transformation qui accompagne la migration vers le Cloud. Sans doute avez-vous déjà une certaine idée de ce que représentent les opportunités et les risques du Cloud. Mais que signifient-ils exactement pour votre entreprise? Venez le découvrir et en discuter avec vos homologues durant cet atelier unique, exclusivement réservé aux dirigeants de nos partenaires.

Nous organisons 5 ateliers similaires en Belgique et au Luxembourg.
Inscrivez-vous dès à présent à l’un d’entre eux car le nombre de places est limité!
Pour en savoir plus, cliquez ici NL / FR.

Pourquoi assister à ces ateliers ?
Atelier pour les cadres: seuls les dirigeants d’entreprise et responsables commerciaux sont invités

• un rendez-vous incontournable pour l’évolution stratégique de votre entreprise
• une rencontre exceptionnelle avec des membres de la direction et des experts de Microsoft

Que pouvez-vous attendre de cet atelier ?
Vous apprendrez comment présenter le Cloud de manière passionnante et ciblée, selon les besoins de votre prospect. Vous recevrez des conseils pour préparer votre propre organisation, ainsi que vos collaborateurs et votre modèle opérationnel à cette évolution. Et vous tirerez des enseignements utiles des meilleures pratiques.

• Dirigeant d’entreprise ou General Manager désireux de transformer sa société en une organisation de services Cloud
• Directeur commercial, responsable des ventes ou cadre supérieur qui souhaite aider ses clients et prospects à évoluer vers une plateforme TIC moderne, offrant une meilleure rentabilité à toutes les parties concernées.
• Partenaires TIC qui désirent ajouter des solutions Cloud à leur catalogue de solutions on-premise et veulent entamer ou développer avec efficience un processus qui fera d’eux un véritable prestataire de services, plutôt qu’un simple fournisseur de produits.

12:30 – 13:00
Welcome & small lunch

13:00 – 15:30

• The new shapes of SMB markets
• Sales & marketing challenges
• Managerial consequences (organization & finances)

16:00 – 17:30

• 3 paths to the cloud era
• Sales and financial models
• Technical staff motivation & training
• Homework

17:30
Networking & drinks

The Belux Partner Team
PLUS!
Pour la cloud sales formation regardez ici.
Pour l’Office 365 formation regardez ici.
Si vous souhaitez en savoir plus ou si vous avez des questions, veuillez vous adresser à Stefanie Steenbrugge.

Azure, get to know the invisible friendly giant

The Windows Azure Platform … what is it and what can it do for you. That’s what we want you to find out. You can read stuff on websites or watch some video’s but it’s always good to meet people and interactively discuss what you want to know.

So … If you’re wondering why there’s so much fuzz about Azure but you don’t really know what it is and how you could benefit from it, then consider putting this in your agenda:

We are organizing an informal evening combining drinks with info at a location near you

• 16/01: Brussels (Microsoft Offices – Da Vincilaan 3, Zaventem)
• 17/01: Ghent (De Zebrastraat – Zebrastraat 32/001, Ghent)
• 18/01: Antwerp (Grand Café Leroy – Kasteelpleinstraat 46, Antwerp)

Her’s how we planned the evening:

18.30h – 19.00h:

Welcome with food and drinks

19h – 19.45h:

What the Windows Azure platform is and what’s in it for you?

Expect a non-technical business approach explaining the platform with the help of scenario’s and real life examples. (applications for devices and mobile, social media marketing campaigns, departmental apps on premises and/or in the cloud, Extend SharePoint to the public cloud, highly-scalable and worldwide websites or applications)

19.45h – 20h:

short break

20h -20.30h:

How to get started with the Azure platform

Learn where to start and how to get help from Microsoft. We’ll also include some pricing examples.

20.30h – 21.30h

Drink & discussion

We encourage interaction and questions during the presentation but we also foresee some time for discussion during a drink.

If you’re not sure this is something for you or if you have some questions, feel free to contact Tom Crombez via v-tocrom@microsoft.com.

Otherwhise : Register now (limited seats per location)

Have a great Christmas and enjoy the New Year!

Business Model Transformation Workshops

Cloud is happening !

Make sure you and your business are making the most out of the Cloud opportunities.

Join us and learn how to adapt your business model to the chances and the dangers of the Cloud.

For more info check out the website Nl. / Fr.

Learn the All-Up Microsoft Cloud Story and understand the Competitive Advantage

Webcast Compete to Win with the Cloud

Learn the All-Up Microsoft Cloud Story and understand the Competitive Advantage

Harness the “buzz” behind “Cloud Power” and arm yourself to compete with the new Microsoft Sales   Specialist program. The “Time to Thrive” webcast series will help you meet   your Sales Targets — understand the Microsoft Competitive Cloud Advantage by   joining our roundtable of Cloud experts from Windows Azure, Windows Intune, Office 365, CRM OL, and Private Cloud.

Join us on December 14^th at 8:00a.m. (PST) as Ulises Aguilar, a Partner Seller, interviews our   panel.

Go to http://www.mssalesspecialist.com to learn more.