More items of CRM interest...

A busy time for Microsoft Dynamics CRM... There is a lot on which we thought we'd share.

Just got back from a great Sales presentation at Thames Valley Park. Some very interesting compete info vs Salesforce.com, too

On 9 March 7global will be speaking at the Caltech Forum in central Leeds. There will be demonstrations and exhibition stands as well as customer case studies, industry speakers and a great networking opportunity. We will be doing a slot exploding some of the myths associated with hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Not too late to book a place!

We have our on partner event on 13 May @ the UK Microsoft HQ in Reading aimed at existing and prospective partners wishing to sell hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM more effectively.

We have an inspirational keynote speaker, David Ednie (CEO of SalesChannel Europe) who is an authority on selling SaaS, overcoming the obstacles and reaping the many benefits. Microsoft will be doing a slot and there will be some great partner success stories. A well spent morning!

Dashing about

In Edinburgh yesterday for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Roadshow. A packed agenda and a small but dedicated audience. We're there looking for value added resellers who want to give their clients a hosted option without the pain of building a scalable platform themselves.

We've got Manchester today which should be different. Either way I think attendees are going to be pleased with the level of detail they get. Microsoft is obviously very adept at presenting the value and flexibility of the product. Let's hope we get the hosted message across.
We have tomorrow in Reading so that will probably be the big one in terms of audience size. We'll let you know how it goes!

7global speaking at Microsoft road shows

We'll be doing a slot at the forthcoming Microsoft Dynamics CRM road shows. These are taking place on 9 February (Edinburgh), 10 February (Manchester) and 11 February (Reading).

7global will be discussing our hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner Programme. We're very interested in talking to VAR partners who haven't yet engaged with hosting and to show how as a hosting partner we havedesigned and built some great solutions and to dispel some of the myths that hosting offers a somehow limited offering. There's a 20% discount onboarding offer for new partners so well worth coming along. Contact us if you're intertested.

Snow joke

The recent freeze could cost the UK economy £14.5bn. Great advert for an effective remote working solution. It's times like these when I wonder how people get by without something decent in place.

More crystal ball gazing...

So it's the start of another year. Indeed, it's the start of a new decade. One thing that we've been reflecting on is how much of the SaaS hype of the noughties has been...well, hype.

This article has some nice insights that steers clear of the "is it good? Short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but" that some analysts provide at this time of the year.

Our experience is that people are consuming SaaS apps at a rate of knots. Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a prime example with sales consistently higher month on month and retention good as well.

IDC's list of Top 10 Tech Predictions for 2010

Maturation of cloud computing tops IDC's list of Top 10 Tech Predictions for 2010: http://bit.ly/89QplD.

Some interesting observations here, and some that are already happening. Knowledge as a Service was a new one to me...

7global acquired

There’s a lot of consolidation at the moment in the managed service and hosting world and we’re no exception. 7global has been acquired by 365iT and it’s hugely exciting. We’ll be operating as wholly owned subsidiary and so there won’t be any of the upheaval these kinds of events can inflict.

We’ll have the same expertise backed up with some real clout. This is going to be of great value to customers, partners and prospective clients alike. You can read the official press release here.

Softcat Hosting Day

Had an interesting day at the Softcat Hosting Summit at the Barbican in London yesterday. Was great to catch up with familiar faces and some 7global alumni.

There were some first rate presentations from the likes of Microsoft, Citrix, VMware and others, principally on the subject of The Cloud and the many things that means.

Microsoft (predictably) got a right royal kicking over the recent slash in BPOS pricing. There was a storm of outrage, only partially assuaged by the assurance that Microsoft is 'listening' and will be 'looking at' corresponding SPLA pricing.

I actually think what they're doing is inevitable but they've communicated very badly with partners who feel extremely threatened by this (and I actually don't count 7global in this). The message is "move up the stack, as the vanilla stuff will be swallowed up. If not by Microsoft then someone else." Adapt or die is the message- true, but obviously there's more work to be done on how this is communicated.

The Azure messages from Microsoft are very woolly. You need to tighten that up, chaps.

I must say, despite persuasive presentations from VMware and Citrix, Microsoft's Dynamic Data Center piece was by far the most together and coherent. They've got the full story and they make it easy. They've got the pricing right on this. Pulled it out of the bag in the end guys.

Back from Convergence

Had a great day at Microsoft Dynamics' Convergence event in London yesterday. Great to catch up with CRM partners and meet some interesting new people Some good presentations and case studies. Pleased to see an emphasis on customers and not the partners- ultimately it's them we're trying to reach out to.

I have to admit was all incredibly low key following a few years of attending big shows at the Bella Centre in Copenhagen. I guess they're using that place to save the world at the moment so they're forgiven!

Still, miss the razzmatazz of Copenhagen. Hope they glam up the event next year.

Microsoft Partner Network 2009

Interesting day at Wembley for the Microsoft Partner Network 2009. Lots of repetition of messages heard at WPC in New Orleans. Well compared by George Alagyer. Couldn't help thinking it was a little 'loose' which is unusual for Microsoft. Still, good to see some familar faces and network (although there was every little time for that, ironically, for a network event!).

7global shortlisted in CRN Channel Awards

Found out we've been shortlisted for the CRN Channel Awards. Huzzar! Pleased with that as it's based on the relationships with partners and clients that we've developed over the years. It's for the Reseller ‘Services Provider of the Year’ so it's right up our street.

A lot of our business, especially within the Dynamics space, is based on these strong business relationships so it's great from my perspective.

So, I'll cut to the chase and ask you to vote for us! All you need to do is click here, (briefly) register and then select the 'Reseller' category and the 'Services Provider of the Year’ sub category and give us your vote. Wow- I sound like a politician. Actually, scrub that (it's hardly a vote winner these days!).

And so the holiday season comes to an end.

August is often a funy time of the year. Driving to work is easier. Half the people are away on holiday, the other half using the time to get things done they should have done ages ago or to contact those people who are actually on holiday. Blogs remain unwritten. A funny time indeed.

However, we've been using this time to undergo some great initiatives will be going live over the next few weeks and months. Watch this space for ongoing updates on new products and services, as well s enhancements to exisiting ones. It will be worth it- promise!

Swine Flu and alien invasions- how to keep productive.

Everyone is talking about swine flu! Whilst I think there’s something of the hysteria of a 1950s Sci Fi B movie feel to it there’s something there. And even if there isn’t the effect is the same.

Having the right technologies in place to make sure that your staff can work from home, even if it isn’t the norm, seems to be a safe, cost effective strategy to ensure business continuity. Put simple, you never know what round the corner.

SSL-VPNs, hosted desktops, and on demand applications all help achieve this. Making sure you maximise value without compromising your ability to keep moving is very important. Hopefully, your supplier will help you navigate the right path.

So, if we are invaded by aliens from Mars and your staff can’t make it to the office don’t say you haven’t been warned!

Thoughts on the Micosoft Worldwide Partner Conference

My view on WPC is that attendance is clearly the first chance Microsoft people have to articulate the plans that they have put in place for the next financial leave. So the timeline is: Set plans for next year, do WPC, put detail on plans.

This means that attending WPC allows partners to get in on what’s new, to remind Microsoft staff they are there and have great plans for Microsoft.

It’s clearly THE event to attend if you want to be part of the next year’s activity. In fact on two occasions it was commented that Partners that attend are seen as having the ‘right level of commitment’ so it was good to be there! My final point about attendance is who and how many, the event is vast and all the Microsoft staff are available to grab which maybe the only opportunity to do so and It presents great opportunities to find organisations that would be good to partner with.

I personally had 13 1:1 partner meetings, attended 3 extra partner events and several comms sector specific events.

Key information is as follows, I’ll bullet point it and expand on the more critical things:

• They see the last 6-9 months as an economic reset


• They will be looking to do more with less


• The focus for this year is more market share not new sales growth. So the messages were all take share from competitors such as VMWare, SFDC, Google, Oracle, IBM etc


• They intend to deepen the partner relationship


• More sales opportunities will result from deeper relationships


• To achieve the above they are revamping the Partner program now called Partner Network, qualification criteria will be much tougher and more levels will be added. They highest level for us will be Advanced Hosting Partner and we will be striving to become an Advanced Hosting partner


• As you’d expect, there’s a strong emphasis given to partners who ‘use the latest technology’ which means for us Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V, System centre, Exchange 10, OCS and SQL 2008


• Microsoft CRM Live will hit the streets in Europe 15th April 2010, pricing TBD


• ffice 10 which is very impressive has a full function web version which looks great. It will be FREE to windows live subscribers; it will be FREE to enterprise licence customers. They are gunning for Google Apps!


• Windows 7 is what Vista should have been, Microsoft is expecting massive sales and that it will spark a wave of system refreshes. Windows 7 was available for pre order for the first time last week and sold more in 8 hours than Vista did in 8 weeks


• CRM has just hit 1,000,000 users worldwide and they expect strong growth this year


• Unified Communications is going to be a big push and a new Hosted Exchange program is being launched to help partners make a business out of Exchange, OCS and UC. To qualify partners must already have 3000 Exchange seats


• Azure will be released to paying customers November this year, Pricing has been announced although I haven’t seen it yet. Reselling Azure services may well be important to us

Met lots of other people and had the chance to catch up with our Dynamics partners. In short a busy but wholly worthwhile event!

Update on New Orleans to follow

After 18 hour days, a punishing schedule and ultimately jetlag our man in New Orleans will give a summarised update on the WPC. It was such a whirl there simply wasn't time. Twitter may have been friendlier!

Bourbon Street makes Blackpool look like Tonbridge Wells

I have to date not mentioned the famous Bourbon Street from which I am staying right around the corner.

And for anyone who knows of it has some reputation for partying all night and louche goings on (or so I’m told).

So I have of course purely for research purposes (and that fact that my colleague Paul mentioned it on an earlier blog post) visited a limited number of hostelries there, and I can say as a man from up north that it makes the drink fuelled stag party excesses of Blackpool look like a nuns night out to a beetle drive down the local village hall.

I’ll say no more at this point other than the unconscious bodies in the street even as early as 10pm kind of say’s it all for me! :-)

Registration

The first and most significant thing about going to the Earnest Morial Conventions Centre and seeing inside is the bland look of the place. I know when I arrived at about 10AM Sunday it is early and there are only a few people about but the place feels drab. Also when talking to regular attendees it seems that there is a low key feel compared to previous years. I’m sure it will pick up Monday when the conference starts in earnest. Sorry about the pun!

Anyway I had a very constructive morning passing the time with the original CEO of 7global Karl Roe. Karl looks after SPLA for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa which is no mean feat. And has possibly the most stamped passport I’ve ever seen.

Even though it’s early in proceedings I’m starting to meet more people including another ex 7global guy Nick Caw who works in the UC arena again for Microsoft in the UK. 7global currently has 3 ex employees who work for Microsoft the other being Martin Walker who mirrors Karl by looking after SPLA in the UK and is due in later today, good to see so many of our people in prominent positions in Microsoft, this probably reflects the fact that we’ve been in the business for a long time providing ASP services back in 2000 and now still out there with SaaS, Incubation Centre and S + S in 2009, ok advert over. I’m just about to have my first meeting of the week. If it goes well it will mean we have found a great addition to our Hosted Dynamics CRM service....

Well the meeting went well, and I hope to progress things when back from WPC. Now there is jazz band playing at maximum volume only a few yards away, great music, just a bit too LOUD. The ability to meet potential partners and add products to our portfolio is my prime objective for the week and although it’s difficult to mention product specifically you will be unsurprised to know that my focus on Mobility, UC, BI and collaboration.

After spending the day in and out of the conference I think that overall there seems to be a big push on Dynamics and the inevitable Windows 7 hype. I also think that there are going to be some big announcements that will have far reaching consequences to hosters like 7global; wave 14 and all that. Talked to some really great people in the 'meet and greet' sessions form places as far apart as Scotland, Mexico and the Middle East.

The most standout thing in that was we all had similar problems and experiences, it is a small world and this certainly is that case when I talk to people at that WW Hosting Summit. That's it for today it's 20:45 and high time I carried on networking, you know what I mean!

The day in between...

Well because I travelled on Friday I have today to myself, not strictly myself in the way I spend my time for reasons that I’ll come on to but by myself in New Orleans.

This morning I woke after a fairly unsatisfactory sleep which is not surprising after the day’s travel and time difference. I feel ok though and I have a very important task before me which is the shopping lists emailed to me while in transit by my wife, son and daughter. So I’m off to Lakeside shopping mall and I’m going to use New Orleans finest public transport, wish me luck...

OK I’m back, only took 4 hours L 4 busses, lots of waiting at bus stops and 2 litres of water. So for those who may be mad enough to follow in my footsteps and are staying on one of the many hotels on Canal Street here goes; so you need to take the Canal Street streetcar to Cemetery and this is the first problem, since Katrina the Canal Street streetcars have been out of service, not that the hotel concierge who gave me the directions pointed that important fact out to me!

So here’s the first waiting bit... thankfully it doesn’t take long to work out that there doesn’t seem to be any streetcars or other people waiting for them. Off to the bus stop then, already drunk half a litre of water and don’t have a bus time table. Wait! Talking to some of the locals at the bus stop including a very nice lady who hails from Cuba and has a daughter who has just been to Bible school and is now doing pre med, who tells me that there are only two busses in this circular route and they seem to turn up whenever.

Second wait...here is the bus 10 minutes late, thinking that I must buy another bottle of water.
Second crucial bit of information, you need the exact change for the bus, the driver does not take money and you need dollar bills and change for the ticket machine.

Any single journey on this route $1.10. The next bit of the journey is changing at Cemetery to the Veterans bus service, called that because it follows a route that mainly covers Veterans Blvd! A wait for about 10 mins another $1.10 and I’m there. The mall looks very new and apparently comprises many stores that relocated from a mall near the Louisiana Super dome. I’m not surprised as there were many very sorry looking building on the way.

The trip back apart from more waiting and talking to more very friendly locals was good especially as the bus took a different route back into town past many very pretty traditional wooden houses all of which looked great and looked to be benefitting from some post Katrina renovation.

Now I’m back at the hotel I can freshen up then it’s off to the Mississippi, Riverside Walks Centre, Aquarium, the French Quarter, jazz, gumbo, Cajun chicken and some liquid refreshment. I'm tired now and will spare you the details least to say I managed to fit in all the above!

On my way to Microsoft WPC 2009 New Orleans

So here we go 7global attending WPC 2009, yes the date does say the 10th and the conference only really starts on the 13th. Well it takes all day to get to New Orleans and I want to hit the sites and shops on Saturday.

Plus to be fair I do have quite a busy day Sunday with meetings from midday and a meet and greet with the UK Microsoft guy’s and gal’s early evening.

I would also say from previous experiences attending the MS WW Hosting summit in Seattle a few times getting in late the day before the start makes the first couple of days a bit of a blur. And as this is my first WPC I want to make the most of it.

Right now I’m in Philadelphia waiting for my connection and I might add already feeling a bit tired. I got up @5:50 to catch a train to Manchester @07:22 flew out of Manchester on US Air 735 @ 11:30 on a 7 hour flight and arrived here @ 13:30 US East coast time. So as I type this blog battling with the unusable Wi-Fi provided by ATT in terminal B Philly International my transfer to New Orleans leave at 19:30 local time and its only 14:45! Oh yes an hour to clear customs, the computers were slow today, apparently!

Anyway the bonus of the day so far was Gran Torino on the in flight movies, I missed this at the flicks and was very pleased to catch it today, Clint at his absolute best. Going to move and look for a better Wi-Fi connection now...

Oh and mobile calls cost 125ppm, 99ppm to receive, SMS 49p, 14.99 per day for 25Mb data on both NTT and T-Mobile. Daylight robbery!

16:30 had a look at the shops and food halls, quite a good choice, you can fill up on traditional Americana fair or sample any amount of pizza, pasta, Chinese and salads as you like all ranging from $8-15. Will try later...

Sat in the main shopping area on a wooden rocking chair in the middle of the walkway (there are others doing the same) next to a pillar that has a power socket. Ah yes power for my laptop, this means that I can watch a DVD of something I’ve downloaded from BBC iPlayer. I think I’ll go for Glastonbury highlights.

Flight to New Orleans left on time @19:30 just a 2:20 flight, managed to get a bit of sleep and felt quite good when we arrived. This was of course short lived when we had to hang around for what seem like ages at baggage claim.

22:10 Arrived at the Crown Plaza Hotel, the weather is hot and sticky, a jazz band is playing on the corner and the streets are packed with people. The temptation is to get out there and sample the atmosphere the reality is I’m off to bed..zzzzZ

Going down to New Orleans

So, the Worldwide Microsoft Partner Conference has come around and 7global will be represented by my colleague Mike Williams. As Worldwide Partner of the Year Finalists I have to admit we're looking forward more than usual to the Conference.


At the 2009 EMEA Hosting Roundtable. From left to right: Pascal Walschots (Microsoft), Mike Williams (7global), Paul Doherty i.e. me (7global).

Mike's no stranger to Microsoft events and he will be contributing to The Cloud's Silver Lining with updates on what's hot, what's not, who he's met and any titbits of news which you'll find useful. Whatever happens Mike will be ferreting out info which will benefit our customers and partners over the following week. We'll be paying particular attention to Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Azure, BPOS as well as the Software + Services marketplace and hosting in general

No doubt they'll be descriptions of Bourbon Street, jambalaya and red wine as well.

So- watch this space!