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.

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!

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!

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

Microsoft Worldwide Partner Award Finalists Again.

Now the press embargo, to which I have slavishly adhered, has been lifted I can now say 'whooohoo' without fear of being hunted down by the Microsoft PR leopards.

To be honest, it's really good to have got this one again, as after last year's success I thought it would be difficult to repeat.

I had some great help from partners and clients in putting the entry together which always helps and, focusing as I did on our Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform I had a great story to tell.

New Year, New Hangover, New Challenges

So, 2008’s gone and 2009 is here. 2008 is already being clumsily auto archived by my brain so it now seems like a year ago as opposed to a few days. However, addled by Christmas and New Year festivities though my poor brain is, I think it is on to something. 2009 certainly will be throwing up brand new challenges in the marketplace and as firms seem to be going bust everyday, knowing who will be here and who will not is a scary consideration.

That said, from 7global’s perspective the message we can bring to businesses is, if anything, even stronger. Essentially, organisations still need cutting edge IT solutions to compete. I would say that is even more important as margins are cut and marketplace is squeezed. Rather than employing new staff or redirecting existing employees I think we have an extremely powerful ‘spend money with us to save money’ message.

Take hosted applications, like Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Exchange. Why spend money building and maintaining an infrastructure, 24 x 7 management, buying hardware and training staff unless absolutely necessary (I concede there will be times when on premise is the only solution)?

Take bespoke managed hosting. Why go through the very real pain of providing a top tier hosting environment when you can plumb in your solution to an existing infrastructure (preferably ours!) which manages all the pain for you? Or hire consultants to specify solutions when we can do that for you as well as deploy it?

Take outsourced network services. With 7global managing firewall, SSL-VPNs and other on premise devices it can take the hassle and cost out of using new or existing staff on doing something on which we can bring our engineering and support teams, not to mention special relations with vendors such as SonicWALL and Cisco, to bear.

Something to ponder over your Alka-Seltzer, perhaps…

Musings on the channel

Living in the business development world like I do I'm always looking closely at (obsessing over?) where we succeed and where we fail. It's essential to understand both (although I much prefer looking at the former rather than the latter for obvious reasons). It's also hard to get to the real truth as it can often be a case of success having many parents and failure being an orphan.

We have built a very successful, vibrant channel for Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a very short period of time (less than a year) despite a very real initial scepticism about the hosted model and in the face of some very stiff and very slick competition.

One thing has been our resolute and complete insistence on a channel model. We do not sell direct. We do not offer consultancy, training, development or any of that good stuff our partners do. On one level this has been hard. There's a lot of good money in adding these services. On the other hand it was a 'no brainer' and I'll tell you why.

We're a hosting company! We're not a CRM house. Our people, skill sets, expertise, business acumen, infrastructure, ongoing investments, [deep breath] internal mechanisms, ideology, partnerships and approach have been forged on the anvil of hosted services, not Microsoft Dynamics consultancy. By not trying to fix what ain't broken I think we've been able to provide something that the Dynamics Partner community, largely, really wants. A specialist Microsoft-based hosting provider which is really rather good at delivering applications on demand. As opposed to a really rather rubbish Dynamics Partner that happens to do hosting, which was the alternative.

By grasping this nettle I think we've carved a good niche for ourselves. We're not a telco-doing-hosting-as-well nor are we a Dynamics-Partner-doing-hosting-as-well. We're a hoster doing hosting. Makes sense really.

Please ignore the fact that this post has sidestepped what we do badly- I will go into this, probably on a Monday morning when I'm feeling hacked off. :-)

Partners- a conduit to the real world.

One of the great things about our model is we work with a large number of partners day in, day out. These are typically ISVs who are using us to manage their infrastructure and have a number of individual mini platforms (I say mini. Some are pretty bloody huge but you know what I mean). We get a real insight into the sectors of the economy in which they work which we would never have if we were working in a vertical niche ourselves.

The same is true (more so?) of our Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners. We’ve created a network of some really first class and really rather interesting MS CRM partners over the last year or so. One of the things I always find illuminating is what their drivers are and how they tackle the marketplace. Like our ISVs it varies, sometimes fundamentally, from partner to partner and indeed geography to geography.

Take the financial crisis. Not the best place to go looking for new business- or so you’d think. Some of our partners who are targeting this sector (Mayfair, admittedly, rather than the City) are getting a lot of traction with the hosted message. The opex versus capex attraction weaving its magic. Because, ultimately, people need software- it’s just paying for it, and the infrastructure to deliver it, that becomes a bit tricky. One to watch I think.