CRM Event

Have just done our CRM event with QGate at Thames Valley Park. A ood intimate conversation although I'm sure it could be polished a lot more, and sure it will be by the 15th. Always tough these events, but I think we got the message across. We'll see!

We're hiring!

7global is looking for new business sales people. Good package, good company to work for, good atmosphere and a great team. What's not to like!

If you'd like to know more just drop me a line (pdoherty@7global.com).

Worldwide Partner Awards

Just finished 7global's entry for the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Awards. Strewth these are hard work. They are like writing a small thesis!

We were Finalists last year which was just brilliant. Not sure we're going to do as well this year though. The competition is just so tough. We do have a fantastic story to tell which gives me some hope. I'm entering our Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM HMC Platform. I've managed to get some great testimonials (thanks everyone) and describe some of the things we've been doing with our partners who rock.

Still, there are a lot of guys out there doing fantastic stuff so I'm less confident than last year. Still, fingers crossed.

Events, dear boy, events.

Really looking forward to a couple of events we've got planned with Qgate. Keep your diaries free for:

23 April: Microsoft HQ, Thames Valley Park, Reading
15 May: Microsoft offices, Victoria, London

The theme is that in tough times hosted CRM enables market-leading business process management, customer retention and business growth.

Our partner QGate is a leading consultancy that time and again has helped businesses of all types discover prove that strategically adopted CRM practices yield meaningful, tangible results. At a time when most businesses need to stay profitable and hold onto customers on demand CRM is a great way of helping organisations to win and hold onto customers.

The agenda is going to be (subject to lightening bolts):

Agenda
09.30 - 10.00: Registration, coffee and networking
10.00 - 10.15: Introduction and welcome - Rowland Dexter, MD QGate
10.15 - 11.00: The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Proposition - Jason Nash, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft
11.00 - 11.20: Demo - Mike Shaw, Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultant, QGate
11.20 - 11.40: Coffee and Networking
11.40 - 12.00: Microsoft Dynamics CRM - A Hosted Solution; Paul Doherty, Sales & Marketing Manager 7global
12.00 - 12.45: QGate's Integrated Solution - Mike Shaw, Microsoft Dynamics CRM consultant, QGate
12.45 - 13.00: Summary, Q&A
13.00 - Close & Networking Lunch

Email me (pdoherty@7global.com) if you'd like to come)

Genesis acquires Increase...and then there were two.

Interesting to read about Genesis's acquisition of Increase CRM earlier this month. The acquisition creates a very large organisation actively promoting hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This has got me thinking and crystallising what I think of the state of play in the UK marketplace.

One trigger to my thought process was pulled when I was asked recently by a partner what I thought about the deal. Was I pleased that there was one less piranha in the tank? Or was a nervous that there was an even bigger shark in the tank that had just eaten the piranha and was now devouring everything in the tank with the ferocity of a starving megaladon? Ok, he didn't phrase it quite like that but briefly that's what it sounded like.

My feelings are that this is a Good Thing. There's no doubt that having a large telco (Genesis), which has acquired what was in all but name a Microsoft Dynamics CRM boutique with a 100% dedication to the hosted market (Increase) has created a powerful competitor.

However, I think 7global's partner network really offers a strong alternative. 7global's partners are large and small, cover the whole of the UK (and a lot of Europe), have specialisms in most verticals, with staff specially trained to deal with those industries.

By acquiring Increase Genesis has definitively moved from a 'wholesale' approach to a full service approach, which will certainly compete with other Dynamics Partners which should heat up the marketplace a little more. As a telco they had a telco approach to CRM, just as 7global has a hosting provider approach. Now they have a Dynamics Partner approach. Will be interesting to see how that pans out.

One advantage of our approach is we can marry our hosting expertise to partners Dynamics CRM expertise which I think creates the more compelling solution. However, if Genesis draws attention to the value of a hosted solution I will be there applauding.

Webinar

We're doing a webinar with Microsoft and Mural entitled 'Coming Of Age with Software-plus-Services' on Thursday 11 March. The dry run is tomorrow so it will be interesting to see how that goes. It should be interesting for ISVs. There's a lot of good stuff coming out of Mural regarding the S +S Incubation Centre Program at the moment. I'm genuinely impressed.

Also, the SaaS/S + S marketplace is so different nowadays to what it was say 3 years ago. Then, it was very difficult to talk about the business benefits as you were too bogged down in the concept. These days the awareness is so much more and you don't have to argue the corner quite so vociferously as you once had to.

I think the main thing is everyone's living on the web now. They're twittering and Facebooking, buying online and booking online. Business applications such as hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM, or our ISV partners SaaS apps are a logical conclusion.

You can always take me to task on the 11th if you disagree. Or blog it, or twitter it, or send me an email from your hosted mail account...

There's snow business like the hosting business

Ok- so I just had to get that in! Can’t believe the weather. It’s like a winter from the seventies. All we need now is an economic crisis…oh.

I haven’t had time to get chilly though. It’s been a busy few weeks since my last post. We managed to get a nice case study out which we did with Microsoft on the UK Home Offfice and our ISV partner Matrix Decisions.

It’s on aspirahub, a rather cool application Matrix has rolled out to a number of clients using the S + S model. It automates data collection, analysis, and aggregation processes for corporate reporting, including health and safety and environmental reports. A great argument for security (it’s good to see a client really utilise and rely on all the security we roll out at our Liverpool DC).

Incubating ideas in the City of Light

I was also in Paris last week for the (deep breath) Microsoft S + S Incubation Center Program Business Design Session Update meeting. In short, this was a refresh of some of the materials we’ve been using to help ISVs bring deliver their software using a pay as you go, S + S model.

One thing I noticed was the value Business Design Session actually add to the business. Having been at the receiving end of one (and subsequently run them ourselves) I was bowled over at how looking at your own organisation from the outside can make you think differently. It can be a little discomforting about what you’re getting wrong, but you are really energised to go and fix it and there’s loads of good that comes out of them.

We do these sessions for £1,500 for a day (we throw in 3 months hosting on a Standard Managed Server On Demand Server) but looking at the work that goes into the materials and the value of the day I was genuinely reminded of the value. That said, they’re not for the weak or fain to heart. They’re pretty gruelling affairs- but then getting things right can be exhausting.

You say SaaS, I say S + S, let’s call the whole thing On Demand

One other thing that came out is the confusion over the nomenclature for SaaS or S + S. I’m suffering from verbal schizophrenia because just as people are getting their heads round SaaS, Microsoft comes up with software-plus-services just to be awkward.

I want to keep calling it SaaS, because that’s what people are getting to know it as, but then as a Microsoft Gold partner we need to rap like the dudes in Seattle to keep the messages joined up.

There's an element of arguing about how many angels can dance on a pin head, but there's more to it than that. It's about making a great proposition understandable. I think this one will rumble on.

I think I’ll bottle it and call it On Demand. That’s that sorted.

Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM

We’re currently looking at really going at vertical with this at the moment. Got some exciting things in the pipeline so watch this space.