Spotlight on Training: Guidance for Partners Selling into SMB

Brigitte Hayes, Partner Skills Development Manager, WPGIf 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 Microso... Read More

Spotlight on Training: Practice Accelerator for Lync 2010

Brigitte Hayes, Partner Skills Development Manager, WPGI’m happy to let you know we’re unveiling a new Practice Accelerator this week. This one covers Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice.Lync delivers next-generation telephony in a single, comprehensive, unified-communications solution. When you build enterprise voice solutions using Lync, you can help your customers communicate from anywhere cost-effectively and securely.Practice Accelerator provides best practices and reusable tools to help you advance your solutions-based practice. The sessions are offered in multiple languages and time zones. To learn more, check out our blog from last month.This new Enterprise Voice Practice Accelerator session covers topics including:Voice architectureConfiguring voiceVoice resiliencyCall qua... Read More

MPN Live Is Back On the Air!

I’m happy to tell you we’re renewing MPN Live, our live video roundtable featuring Microsoft partners, and the new series debuts Thursday, January 26.We launched MPN Live during WPC11. Our concept was simple: candid live video chats where partners exchanged ideas about big conference topics. And we were sure to give partners who weren’t at the conference ways to join in and participate.(The show format came from work I had done – dating back as an intern! – on a show called Silicon Spin, on the now defunct Ziff-Davis Television network, with John C. Dvorak as the host.)We staged two editions of MPN Live daily during the four key WPC11 event days. The partners we brought on as guests represented all walks of life from the ecosystem. Most of all, it was fun putting those attending the confer... Read More

Spotlight on Training: Private Cloud Readiness Update

Rodney Miller, Sr. Partner Skills Development Manager, WPG​I want to welcome you once again to Training Tuesday! This time we’re focused on some new readiness resources available for Private Cloud. I’m very excited about the possibilities.I hope you know how much I want you to succeed with cloud computing. Microsoft Systems Center 2012 should be a big help.Today we’re announcing the launch of System Center 2012: outstanding new systems management software optimized for the cloud. Microsoft System Center 2012 represents an integrated solution for managing private clouds, data center resources, and client devices.I want you to check out an on-demand webcast that previews the licensing changes in System Center 2012. Key selling points: Private cloud value: More cloud capacity with unlimited v... Read More

Spotlight on Training: SQL Server 2012

Brigitte Hayes, Partner Skills Development Manager, WPGSQL Server 2012 is coming soon and will bring exciting opportunities. It’s important to know what training is available so you can succeed with our enhanced database platform, BI, and developer tools.This update tells you what’s available now and what’s coming.Training titles have been organized by Sales and Technical training, with role-based information where applicable.Sales TrainingThese on-demand Partner Academy Live sessions are for BDMs and Sales professionals:Sessions focused on opportunity: SQL Server 2012 Value Proposition for SIsSQL Server 2012 Value for ISVsExploring the Private Cloud Partner Opportunity with SQL Server (SQL205PAL)Make More Money with SQL Server – the Economics and Best Practices of Building a SQL Server Pr... Read More

Spotlight on Training: Learning Paths

Brigitte Hayes, Partner Skills Development Manager, WPGToday’s focus is on partner learning paths (PLPs)—a key resource to help you find the training you need.As you might already know, there are multiple Microsoft web properties for training. Two of the most important and comprehensive are the Partner Learning Center (PLC)—a partner-only site that includes training courses for business- building, and sales and technical enablement, and Microsoft Learning (MSL)—a public site for both customers and partners, where you will find information about technical certification. The MSL site includes required exams and options for exam preparation, including instructor-led training (ILT), eLearning, and self-paced kits, available through public sites such as O’Reilly and Amazon.In addition, both sit... Read More