Right now, approximately 30 percent of all SMBs use some sort of paid cloud service, according to the research.

That, in itself, is a notable trend. What is also interesting, from a channel partner standpoint, is the fact that many of the SMBs surveyed by Microsoft felt that it was important to buy their cloud services from a local technology solution provider.

In addition, approximately 56 percent of the companies that were surveyed indicated that they would prefer to buy their IT services and cloud services from a single source — suggesting that there is a serious opportunity for VARs, resellers, integrators, MSPs and other technology solution providers to layer cloud recommendations into their solution portfolio.

Many of the SMBs surveyed (53 percent) said they would turn to an ISV or software company to acquire cloud services, while approximately 12 percent said they expected to source these services from a local reseller or systems integrator.

“Trust development is critical to our work with SMBs. Increasingly, clients tell us they work with Hostway because our global datacenter network often provides local support,” said Aaron Hollobaugh, vice president of marketing for the Microsoft business partner, in a statement. “Client trust is earned because we view every business — regardless of size — as an enterprise.”

The study covered 3,000 SMBs in 13 countries; it was conducted in December 2011 by Edge Strategies on behalf of Microsoft. Some additional statistical highlights can be found in the infographic below.

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The company, which will get its formal launch during the first half of 2012 provided it surmounts some government regulatory hurdles, are specifically focused on addressing the need for health care organizations to develop more efficient ways to collaborate through technology. Both Microsoft and GE will contribute technologies to the venture, including:

• Microsoft Amalga, described as a “health intelligence” platform
• Microsoft Vergence, which addresses single sign-on and “context management” challenges
• Microsoft expreSSO, enterprise single sign-on software
• GE Healthcare eHealth, which is positioned as a health information exchange
• GEO Healthcare Qualibria, a platform for sharing clinical knowledge

Both companies also are contributing executives and board members. For example, Neal Singh, currently the general manager of MIcrosoft Dynamics AX Global Financial Management, will be moving over to Caradigm as the chief technology officer and senior vice president. The chief executive officer for Caradigm will be Michael Simpson, who currently runs the GE knowledge sharing and connectivity business unit over at GE Healthcare.

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While some LARs who rushed to get trained on T-36 online certifications by Oct. 1 may be irked by the late notice, some think this is good news, and that Microsoft may even be responding to channel feedback.

“The thing is the processes behind all the registration programs for incentives and proofs of concept are not easy,” said Josef Hans Lara, business development manager at LAR Long View Systems. “Microsoft needs to develop the process to make it smoother for partners.”

Lara explained that the amount of paperwork required for opportunity registrations with Microsoft is a full-time job, and welcomes any effort to smooth out the kinks. Interestingly, Microsoft has not made any official announcement to its channel partners about the change yet.

“We haven’t received any official notification per se. They have to prepare a nice email,” said Lara, who relied on a colleague’s discussion with a Microsoft executive for confirmation following news from Channel Register.

While it certainly is one component, the deal registration program goes beyond getting LARs not to compete for big clients. It’s asking the LARs to offer services, which is a big portion of this new incentive program.

“Microsoft wants to make sure the LARs offer services so the clients can actually use what they buy,” said Lara. The deal registration program ensures that the Microsoft partner is actually promoting all of the products while providing services. For companies like Long View Systems that have their roots in services, this is a win.

Lara also said, however, that partners in Europe may struggle the most with this new regime. This is mainly because of the high costs associated with T-36 online training, which is required to get their shops up to speed on providing customers services.

What do you think about this delay? What do you think about the new deal registration program in general? You can leave your comments below or contact Site Editor Leah Rosin or follow us on Twitter.

]]> http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/channel-marker/microsoft-partners-catch-a-break-new-deal-registration-program-delayed/feed/ 0 http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/channel-marker/whats-next-for-hp-five-things-to-watch-for/ http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/channel-marker/whats-next-for-hp-five-things-to-watch-for/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2011 14:54:05 +0000 badarrow http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/channel-marker/?p=4566  

How can this wacky Hewlett-Packard saga get even nuttier? LOTS of ways. Here are a few things to ponder going forward.

1: Track Jon Rubinstein.  The former Apple hardware whiz , aka The Podfather,  went to the beach for awhile before getting snapped up by Palm. Now that HP’s TouchPad is dead (or IS it?) he might be looking for other things to do and it would be extremely tantalizing if he ended up back at Cupertino’s Infinite Loop for Apple now that Steve Jobs has left the building. Of course, there were some hard feelings when Rubinstein took a hike, so it remains to be seen if Tim Cook would deign to let him back in.

2: Keep an eye on the Microsoft relationship.HP and Microsoft always seemed to be locked at the hip. But then HP got big ideas about fielding its own mobile-and-phone OS in WebOS and CEO Leo Apotheker started making noises about an HP-designed-and-built cloud ecosystem that sounded very competitive with Microsoft Azure. Oh, and HP was supposed to be Microsoft’s big hardware friend reselling Azure-based appliances to service providers and perhaps other customers. You can bet your life that Microsoft is down in Palo Alto pitching cloud collaboration in a big, big way. And of course that would involve HP running its cloud on–you guessed it–Azure.

3: Watch for TouchPad to make like Lazarus.  The TouchPad is dead. Well, maybe not quite. HP is running off another batch. Note to HP: Selling a machine that costs more than $300 to manufacture for $99 is no way to run a business. VARs still say if HP initially priced TouchPad at $399, it would have done just fine even against the iPad, but pricing it at the iPad level was nuts given the dearth of TouchPad apps.

4: Keep eyes on Todd Bradley.  Bradley sure sounds like he’d love to get his hands on HP’s PSG business and run that spin off himself. And many HP partners say he’s just the guy who could make a go of it.

5: Don’t rule out an Oracle bid.Never say never to a buyout bid by Oracle. You know that Oracle CEO Larry Ellison would love to throw out a low bid–egged on by lieutenant Mark Hurd (the guy who used to run HP.) WIth HP’s hardware franchise (minus the PCs ) and services arm, Oracle really could fulfill Larry’s dream of being the next IBM circa 1960. Cautionary word to Larry though: The good news is you’d be IBM. The bad news is you’d be IBM.

 Let us know what you think about this post; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com,

Since Muglia’s impending exit was telegraphed last January (via a published e-mail that indicated a disagreement between Muglia and CEO Steve Ballmer over cloud strategy)  many inside and outside of Redmond were guessing where he’d land.

Juniper makes sense. Juniper CEO Kevin Johnson (who will be Muglia’s new boss) was a long-time Microsoft exec. And Juniper, which has given Cisco fits with its aggressive networking hardware push, has indicated grander plans that have a lot to do with– you guessed it — software and the omnipresent cloud.

 More here from All Things D, which broke the Muglia story.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com, or follow us on twitter.

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– The Microsoft Lync Solution Incentive Program is big news for Lync partners such as Rob Husted, solutions architect at Cerium Networks.”We are very excited about this, we’ve been asking for it since 2008,” Husted said. “It’s extremely important for us because before we were built on services only and now that we can get rebates from Microsoft, it will increase motivation on our sales team.”

– Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said that the company’s decision to run Windows 8 on ARM and System on a chip (SoC) was its biggest in 25 years. We learned this week that EA renewals are playing a big part in the Windows 8 push. But Cliff Sweazey, executive vice president of Innovative Integration, Inc., wants to see customer reaction to the new Windows 8 layout.

“People are happy with Windows 7 and I’m interested to see what customers think of the tiles instead of the icons because you need to remember that we aren’t in the consumer space,” Sweazey said. “The training involved is a important piece — even if they’re coming from Windows 7 we’ll need to train them on how to use the tiles, applications and features.”

Pierre Hall, Solutions Director for Computacenter in the UK, is seeing 62% market share with Windows 7 and agrees that Microsoft has a lot of work do with migrating customers to Windows 7 from XP but doesn’t think it’s too early for Windows 8.”[Microsoft] needed to start integrating their application tiers and since customers take time to adapt, it’s good they’re showing it early,” Hall said.

–Microsoft claimed to increase Windows Intune’s Cloud Essentials licenses from 10 to 25 and the number of Cloud Accelerate partners from 25 to 100. It also split the Unified Communications competency into seperate ”Messaging” and “Communications” competencies.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Pat Ouellette, Associate Editor, at pouellette@techtarget.com , or follow us on twitter.

1: If Steve Ballmer’s out, who’s in?

Don’t get me wrong. This partner crowd is not Wall Street — there are no torches and pitchforks. But they are acutely aware of the pressure Ballmer is under as Microsoft tries to navigate this very tricky cloud course. So speculating on who’s next is sort of natural.

No one really expects the “Bill-Gates-returns-to-save-the-day” scenario play out.  Some musings though: Maybe Microsoft buys Nokia (it’s number one partner on Windows 7 Phone)  and gets Stephen Elop back into the fold as number 1.

Steve Sinofsky has to be the inside favorite to take over the top slot, although some in Redmond see Chris Capossela (chriscap) as a dark horse.

2:  Dynamics NAV ERP isn’t anywhere near cloud ready.

It’s barely Web ready. Let alone Web-ready. Still.

Concern that the first release of Dynamics NAV cloud, due in 2012, will not support multitenancy was dismissed as nit-picking by one exec. Funny, what do you want to bet that when Microsoft finally does support multitenancy that multitenancy will become a huge selling point? And there is big concern among Microsoft Dynamics ERP products that Azure is definitely not ready to run ERP.

 3: The old Microsoft vs. Cisco unified comms war is back on.

It went away for awhile probably because Cisco picked its server fight with Hewlett-Packard but now the unified communications war is back with Microsoft Office president Kurt Delbene helpfully pointing out that ten million Cisco lines hit end of support soon and that a good new home for them would be Lync.

All the Microsoft execs and minions pounded the drum hard for Lync this week, claiming huge sales successes but it’s unclear where all those users are. Not even Microsoft’s own PR firm uses it.

COO Kevin Turner sounded downright irate talking about how Cisco “milked” 75% to 80% margins on its UC gear. (Note to Turner: Publicizing a rival’s high margins to a crowd of hungry VARs is probably not a wise strategy.)

 4: Meet Google: The New Evil Empire

This is interesting if not surprising: Google Plus has got a lot of knickers in a twist with its intrusive nature –yes even among Google fanboyz.

Here’s one comment:

“People I don’t know keep adding me to their “circles” on Google+…it is annoying as hell. A) I want out, but don’t know how to get out. B) This will be a giant PR disaster for Google. To paraphrase Churchill, never have so many been creeped out so quickly by so few.”

Turner got a belly laugh on Wednesday when he said Google had to have a mission statement to remind itself not to be evil. Smugness may not be a good policy here however: Many people see Microsoft as the lesser of two evils–maybe of three if you count Facebook. Not a compliment. It’s all relative.

5: Windows 7 Phone is good but still too late

Nearly everyone concedes that Microsoft finally has a strong phone OS. The problem is its a good phone OS circa a few years ago. And while Microsoft partners “get” that the company needs to use Bing to drive consumer interest and advertising, they’re not buying that the Bing “decision engine” outsearches Google. It just ain’t so no matter how many times you say it is.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

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LOS ANGELES — It’s been an eventful 24 hours since I hit the tarmac at LAX Sunday to attend my first Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). From Dodger Stadium and its army of police officers to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer explaining why his “all in” cloud message at WPC 2010 scared him, there has been a lot of action. And more questions than answers. Here are 10 things that struck me as I made my way through the LA Convention Center and the Staples Center.

1: Do partners have faith in Jon Roskill?
Aside from telling partners to hiss at the mention of VMware, I wonder how convincing Roskill was in his keynote. Unlike, Ballmer, Roskill didn’t seem excited up on the stage. But then again, who could replicate that? Not mentioned was that coming into the show many partners are unhappy with the lack of information about their role (or lack thereof) in Windows Azure and Office 365. Some of that will be addressed Tuesday, or so we are promised. But if I’m a partner struggling to make ends meet and hear about how, for  very dollar Microsoft makes, I can make $8.70 or that 58% of partners are “in the cloud,” I have to wonder.

2: Steve Ballmer’s partner love.

VARs heading into the  Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference next week have a lot of questions for the software giant. They want clarification of its cloud message and they need to hear just exactly why it is they should keep signing on to the Microsoft Partner Network.  But those are just a couple of the questions. Here’s an unscientific sampling of what they want to hear about at WPC 2011 in Los Angeles.

1: Will Microsoft use the “F word?”
Microsoft explored, then buried, the idea of creating  “franchise” partners–at least in the Microsoft Dynamics business solutions world. But some expect the idea to resurface at WPC, albeit under a different name. Turns out the “F word” has a lot of knotty tax repercussions attached that wouldn’t help anyone. The idea, though, is to figure out a way that a raft of small but skillful Microsoft Dynamics VARs could actually profit selling, implementing and supporting Microsoft Dynamics-based solutions.

2: Can Microsoft Skype P2P threaten Google Voice?
How viable will Skype beyond the consumer market? Larry Piland, president of Datel Systems, Inc., a San Diego, Calif.-based solution provider, wants to see Microsoft’s plans for its new acquisition.

“I’m curious how Microsoft plans to take on Google Voice. How will the Skype acquisition and its XBOX integration affect non-retail sales (which are only 2% of its business)?,” he said. “Cisco wanted to be everything to everyone (i.e. Flip camera) and it hasn’t been able to do that — Microsoft won’t be able to either.”

This is especially pertinent because some with an open-source bent worry that Microsoft will “ruin” Skype.

3: What’s with the Office 365 go-to-market?
Microsoft itself and a (very) select group of hosting, ISP and SaaS partners will be able to bill for But what about everyone else?

“Will they change the Office 365 billing model? We’ve been asking this for a few years but we’ll keep asking,” said Carl Mazzanti, CEO of eMazzanti Technologies

It’s important for most VARs to be able to bill for the services they resell. That has not been the case with BPOS nor will it apparently be so for Office 365 unless they are one of the chosen few “syndication” partners.

4: Does Microsoft’s overall cloud strategy make sense for partners?
Since Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed that Microsoft will be “all in” the cloud, the company has made progress although there are still gaps and confusion about how partners can or will participate.

Rand Morimoto, CEO of Convergent Computing didn’t think there was much consistency or cohesion in the cloud message last year, but things have improved since.

“What we’ve [seen] over the past three to six months really has been solidified, new products are coming out (i.e. Office 365, System Center 2012, Exchange 2010 SP2, etc…) that ‘cloud’ into reality for Microsoft,” he said. Morimoto hopes WPC will be a platform to show that all the product groups to have worked together on a good overall message, strategy, and clarity where partners fit in.

Dave Sobel, CEO of Evolve Technologies wants to go to market with Microsoft on the cloud, but is wondering when it will bring the goods.

How long can partners wait for Microsoft to catch up to the rest of the market? They’ve been supporting direct cloud sales, but Microsoft’s been missing the boat with the channel,” Sobel said.

Sobel also brought up an interesting point: Microsoft has taken its fair share of criticism for years about its complicated licensing for products across the board, but after two years it has ONE cloud billing model. Something to think about heading into the WPC.

5: Can partners use Azure? (Addendum to #4)
Partners are still withholding judgement on Microsoft’s Platform as a Service (PaaS).
“I want to learn more about Azure because I’m still vague on it. I’ve talked to people who have high hopes for it but depending on what we hear at WPC, we may revisit offering it,” Mazzanti said.

Morimoto is intrigued by Azure, but doesn’t see taking off just yet.

“We’re doing some Azure right now, but the reality is organizations still have a HUGE investment in internal IT, so 95%+ of our clients are still doing IT the way they’ve been doing it over the past two decades,” he said via email. “The cloud is of interest because of all the buzz, but other than some trials and dabbling, until the cloud really “works” and the model truly is just as good as internal IT and cheaper, it’s more of a novelty right now than IT reality.”

6: What the heck is going on with the Dodgers?

Okay,it’s not a Microsoft question but seeing as how we’ll be in LA for the big show, it sure would be nice to ck out Chavez Ravine and get a Dodger dog. But will the cash-strapped Dodgers be able to field a team? With Frank McCourt barely being able to pay what he owes former stars Juan Pierre and Manny Ramirez, let’s hope there will be Dodger baseball before the All-Star break on July 11. One thing’s for sure: Tickets will be cheap.

7: Is the Microsoft Partner Network worth joining?

Microsoft VARs still wonder whether attaining the top-tier Microsoft “Gold” designation worth the hassle. While some deadlines were extended to October, many current Golds still not sure that there’s enough money to be made selling, supporting, servicing Microsoft software to justify the resource drain of getting certified.

8: How will Microsoft ERP hosting partners deal with Microsoft-hosted ERP?

Microsoft ERP hosting partners now know that Microsoft-hosted ERP will compete with them and want to know if/how the company will help them preserve (knock wood!) build their businesses going forward.

9: How ready IS Microsoft-hosted ERP?
Microsoft was hazy on the timeline for the aforementioned cloud ERP will be ready but partners who’ve seen the code say it won’t be any time soon. There’s concern that critical pieces of the overall solution—report writer etc.—are not yet cloud enabled at all. Some partners said the decision to move three out of four existing code bases to the Microsoft cloud makes sense given all the vertical capabilities built atop them and the industry-specific expertise they bring to bear. Others said this would be the perfect time for Microsoft to cut bait and move to one, thoroughly modern ERP code base. It would almost be like the promised-then-skuttled “Project Green!”

10: Will Windows 8 hype hurt Windows 7?

Despite good reviews and what Microsfot describes as record sales, there’s a lot of Windows XP still deployed two years after Windows 7 release. The fact that Microsoft has shown off Windows 8 may just keep XP shops right where they are until they assess their next step.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

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“Trying to operate in the old way — for example, hiring a large integrator to run your implementation — misses the point (and the cost benefits) of cloud, experienced users believe. One company was quoted $20 million to move to a software-as-a-service solution for HR because they had brought in a third party to do it for them, when another very large company had done the whole thing for less than a quarter of that. ‘A lot of people just don’t get it yet.’”

Ouch, I believe, is the technical term. This should provide some interesting fodder for conversation at the upcoming Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference.

Microsoft has been trying to tread a fine line with this whole “to the cloud” business. It’s trying to persuade consumers and businesses that the Microsoft Azure cloud is the place to develop, run and manage their applications. This despite the fact that none of Microsoft’s own cloud offerings run on that overly-hyped cloud yet.  Details, details.

But it’s also been trying to reassure its partners, ISVs but more especially VARs and systems integrators, that there is room and opportunity for them in the Microsoft cloud as well. Clearly, this is a sticky wicket for Microsoft which has been  far more partner focused than its competitors for its entire life span.

Now, these HBR vanity pieces are the kinds of thing IT companies love to pay for and no one reads except, in this case, at least one VAR who was so irked that he ratted Microsoft out to a reporter.

What Microsoft — and others — need to remember especially as more Hotmail, Amazon Web Service, gMail, you-name-the-cloud service goes dark or gets hacked or suffers other indignities, is that most customers need local, trusted advisers to help  with both their on-premises AND cloud implementations.

Let us know what you think about the story; email Barbara Darrow, Senior News Director at bdarrow@techtarget.com.

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