Comments on: I want another SBSC Symposium!

By: Steve Wright

Steve Wright — Thu, 17 May 2007 11:54:53 +0000

Sounds like an excellent idea! Seems to me there is a lot happening in the next 12 months or so and an event to tie it all together and get everyone focussed before the long winter months draw in is exactly what we need.

From the last Midlands SBS meeting it was clear that very few SBSC partners have contracts with their customers. This is one way they can make themselves look more professional and protect themselves so I’d like to see some “legal eagles” at such an event that can advise on such stuff.

Maybe we should form an SBS user group working party to come up with a proposal to present to Microsoft detailing what we would want from the event and put some vendors etc. forward?

By: » Do you want another SBSC Symposium?

» Do you want another SBSC Symposium? — Thu, 17 May 2007 08:28:25 +0000

[…] Susanne is on a roll at the moment and she’s got a great post about some ideas for another SBSC Symposium. It’s pretty comprehensive but it would be great to get a wider feedback as to what other people want/feel. Good idea or bad idea? There are some great examples of User Groups focused on Microsoft Technologies running their own day long events down at TVP, supported by Microsoft but content set by the Groups. I’ve always said that we shouldn’t wait for Microsoft to do stuff fo us but we should be taking our constructive ideas to them. I believe they actively want us to do that. Even better, why not offer to deliver some content? […]

By: Richard Tubb

Richard Tubb — Thu, 17 May 2007 07:58:18 +0000

I second that, Susanne (or third, Vijay!). For me, the Symposium in Feb really made me aware that there was a UK SBS Community. As a new SBS, I simply wasn’t aware of half the people/products out there before! Perhaps I hadn’t looked hard enough, but since the Symposium I’ve really moved my own business forwards through the ideas I picked up and through the ongoing help and advice of the great people I’ve met as a result of my attendance in Manchester.

I’m now regularly reading other SBSers blogs and exchanging ideas that help keep me motivated to do more.

I would disagree slightly in that whilst some of the content (Marketing especially) may have been old to some, for me it was worthwhile as it was fairly new.

Anyway, bottom line is, I’d not hesitate for a moment to make the time to come to another Symposium.

By: Vijay Singh Riyait

Vijay Singh Riyait — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:46:13 +0000

Forgot to mention.

It’ll be interesting to see what we can get through the SBSC PAL Programme as this is a Microsoft Corp led thing. This’ll officially kick off at the Worldwide Partner Conference.

By: Vijay Singh Riyait

Vijay Singh Riyait — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:33:08 +0000

Absolutely agree 100%!!

You’ve covered it quite comprehensively but I’d add a couple of thoughts to the mix :-

- Software as a Service e.g. BT/Microsoft Initiative for Small Businesses - how we can take advantage
- Office Live but not just the usual you can build a website for free - how it can be part of the portfolio
- Linking small ISVs with SBSC Partners
- Business Process Integration and Worklow with Office 2007 e.g. Infopath, etc
- Groove 2007 in Small Businesses
- WSS v3
- Hosted Apps e.g Rackspace’s Hosted Exchange Service
- Understanding Open Source (controversial!) - interoperability

Also, people want to know about Cougar. If that’s not posible we need to understand Longhorn Server (Windows Server 2008, Exchange 2007)

I plan to blog as much as possible from the Worldwide Partner Conference.