Susanne Dansey’s Blog

I’ve sat on this post for a while in various forms and my opinions and observations welcome your comments because I know that I am not alone in this way of thinking.

Note: when I say SBSC, I mean ‘Small Business Specialist Certification’.

As many of you know (both UK and WW), I’ve been bouncing around the Community for a while now. I was involved with the piloting of the SBSC programme in the UK and prior to that I worked with HP when they had their own community in the shape of the ‘Centres of Excellence’.

I was also involved with helping grow the Community, I’ve seen it grow from two regional groups to 20 in the UK and Irish Community. I don’t mean Microsoft’s Partner community, but the network of like-minded peers who looked at one another and realised that in some cases, two heads are better than one. And when you want to make a bigger change, a few hundred heads are better than one!

The Community has been a powerful tool for those who have gotten involved; organisations who have recognised that they lack or excel in a particular area understand that dovetailing with those who help ‘complete the picture’ for their clients makes for a more efficient business process rather than stress about being a Jack of all trades and Master of none.

The need for specialisation has never been stronger in a world where the products and services available in our market has never been so diverse; SBS 2003, CRM, BCM, SQL, Office, Vista, Live, Exchange, Silverlight, Popfly, PowerShell, Licensing (don’t we know it!), etc… That’s even before we’ve embarked on 2008 and all the new product releases on the horizon. It’s like standing in a sports shop and thinking you need to buy all the gear and play all the sports - if you did, you’d get exhausted and probably not very good at all of them. You should see Partnering like a sports fantasy team - pick those who are best at what they do - show that ‘team’ to all your clients and they’ll be getting the best you can possibly offer.

And this has worked very well for those who are clever enough to harness it; Gareth Brown (1 of 2 SBSC PALs in UK) gained around £25,000 more  last year just by flicking the Community ’switch’ on. £25,000 he wouldn’t have had just doing what he was doing and £25,000 that he got by changing his business model in an easy way. As I say in my presentation:

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”

There’s a whole separate conversation sitting there regarding who and how to stay in business and there isn’t a silver bullet answer. However, you can decide who should be responsible enough to fire the gun in the first place…

Anyway, back to my post about why Microsoft’s SBSC Programme needs a refresh…

I don’t believe that 100% of the Partners deserve to be in this Programme. In recent months, prospective recruits of the right calibre have looked and  walked away; they’ve seen that the Certified and Gold Partner offerings are far better in terms of incentives (account managers, leads, special events, better consideration from those who they work with). SBSC is still viewed in general as a Registered Partner and that the hurdles given to qualify don’t give the ‘kite mark’ needed to reassure existing Partners, prospects, vendor partners, and more importantly, the customer. There are only the few who appreciate what it is that ‘SBSC’ stands for and why more focus should be placed on this purpose-built small business programme.

It is my understanding that for the SBSC programme to deliver on what was promised at the start (more campaigns and marketing driven to support SBSCers) in the UK we need a good spread of Partners throughout the UK. There is a recognised tipping point that, until reached, will mean that the programme doesn’t step up a grade.

Why?

Why are we waiting for someone in Lands End to join when they may not want to? If there is an end-user looking for someone local now, they still won’t be able to find an SBSCer! They will still have to find a solution provider regardless today! What are we really receiving as a Small Business Specialists from this Programme? Better engagement with Microsoft? I am yet to know any one person who knows every single SBSC and it wouldn’t be good business practice to either. However, those Partners who want to do better; those who want to grow; those who want to engage;  those who run their own businesses; can stand on their own two feet, and should be able to engage where they feel appropriate anyway. Incubation Partners (those who want to grow and need help) and those in the Certified and Gold Partner get this as a service from Microsoft - you get one if you deserve it. Partner Account Managers (PAMs) are a valuable resource and deserve to work with sophisticated Partners.

There is a running joke on the current OEM VAR Roadshow that there are many ‘IT Consultants’ out there who award themselves this title just because they know how to change the screensaver. The irony is that many end users wouldn’t know what makes a consultant a good consultant regardless of whether they are one in the first place. How are they to know what makes an SBSCer any better than XYZ Computers who does it as a professional hobby?

I wouldn’t expect Microsoft to award free business to Partners, but I would expect more promotion to end users of a Programme that they have already sold well to Small Business Resellers. Both groups are SMBs, both make the same style and level of decisions, one group hasn’t a clear idea of who the other group is (and vice versa?). More support is needed to both groups and big brother Microsoft is well positioned to lend a hand.

Activities like the ‘Mr. Busy’ Campaign should not be deemed as a key benefit of the programme. This campaign has already been in operation with Partners in their own formats; moreover, it existed as a marketing campaign for Centres of Excellence. Making something that Partners already did, isn’t dynamic enough to attract those Partners who really should be involved with the Programme to help raise the bar. Making something free that Partners had previously charged for also wasn’t a good move. It was another way of Microsoft using its size and resources to roll over a system that was already in place for those who had ‘dared to be different’. It took a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) away from those who are trying to be better, and gave it to everyone.

On my flight up to Glasgow today to the Microsoft technical road show I observed the flight attendant take the flight meals up the isle. Hardly anyone accepted anything until I realised that there was a charge for it. I don’t think there were many times on a flight that people refused food when it was free and I feel any marketing campaign sold as free isn’t always the best way to achieve our goals. The campaign was taken up by many Partners, but how many used it effectively? How many people divided the collateral between a fewer number of prospects and marketed to them repeatedly?  Give me a gun and I’ll fire it, show me how to aim and hit a target, and I’ll fire it better.

In my view, our voluntary Community currently validates the SBSC programme. There is no denying that Microsoft (Robbie , David, and Aileen to name but a few) helped get the regional Groups off the ground and created events that hosted and encouraged peer networking. My concern is that what does the SBSC Partner Programme offer right now if our Community stopped functioning? Indeed, some regional Groups are suffering - if the SBSC Programme can’t help in any other way but help promote our Groups for now then that will at least be something more that they are doing to support the long-term existence of the Community and SBSC Partners.

I believe that those who are able to affiliate with the Community are going to be the ones who deliver the real traction to Partners and Microsoft. I believe that distribution plays a key part in this. Already in my job, I have been able to look at 50% of these SBSC Partners (they trade with us) and look at what they buy, how they buy, when they buy etc. I’ve got a sales team working with me to understand the Partner profiles better so that we can help prove to Microsoft that the SBSC Partner Programme deserves to stand in its own right. These numbers help me justify why I do what I do and why our focus is specifically on Small Business Partners.

And you know what? I’m proud to be still heavily involved with this Community and now be able to talk the numbers that I couldn’t do before. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the support of those around me who allow me to do what I do. Talking numbers makes the difference; perhaps buying outside of the Channel makes it harder for Microsoft to justify the existence of their Programmes. It also falls to the responsibility of the Partners to recognise how they can help protect their investment.

I’m equally proud to have the relationships with key stakeholders in the Microsoft SBSC Programme that allow me to have candid discussion about how we can change it for all 930 Partners. Regardless of the targets set, we need to get those already involved and loyal reaping the benefits for their efforts.

The SBSC Programme needs to have some real traction to encourage the more sophisticated Partners to continue with their membership or even join. If an end-user receives a bad experience from a local SBSC, the blue badge pitch is smudged for any other SBSCer who comes in to solve the problem. It’s disheartening to have worked for the integrity of the blue badge to have it ruined by someone else’s poor performance.

I want to see all departments flying the flag for all Partners; I want Microsoft regional talks to have SBSC calls to actions, I want the SBSC Partner Directory fixed and at the front of the small business website (not only embedded with the Mr. Busy campaign); I want more ‘pressing of flesh’ by Microsoft with the SBSC Community; and whilst I am happy to send you all copies on request, I want DemoShowCase available for SBSCers as standard. I want the same focus that the OEM team gives to System Builders shared with SBSCers; I want more focus groups for Partners to tell MS what they think about future marketing and why certain products lack the drive in our market. I want SBSC Campaigns communicated better and earlier to our Partners; I want better education within the small business market about the value of the blue badge; I want MS call centres to promote SBSC when they follow up on SBS promotions; I want affiliation programmes between the best SBSCers (bring back Premium SBSC Partners levels) and organisations such as BT as they venture into our SBS play pit.

I want SBSC to divide down into specialisation areas; SBSC Licensing; SBSC Server; SBSC Consulting; SBSC Developer. I want a fellow SBSCer to link up with complimenting SBSCers and get those with specialist areas to be valued and encouraged to grow in their area of competency.

I’ve raised some of these with the SBSC PALs Vijay and Gareth. I want to hear what you think, I want to know that if I can help change it for the better that I’m doing it with your voices in mind. I am the Microsoft Channel Development Manager for Westcoast. I’m paid to develop the Channel with Microsoft in mind. My passion is SBSC, my passion is Partners. Many of you use me as an extra arm to your business; tell me what you want and let’s see if those who have a hand in change can help you.

These are my views and those of you who know me have already discussed these things with me. Jen Brinton grins at me when she sees me get fidgety in my seat when we touch upon this subject and she has been doing a great job at doing and planning how we can make some of these changes. We now need to talk about how we can move forward and, growing pains or not, there are some great ideas from Partners sitting there waiting to be implemented.