Microsoft UK and Microsoft USA

One of the great benefits of being an important partner to Microsoft is the access we get to the movers and shakers in the organisation. Being a Microsoft Gold Partner does not automatically entitle to the sort of access we get at Cobweb. I am typing this in my Seattle hotel room at the equivalent of 3:00 am in the morning because I am a member of the Service Provider Partner Advisory Council – but more of that in a moment.

Last Wednesday, I was invited to attend a round table dinner hosted by Gordon Frasier the current Managing Director of Microsoft UK. In attendance were some of the most important Partners for Cobweb including a number of the large Systems Integrators, the guys who design, build and deploy some of the biggest IT projects in the UK and worldwide. We were, of course given a very articulate view of the Microsoft’s view of the future by Gordon, but what was most interesting to me was that the other Partners showed a lot of interest in prospect of Microsoft opening up this “hosted” market place, indeed I picked up a couple of contacts who were interested in our SharePoint V3 and Hosted CRM V4 offerings coming later in 2008.

Back to Seattle...
It’s going to be a fun session later on this morning, my feedback is that the US Partners are taking te Microsoft move into Hosted Services hard, not surprised really, my feeling is that Microsoft is much more pervasive in the US than the UK and will take more market share more quickly, coupled with the fact that the release is only round the corner here. We are not just covering Microsoft Online Services though, the purpose of this group is for partners to get a much deeper understanding of how to get the best from the partnership and influence where we can, and of course, where appropriate share best practice.

Mark