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Small Business Offensive Tom Healy Is Spearheading Best Buy’S Push Into Small Business Sales 0606rcp_cover 5/9/06 4:32 PM Page 1 ChannelRedmond Partnerwww.rcpmag.com ■ June 2006 DRIVING SUCCESS IN THE MICROSOFT PARTNER COMMUNITY Honored as BEST START-UP PUBLICATION Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Awards 2006 Best Buy’s Small Business Offensive Tom Healy is spearheading Best Buy’s push into small business sales. Can partners handle the competition? 22 +Going Gold: Worth the Effort? 30 A Dynamic Approach to ERP 36 Make Specialization Work for You 42 Project8 5/3/06 4:05 PM Page 1 Project8 5/3/06 4:06 PM Page 2 Project1 5/3/06 11:22 AM Page 1 0606rcp_TOC_1.v7 5/9/06 4:21 PM Page 1 Redmond ChannelPartnerJune 2006 DRIVING SUCCESS IN THE MICROSOFT PARTNER COMMUNITY FEATURES DEPARTMENTS 42 36 22 Best Buy’s Small-Business Offensive In a move that’s making some Microsoft partners jittery, the retail giant plans to double the number of stores targeting SMBs this year. 14 30 Going for the Gold 4 PARTNER POINTS 22 Making the jump from Certified to Gold License management issues addressed and suggestions Certified is worth the effort—but not necessarily offered; a defense for Software as a Service; a reader for the reasons Redmond emphasizes. expands his prospects with inside information 6 CHANNEL REPORT 36 Getting Serious About ERP Support deadline looms for Windows 98/SE/Me . 6 Microsoft is getting serious about Dynamics, Piracy in China tempers business opportunities . 8 and partners should, too. Microsoft Partner Calendar . 9 Microsoft earnings a mixed bag for partners . 10 30 42 One Hat or Many? ANATOMY OF THE DEAL: Microsoft-Hyperion Solutions . 12 Can your IT services company be a generalist PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: Intellagent Solutions and a specialist? Making the move from service provider to product vendor . 14 51 SOLUTION SPOTLIGHT Virtual Server 2005 R2: The update release has a range of applications that can help your customers RCPmag.com improve efficiency and cut costs. Need Technical Information? COLUMNS Stop by RCPmag.com’s Tech Library for valuable FindIT Codes technical papers on a variety of topics in PDF format. PARTNER ADVOCATE: Scott Bekker You’ll get expert advice from the editors at Redmond You’ll see FindIT codes Push for Answers on Software as a Service . 2 (our sister publication) on topics like stopping spam, embedded throughout Redmond Channel PARTNER VIEW: Jeff Rudolph, Partner in Charge, better data recovery, Group Policy and much more. Partner. Simply type these Plus, leading IT vendors explain how to get the most Sikich LLP into the FindIT code box The Best Estimate . 19 out of their latest offerings. Best of all, everything’s on any RCPmag.com page free—you can download as much as you want, and you’ll jump directly to whenever you want, by completing a simple, one- the desired information. MSP VIEW: Charles Weaver, President, MSPAlliance (Note that all FindIT codes So You Want To Be an MSP… . 20 time registration. are one word, and they Find out more and download your favorites today. are not case-sensitive.) FindIT code: Library DIRECTIONS: Paul DeGroot Striking the Balance in Partnership . 56 COVER PHOTO BY JOE TRELEVEN 0606rcp_Advocate_4.v7 5/9/06 6:19 PM Page 2 ChannelRedmond Partner DRIVING SUCCESS IN THE MICROSOFT PARTNER COMMUNITY RCPmag.com June 2006 ■ Volume 1 ■ Number 8 Partner Advocate Editorin Chief Scott Bekker [email protected] Executive Editor Anne Stuart [email protected] SeniorEditor Lee Pender [email protected] Managing Editor WendyGonchar [email protected] Solution SpotlightEditor Lafe Low [email protected] Push for Answers Editors, RCPmag.com BeckyNagel [email protected] Michael Domingo on Software as a [email protected] Associate Editor, Web Daniel Hong [email protected] Service ArtDirector Scott Shultz [email protected] SeniorGraphicDesigner Alan Tao [email protected] By Scott Bekker customers. And the company is looking at In the March issue of Redmond Channel building up a global infrastructure of server Partner, Rich Freeman’s cover story took a farms that could support that business Group Publisher HenryAllain comprehensive look at Software as a Service. model. How serious is Microsoft? Ozzie has Redmond Media Group [email protected] The gist was that Microsoft is moving rapidly a 300-page printout on his desk detailing Editorial Director Doug Barney toward this new Internet-based delivery the locations of telecom and power sources Redmond Media Group [email protected] Group Associate Publisher Matt N. Morollo model, and, as a partner, you need to start around the world. Redmond Media Group [email protected] Ithinking about where that will leave you. For Microsoft, the emphasis seems to be DirectorofMarketing Michele Imgrund [email protected] When we started working on the article, on matching Google and Yahoo. As big as SeniorWeb Developer Rita Zurcher a lot of information was coming out of Microsoft is its leadership is genuinely con- [email protected] Marketing Programs Videssa Djucich Microsoft about this services push, includ- cerned about being outmaneuvered by its Associate [email protected] ing internal memos from Bill Gates and Ray search-engine rivals. But just because Editor, ENTmag.com Scott Bekker [email protected] Ozzie and the company’s efforts on Windows Google and Yahoo are the ones in the Editor, MCPmag.com Michael Domingo Live and Office Live. crosshairs doesn’t mean that partners [email protected] Editor, Redmondmag.com BeckyNagel Although the memos were highly publi- won’t feel the impact when big changes hit. CertCities.com [email protected] cized outside the company, it was hard to It’s been apparent since last year that tell at first how much momentum they had Microsoft is approaching small business inside. Also, with the main memo coming customers directly online. With ad-sup- President & CEO Neal Vitale [email protected] from new guy and Chief Technical Officer ported free e-mail and Web sites for compa- CFO Richard Vitale Ray Ozzie, instead of Chairman and Chief nies with 10 or so employees, the Office [email protected] Executive Vice President Michael J. Valenti Software Architect Bill Gates, who is the Live push threatens partners whose busi- [email protected] traditional sender of disruptive internal ness relies on implementations at the Assistant Controller Janice Ryan missives, it was hard to know how seriously smallest customer sites. The strategic fight [email protected] Director, PrintProduction MaryAnn Paniccia to take the messages. with Google and Yahoo signals that [email protected] But evidence that the online-services Microsoft could also soon chase partners Director, Data Services Abraham Langer [email protected] initiative is real, and that the company is up the value chain when it comes to mid- DirectorofWeb Operations Marlin Mowatt serious about change, keeps piling up. size and even enterprise customers. [email protected] Director of IT JerryFrazier Recently, Fortune magazine ran an inside You need to push hard for answers from [email protected] account in which key Microsoft executives your Microsoft contacts about how and Chairman ofthe Board JeffreyS. Klein [email protected] spoke frankly about the business discus- when these services are going to be real. sions and sense of urgency permeating the And you need to keep after partner execu- Redmond Channel Partner The opinions expressed within the articles and other contents herein upper echelon at Microsoft. tives to make sure they’re thinking about do not necessarily express those of the publisher. Postmaster: Send address changes to A few details from the Fortune article ways for partners to fit into the picture. The Redmond Channel Partner, P.O. Box 2166, Skokie, IL 60076 bring sobering news for partners. Microsoft Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference is looking seriously at providing hosted e- in July would be a great place to start mail and file server capability to enterprise that conversation. • BPA Worldwide Membership Applied forMarch 2006 2 REDMOND CHANNEL PARTNER June 2006 RCPmag.com Project3 5/9/06 9:37 AM Page 1 Provide accurate anddependable tax rates Cover all states Provide comprehensive taxability decisions Reduce the time it takes to fi le tax returns Provide ZIP + 4 extensions Assign rates by address and zip code I need solutions that: Ensure sales tax compliance and integrate with the Microsoft® Dynamics Suite Lower my total cost of ownership Validate addresses Maintain control of the fi nal approval process And I got them: CertiTAX®, ZIPsales® Returns, and ZIPsales® Database Technology-driven sales and use tax solutions from CCH will streamline all areas of tax compliance for your company. A wide array of programs such as CertiTAX, ZIPsales Returns, and ZIPsales Database integrate seamlessly with Microsoft® Dynamics AX, GP, SL, and NAV to save you time and increase productivity. So whether you need accurate tax rates and taxability decisions for over 8,000 jurisdictions in the United States or help populating and filing sales and use tax returns, turn to CCH — the industry leader with over 90 years in the business. For more information, call 1-800-630-22181-877-CCH-8368 The Professional’s First Choice or visit SalesTax.com/MSDSalesTax.com/Integration. 0606rcp_PartnerPointsv.5 5/9/06 12:25 PM Page 4 A Sampling of Letters PartnerPoints License Management Made Easy [In reference to Paul DeGroot’s Directions SAAS COMPANIES REALLYDO CARE I disagree with Christopher Bell’s comments column, “My Dog Ate My License,” May [see “Partner Points,” April 2006, p. 4]. A 2006], given Microsoft’s supposed major SaaS company cares about your data as push for the [small to midsize business] much as you do because a SaaS company will no longer be in business if it does not. SMB market, I do not understand why they Because you pay monthly, instead of don’t make it easier for SMBs to purchase upfront, and because we need to have many happy customers to be successful (low price- the software in North America.
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