Partner Advocate

We're on Your Side

Welcome to <i>Redmond Channel Partner </i>magazine, here to serve your interests and act as your advocate with Microsoft and your customers.

• By Paul Desmond
• July 01, 2005

As the name of this column implies, we're on your side. Our intention is a simple one: to provide stories that help Microsoft partners grow their businesses. We will always have your interests in mind. Like Superman in search of "truth, justice and the American way," we will be vigilant in defending the interests of Microsoft Partners.

That's not to equate Microsoft with Lex Luthor, an evil entity that must be defeated. Far from it. Partnership implies cooperation, and any properly functioning Microsoft partnership requires a great deal of it, from both sides. When it's going well, it's a beautiful thing—good work gets done for happy customers and everyone makes money.

But let's face it, there's an adversarial element to the relationship as well, because each side often wants a little more out of the other. We'll try to show you how to keep such flareups to a minimum. But when it's warranted, we won't be shy about standing up for your interests. We'll voice your concerns in our feature stories and in our dealings with Microsoft. At the same time, we'll present Microsoft's side of the story, and offer advice that can help you get more attention and better terms.

How do we know we can pull this off? Because we've been doing all of that at a magazine intended for your clients. Our sister publication, Redmond magazine, targets Microsoft end-user companies. For nearly a year now, Redmond has been the "Independent voice of the Microsoft IT community." Having served as editor of Redmond, I can assure you it is just that—an independent voice. We'll be carrying the same philosophy to Redmond Channel Partner.

Fulfulling our mission of "Driving success in the Microsoft Partner community" requires that we have a dialogue with you. We need you to let us know about the issues that irk you, and the challenges you face, whether it's dealing with customers, technology or simply running your business. Your issues will become our stories. By the same token, we also want to hear about your successes, and pass along words of wisdom. So we'll routinely ask you to communicate with us, from within the pages of Redmond Channel Partner, through our Redmond Partner Update e-mail newsletter and our RCPmag.com Web site.

On RCPmag.com, by the way, you'll find a wealth of information that complements what you read in the magazine. Whenever you see a "Get More Online" box in our pages, be assured you can visit our Web site to learn more about the topic at hand. That may range from additional original content to links that we've found to relevant information elsewhere. At RCPmag.com, you'll also be able to subscribe to the magazine, which I encourage you to do because I'm confident you'll find it of value.

I also encourage you to take advantage of any opportunity to interact with us, whether it's in response to a specific question or just out of the blue. Only by getting to know you can we truly make this your magazine, and become your advocate with both Microsoft and your customers.

I'm looking forward to this journey. I hope you'll join me.

Paul Desmond
Editor in Chief
[email protected]