Aspect Software this month renewed its Microsoft Partner Network membership with an impressive 13 competencies. Even for a Microsoft National Systems Integrator, that's a lot of competencies.
Aspect, a provider of customer contact and workforce optimization solutions, is based in Chelmsford, Mass. and has 1,900 employees worldwide. Microsoft made an equity investment in Aspect in 2008 to guarantee a global partner for delivering contact-center solutions based on the Microsoft unified communications platform. The platform at the time was Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, a product that has morphed into Microsoft Lync Server 2013. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 21, 20130 comments
Microsoft business partners are at the center of U.S. government investigations into bribery allegations in three countries -- China, Romania and Italy.
The Wall Street Journal revealed the preliminary investigations this week in an article about the inquiries by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. The article is based on unnamed sources the paper says are "familiar with the probe." The investigations involve the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a 1977 law prohibiting bribes to foreign government by employees or agents of U.S. companies. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 20, 20131 comments
After reporting earlier this week that Microsoft is dropping OEM licensing costs to goose Windows 8 sales, Digitimes today is quoting channel retailers on the pricing sweet spot the move allows them to target.
The magic number is $506, the publication reported that its Taiwan-based channel retail sources say. That represents a price drop of about 10 percent. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 07, 20133 comments
Business continuity is a huge and mature opportunity for the channel. Much of the selling process centers on technology questions and setup. Doing that part right is critical, but the opposite end of the process often gets overlooked.
Time and again, it's lack of attention to three final steps that leads to a data disaster when recovering from a physical disaster.
1. Scheduling a Full Disaster Rehearsal
Planning and installing a business continuity solution is time-intensive and exhausting. Once the system appears to be up and running, there's temptation on both the partner and customer sides of the deal to move on. The revenues are booked, and backups look like they're occurring correctly. This is no time to quit. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 05, 20130 comments
Through an agreement with Verizon Wireless, Tech Data Corp. partners will now be able to activate 3G and 4G mobile services on Apple iPads and other tablets.
The activations come through Tech Data's year-old TDMobility unit, a joint venture with Brightstar. Charles Kriete, executive vice president of TDMobility, said in an interview that about 700 partners are fully authorized through TDMobility to sell solutions, but that participation is open to Tech Data's entire 60,000 partner ecosystem. He said TDMobility has been adding between 50 and 100 partners a month in North America. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 04, 20130 comments
When it comes to Windows Small Business Server, there are few independent observers as authoritative as Harry Brelsford, founder of SMB Nation.
And when Harry starts posting comparisons of where Office 365 stands now on a maturity scale relative to historical releases of Small Business Server, it's worth paying attention.
In Harry's estimation, the latest version of Office 365 is comparable to SBS 2000, just when SBS was, in his words, "starting to rock."
More
Posted by Scott Bekker on March 04, 20130 comments
The Register sent Andrew Orlowski to Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, where he filed a report on Windows Phone called, "So much noise on WinMob, but Microsoft's silent on lovely WinPhone."
Orlowski brings history, market context and familiarity with the senior Microsoft executives involved to draw a nuanced portrait of the state of Windows Phone 8 and the marketing efforts surrounding it. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 28, 20130 comments
In the fight for cloud share, Microsoft is finally unlimbering one of its best weapons: a uniquely huge channel with unrivaled SMB reach.
Since Microsoft first joined the cloud productivity suite market with the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) in mid-2008, the overall deal with partners has been that Microsoft would bill the customers, while partners would get advisor fees and the opportunity to sell add-on services around the edges. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 27, 20132 comments
I've been using Windows 8 almost daily for about three months, but it turns out this old dog can still learn some new tricks.
The March issue of our sister publication, Redmond, has a cover story with 20 tips for Windows 8. It's written by tech pundit and New York Times columnist David Pogue. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 27, 20130 comments
Do you think Jon Roskill is getting tired of critics hating on the Houston-in-July choice for the 2013 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference?
"Everyone asks me, 'Houston in July, is it really hot?'" Roskill, corporate vice president of the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Group, said during an MPN [Microsoft Partner Network] Live webcast for partners Tuesday. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 26, 20130 comments
Apps are a key to selling customers on Windows 8, according to a panel of partners gathered by Microsoft.
Danny Burlage, CTO at Wortell; Scott Gosling, Microsoft practice manager at Data#3; and Carl Mazzanti, CEO of eMazzanti Technologies joined Microsoft executives on Tuesday for a webcast session of MPN [Microsoft Partner Network] Live about Windows 8 sales. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 26, 20130 comments
Nokia is taking its global portfolio of Lumia phones, and the underlying Windows Phone 8 platform, to more countries.
Nokia on Monday announced two new lower-priced Nokia Lumia phones. Rolled out at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, Spain, were the Lumia 720 and the Lumia 520. In a recent research report, IDC estimated that Nokia accounts for about three-quarters of Windows Phone sales. More
Posted by Scott Bekker on February 25, 20131 comments