Picture Courtsey of David Reese 

Welcome to 2010. Happy New Year to all of you. 

For me this year is about embracing all the changes that took place in 2009. The changes I need to embrace is a wide range such as new role inside Microsoft to big family loss. 

I am looking forward to sharing my learnings, insights and resources with all of you. Here are 5 topics i am planning to write about:

1. All about my learnings on “Network Effect”
2. Positive stories created through powerful partnerships
3. Learning the power of “Greater than Yourself” concept
4. Powerful tips on social media, cloud computing and any new topics
5. Great resources that I find valuable in my career

I wish all of you an incredible 2010 and I would really love to hear your stories and views.

We are excited to : Announce Window7 Exclusive IAMCP Webcast on Nov 3rd

1. Presented by Erwin Visser, Senior Director, Windows Product Group
2. Don’t Miss this Opportunity
3. Register Now. Only 200 spots are open
4. Visit Microsoft Partner Portal to learn more about Windows opportunities
5. Read the Microsoft Channel Chief Partner Call to Action around Windows

Let me know if you have any ideas to make it better.

Online: The Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) presents a free community event featuring top industry SQL Server and Business Intelligence (BI) speakers. 24 Hours of PASS is a series of live, online, hour-long webcasts that focus on SQL Server. Presentations include information on taking better advantage of current SQL Server capabilities, a look at the latest and hottest issues for SQL developers and administrators.

Take advantage of it. Register at : http://24hours.sqlpass.org/

This playbook includes a competitive section that gives partners particular guidance on Amazon.com and Google’s cloud computing offerings. In addition, you will find an in-depth description of the Microsoft Azure Services offering, the partner opportunity, and sales readiness information, including case studies and customer- ready sales content.

You can download the Playbooks and Competitive Information from Microsoft Partner Network Portal. 

You need your login information available to access this great resource.

• Link to Competitive Selling page that links to the download: https://partner.microsoft.com/40018122
• Link to Azure Playbook download: https://partner.microsoft.com/40109629

Let me know your feedback on how we can make this content more effective.

We heard from

•  Bill Veghte about the exciting developments with Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Steven Elop showcased the innovation of Office 2010.
• Bob Muglia gave you new details about Microsoft’s cloud computing offerings and shared the vision for how software-plus-services enables partners to generate new revenue opportunities and provide enhanced customer value.
• Steve Ballmer described Microsoft’s commitment to a long-term investment and growth strategy.
• Kevin Turner gave a compelling review of Microsoft’s competitive strategy and intent to tackle our competition head on by providing a breadth of technologies across the cloud, the enterprise and the web.

Here are some of the resources I would like to share with all of you that will be valuable to increase the partnering power with Microsoft.

• Take full advantage of the new Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) to help strengthen your capabilities and expertise, enable new opportunities, and drive profitability and a competitive advantage.
• Visit Digital WPC all year, for WPC09 presentations, content and partner news.
• Use the Microsoft partner Profitability Modeler Tool to estimate your P&L for new business opportunities.
• Sign up for Digital Distribution to gain faster access to your software benefits, including the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription (MAPS).
• Access unlimited online technical support for Microsoft products and technologies through Online Technical Communities.
• Generate leads, expand reach and grow your business with the Partner Marketing Center.
• Take advantage of Digital Marketing SEO Services for Partners.
• Accelerate sales and close deals faster with Partner Sales Resources.
• Take advantage of Microsoft Financing to help you close more business.
• Demo Showcase provides a collection of scenario-based demos and demo-creation tools to help you create compelling sales presentations.
• Use the Microsoft Online Services Partner Commerce Dashboard to help you track your customer trials and orders, and to manage your sales pipeline.
• Leverage Microsoft Pinpoint to find products, services with the help of an online community that connects businesses with Microsoft Certified companies.
• Ensure your applications are compatible with the latest Microsoft technologies.
• Get started with Microsoft Practice Builder to build your practice around Microsoft solutions.
• Implement higher quality and more predictable solutions for customers with the Microsoft Services Ready Program for Partners.
• Get product and solution training with the Partner Learning Center.

Leave your feedback or ask me questions if you need any help.

http://ask.officelive.com/smallbusiness/media/p/28622.aspx

Give your feedback if this resource helped you.

According to Forrester Research:  “The cost of the average Web self-service session is $1, compared to $10 for an email response and $33 for a telephone call.”

Companies who have mastered self service to provide customer solution are: Amazon, Zappos, Google, Facebook, WordPress etc..

Companies which enable self service strategy reap 4 key benefits :

• Offers accessibility 24 hour-a-day so customer can do business with them anytime, anywhere
• Lower cost solution to customer as compared with telephone or email service by a company representative
• Create Network effort to build scalable business and drive global participation
• Understand and collect individual information about the people who use it to do better market segmentation.

To get started on developing Self Service solution, you need to do the following:

• Make self service as a deliberate business strategy (new business model) and justify the ROI
• Define Value Proposition (Customer, Employee, Supplier)
• Create Self Service business impact statement (Vivid Description of Success in terms of Reach, Revenue, Recogniztion, Productivity, Satisfaction Index and Cost Reduction) 
• Identify Self Service solutions to meet voice of customer needs

Enclosed are the templates that will help you build the self service strategy and plan. http://www.slideshare.net/cvedulla/customer-self-service-4c-framework

If you need any additional information, please leave your comments and email address. I will update the blog accordingly.

Here are the 5 tips that will help you become more productive and efficient:

1. Design Localization Strategy : Make localization discussion part of your core business strategy if you are planning to extend your programs to scale out of United States (AKA English). Localization is a High Cost Value Proposition if this is not planned cleanly. The localization strategy must be clearly aligned which means, you need to have this information:

• What markets are you planning to enter or grow –> Define the need: languages, content and people to work with
• Which audience you are engaging –> English Speakers, Dual Language Speakers, Native Speakers
• How many people will be using –> Determine which core languages you want to prioritize, every language addition = add costs
• When do you want to launch –> Determine the timeliness; vendors; people to engage
• What will be the ROI –> Write a business impact statement (example: Localized 12 content pieces in 12 languages; driving revenue of 25 million; capturing 100 million eyeballs; increase satisfaction by 3 points and saving 100K/month in support costs)
• How much $$ do I need –> All the above will provide an estimate for effort required to localize

2. Define Specifics: To make localization cost effective, deliver high quality and increase time to market, you need few things to be very clear.

• Management Support – Secure the right support from management before execution-which means written signoff
• Content – How many pieces of content (Web, Sales/Marketing, Technical, Tools) are you planning to localize.
• Budget – How much budget you are planning to invest
• Timeframe – When do need to bring all the pieces to market at the same time so impact is very high
• Vendors – Which Vendors to select -Local or Global
• People – Who has experience to execute at Global Level
  Impact – What business impact your are planning to deliver
  Measurement – How to measure end to end touchpoints experience
  Add all the above information, to help you prioritize for execution.

3. Execute Localization – Once you have designed and defined specifics, it is time to execute. This is the step where rubber meets the road. Here are the things to make execution very smooth and effective, which are:

• Define Core Team – Ensure you have all the key stakeholder
• Share the Business Impact – Ensure everyone on the team is aware of the impact (applies Vendors who are supporting the cause)
• Weekly Checkins – Ensure you are engaging with the teams to checkin
• Give Kudos – Recognize every week in your checkin for someone who had made an impact
• Communicate (UP-DOWN-SIDEWAYS) – Take this seriously. Build a standard template to share weekly/monthly progress on changes, impact. This will take you a long way to keep you sponsor supporting the work.

4. Measure Adoption: This is a step we usually forget after localization is done. If you want to assess the impact, you need to measure adoption. Once your content is localized, you need to track who is adopting it. Here is how you track:

• Go back to your design – Identify key people from your market and ask for their adoption plan. This usually changes so much that you will give up very easily. Automate the process by doing GIVE/GET model.
• Give Incentive if you want to see traction.
• Do Community Sharing calls – Get all the market leaders to share how they are adopting and landing the content in the market. This is where you see creative juices flowing. Connect People and Ideas.

5. Measure Business Impact – After all the steps above, measuring business impact will not be difficult. You will realize the business impact if you connect People and Ideas. Once you reach the impact and beyond, communicate.

• Write a best practice and share with others.

Let me know if you would be interested in resources such as Globalization; Localization Design Model; Business Impact Creation Model; Project Management Templates.