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SURVEY OF THE MONTH
Love to get your feedback on the Microsoft Financing survey we are currently running.
Sponsors
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Dear Harry,
You are receiving this e-mail newsletter as a customer of SMB Nation. Thank you for your good business!
Did you know that, with summer around the corner, it is time to think about getting your geek on this fall at SMB Nation 2008? We are delighted to report we are ahead of plan in sponsorships and enrollments. Why? Because this fall is a major release cycle for Microsoft and other industry players!
This issue has important stories on Response Point, SBS pricing, the SBS newsgroup hosted on the G spot and much more. Be advised we are hosting Robert Cohen on a Webinar on June 5th at 8:00AM PDT.
Now go out, have fun and get your geek on!
harrybbbbb
Harry Brelsford
CEO | SMB Nation, Inc. | Bainbridge Island, WA USA
PS – Read my new blog! SMB Dude
PPS – I am posting up my purple book for free (Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices) a few pages a day at the SMB Dude blog!
PPPS- Welcome 19thMarketplace as a SMB Nation tribal sponsor.
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Geeks Speak Back: SBS 2008 Pricing!
Whoa – these geeks have beaks! I solicited feedback in my last issue on the new SBS 2008 pricing. Feedback I received:
Tim Sullivan, TRS Network Professionals, LLC wrote:
Here are my first thoughts about the new SBS pricing:
$1,089 seems like a pretty significant price increase (almost 50%) for the standard edition, although I do see that they lowered the CAL pricing which can be bought individually. Perhaps those two will balance out a bit. This will hurt smaller offices and help the larger ones.
The Premium pricing seems about right seeing that we will be getting an extra Server license plus SQL for that server. CAL pricing is a bit steep on this, but is still a pretty good bargain over buying the stand alone products.
There’s my 2 cents!
John A. Ross, RSD wrote:
Pricing on standard and premium, very fair.
Pricing on CAL for standard fair.
Pricing on CAL for premium, outrageous. I simply don’t see the differentiator being that big of an impact to be able to sell the difference on a CAL.
Matt Bryan, KME Systems wrote:
Yikes- That’s some serious inflation! Almost double the cost of 2003. At least they lowered the cost of the CALs a little bit.
I’m also not sure I like the fact that they are bundling trial versions of Live OneCare and Forefront with a server.
Tom Cahill, Cahill Solutions, wrote:
It was great attending the SMB Nation in Toronto last weekend. Had a great time. You asked for opinions on SBS pricing so here it goes. I am surprised at the price difference from SBS 2003 R2. I think it is a big jump. I know that some will point out that SBS now includes the Anti-Virus and Anti-Spam, but they are only 180 day versions. I see that as more of a forced trial then an added feature. If they included a full year subscription to both then it would be another story. I am thinking more of the standard version pricing really. The premium version seems fair considering you get a whole other Server 2008 to install with SQL Standard. I think if SBS standard was under the price of Server 2008 standard then it would be much more attractive, as it is now with SBS 2003 R2.
Fabiano Szuba, SBSer in Brazil, wrote: Price of CALs Premium was extremely high.
Prices of Windows EBS were extremely high.
SBS prices high, without justification for increasing size.
Matt Carter, PC MedEvac, wrote:
I think that Linux and other products will have more of a chance to
compete. The pricing does not appear to be as value oriented as it did previously.
I do see what Microsoft is doing and I am not total against it. However the STD cost was a huge value to the Micro Business and it was very easy to show the value proposition when comparing to plain Jane 2003 server. From a pure business point of view it makes sense for Microsoft to get that differential. Over40% of our clients are Micro Business (10 user or less) and they are going to look closer at the cheaper 2003 STD option and alternatives including going back to POP and IMAP based mail now. My job is to show that the value is still there. A $500 difference on a server will make a difference in this market. The moving target of features and the on again off again backup make justifying the value tough at the moment.SBS 2003 is a great product at a great price. I guess I am spoiled.
Lawrence Augustus, SBSer from South Africa, wrote:
Greetings from South Africa. Compared to pricing for SBS2003 Premium, simply converting at the current $/ZAR exchange rate, these prices are very high. We have not heard from distributors about this yet. Without any further information I would say the price is steep.
Todd Holloway, Custom Technologies Inc, wrote:
I think Microsoft has missed the mark in a big way for its smaller customers (the ones that SBS was initially designed for). Now, having said that most of the medium sized companies will probably stay with SBS and move forward, but I can see smaller companies that are struggling to get their first server solution left out of the game. Right now it is hard enough to sell the “Server” concept to companies with less than five users. With the cost increasing so dramatically it will cut the entry level market sales for our company by at least two thirds or more.
Microsoft needs to realize that the target customers for SBS are watching every penny they have.
Michael Pomerleau, a SBSer, wrote:
Looks like Microsoft is increasing the price, cutting functionality (removing ISA) and requiring more hardware (64 bit for Exchange 2007). I’ll be holding on to SBS 2003 R2 Premium until end of life support. Has that date been set yet?
Robert Harris, Harris Digital Services, wrote:
I think it is a little pricy for today’s market. Most of my clients are pinching pennies trying to remain above water. They’re really thinking twice before even upgrading workstations. Does anyone have pricing on upgrades?
Dr. John S. Simpson, Advanced Business Concepts, wrote:
I think the pricing jump for Small Business Server 2008 is going to make it tougher on already tight budgets. The concept of SBS was a lot easier to sell when it fit small budgets, but now in addition to the OS pricing increase, License pricing increase, there will also be an increase in the hardware a small business needs to purchase to install it on. I am talking about the under say 15 user shops (physician offices, small financial groups, retail operations, etc.) where we already spend a lot of time trying to show the ROI and added benefits, it will be a tougher sell. A lot of these smaller groups already believe they can get by with a few desktops that they have “been using for years”. When we can show them a value proposition at a reasonable price, they will listen. For larger businesses I don’t think it will be as big a deal, but in today’s economy everyone is looking for the best pricing. Don’t get me wrong, I still think SBS is a great product and believe in its value to the smb market. Just my thoughts on the pricing.
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Meet 19Marketplace
Just as the pay-as-you-go concept of Software as a Service (SaaS) opened new distribution channels for software vendors – so has Managed Services opened new opportunities for IT consultants.
Today’s business executives are becoming increasingly hesitant to make major capital investments in technology. SaaS, coupled with managed services, gives businesses an option to have their IT needs taken care of instead of paying for on-site equipment and staff.
In a recent survey conducted by THINKstratgegies, nearly every SMB and large-scale organization interviewed admitted that although they were attracted to the benefits of managed services, they would not acquire managed services from a provider they haven’t already done business with. Here’s the opportunity: Your customers already view you as a trusted advisor. By incorporating a more business-oriented sales approach with managed services, you can help your customers realize:
q Increased IT availability and performance
q Reduced total cost of ownership
q Improved productivity and IT return on investment
How can 19Marketplace Help?
19Marketplace has created a unique SaaS aggregation platform that provides a convenient way for businesses to buy and use on-demand software services. We research the industry to find quality on demand services and the most secure hosting facilities, then develop partnerships with those top providers to make all their products and services accessible through a single website.
What does this mean to you?
There are two ways that partnering with 19Marketplace can help you be more successful: (1) providing you with the tools to enhance your own internal operations, and (2) giving you a wider range of business applications to sell your customers that are valuable to them and profitable for you. Click HERE to learn how 19Marketplace can help you transition to managed services and register for your free whitepaper – Selling Managed Services.ull text.
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JUNE 2008 WEBINAR!
“It’s Time For A Paradigm Shift” with Robert Cohen
June 5 8:00AM PDT (UTC-7)
This June Webinar is part of the HP\MS FLP “8 in 2008″ series.
BREAKING NEWS: HP will be giving away two (2) Amazon gift certificates valued at $100 USD each to two luck winners!
The IT Industry has changed the way the world does business. Now, it’s time to change how the IT industry does business, beginning by building a foundation around: communication; trust; collaboration; effective deployment of human resources; and partner enablement.
Vendors sell products. SMBs buy solutions. VARs bridge the gap. In the SMB marketplace where VARs play a pivotal role, the need for Vendors to respect VARs as Trusted Business Advisors rather then pigeon holing them as an extended sales force is essential.
This presentation will discuss why a paradigm shift is essential and what the ChannelLine Advisory Council is doing to help facilitate the shift and make the Channel more effective for all stakeholders.
Robert Cohen, President and Business Editor, Integrated mar.com Corporation
Just for attending, we will give you a suite of vendor-neutral marketing enablement tools for one year. This FREE package ($7,200 value) includes: a CRM tool, turnkey web catalog, your own customizable eNewsletter and HTML direct mailer and inclusion in a heavily publicized VAR Locator.
In exchange, we want your help. Ask the tough questions. Challenge our thinking. Join us. Together we will make the Channel more profitable for all of us.
Robert Cohen, a passionate and enthusiastic channel advocate, is the founder of the ChannelLine Advisory Council as well as president and business editor of Integrated mar.com, publishers of Channel Advisor, eChannelLine and ConnectIT. Since 1980, he has worked with 350 IT vendors, distributors and resellers in developing and implementing strategic go-to-market programs, using a variety of direct, channel and hybrid models.
BEST PRACTICE: You can now download ALL of our Webcasts HERE
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Costco Selling RP!
Early Wednesday morning, Microsoft announced that Costco.com would start selling the Microsoft Response Point system. The Syspine product from Quanta is the actual SKU being sold. So how do partners fare? I see two benefits.
Growing the overall RP ecosystem. RP is meant for bigger and better things – it is a telephone system and there are a lot of people in the world using telephones! It is not VisualStudio targeted at a developer community. It also doesn’t have the complexity of a Windows Small Business Server solution, so an e-tailer play, viewed from a overall ecosystem growth strategy viewpoint, is worthy.
Referrals to RPers. The press release HERE makes mention to use your trained Response Point Reseller. Rex Backman, RP product and partner manager, posted up on the RP Yahoo! Group earlier (http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/responsepoint/ ) that further partner referral enhancements are forthcoming. Sounds like a reasonable plan from a reasonable man. For those of you who do not know Rex, you should take my word for it that he is fair-minded and will sort it all out.
So let me know what you think and I will post your feedback in the next issue. To give me your feedback, please click over to my blog, SMB Dude, and post a comment suitable for printing! SMB Dude Blog.
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Susan Solves Remote Access Wizard Malady
You might recall in the last GeekSpeak issue (Issue 2-11) that Robert Springer had a problem with his RRAS not completing. Susan Bradley, a prominent SBS MVP, suggested the following link for the solution: Remote Access Problem Solved HERE
BEST PRACTICE: Consider joining the SBS group up on GoogleGroups. The figure below shows much activity over the past FIVE YEARS!
The URL link is HERE.
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QuickHitters
SBS Community Survey
Want even more fun?
Complete the third annual official SBS community survey as explained by my main man Kevin Beares at MS Redmond!
The Windows Small Business Server 2008 WW Community Survey is live
This is the third year we have published an SBS WW Community Survey to the SBS Community.
We have learned an amazing amount of information from the people who have taken the time to tell us what they thought. Some things we kind of knew already, but other things were not as clear before we had received the feedback.
Because of the previous surveys, we have made some adjustments in our community engagement. To name a few; we really worked on putting more focus on the Official SBS Blog. Our Sustaining Engineering team runs mini betas with our MVPs before KB’s and Bug Fixes are released via Windows Update. We try to get more involvement in our techbetas from our User Groups. The list does go on.
To the survey, the SBS Product Team would like to hear from the Windows SBS Community again. This survey is completely anonymous. In fact, some of you may have to sign out from Live in order to take the survey. So, if you get a PAGE NOT FOUND error message, please log out of Live and click on the link to the survey again.
We want to know how valuable your experience is with the community resources and information that is available to you today as a member of the Windows SBS Community. We also want to know what you think could be done to improve your Windows SBS Community Experience. Please take a couple of minutes to provide us your candid feedback via this survey and let us know what you think.
Thanks in advance for your feedback. Kevin Beares
Community Lead – WSSG
TS2 UpdatesRegister for TS2 + IW Practice Builder events for Partners in June! Attend an upcoming TS2 Event to learn about the customer advantages of implementing Windows Server 2008, and get a sneak peek of Small Business Server 2008. Plus, get an overview of Microsoft Software + Services, and learn how the Information Worker Solutions competency can help increase your revenues. For more information and to register, visit www.MicrosoftTS2.com.
Microsoft Small and Midsize Business Partner Forum: Day One at WPC
Attend the premier event for Microsoft Small Business Specialists and other technology professionals seeking to strengthen their small-business practice. This forum is part of the expanded four-day Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC), which now includes a small- and midsize-business market-segment track. Hear industry experts and peers share strategies and best practices.
Register Now  SMBPF Sessions include:
Marketing Ideas that Work: Plan, Execute & Report for Marketing Success
Goal Setting for Business Success
Transformation to S+S: Expand your business by selling hosted services with your brand
Talent Mining: Find the Best, Train the Rest!
Solution Selling creates greater revenue and closes deals faster
Proactive Community Membership: What’s in it for me? Getting the most ROI from the Small Business Specialist Community.
Smart investments for business model expansion: Become a VAR and grow your business
Real World KPI’S and Business Intelligence to Run Your Company
Selling solutions creates greater revenue and closes deals faster
Finding Revenue Opportunities in the Public Sector (Harry is leading this session)
SMB Tracks include:
Small and Medium Business (SMB) Revenue Growth Opportunities and SMB Product Roadmap Mobility, Productivity and Customer Connectivity for your SMB Customers – Today and Tomorrow Increasing Business Productivity: help your customers to stay connected to their business – Anywhere, Anytime Customer Acquisition and Retention: Solutions to Find, Grow, and Retain Customers Security, Reliability, and Line-of-Business for your SMB Customers – Today and Tomorrow The Small and Midsize Business Server Platform: Which Is Right for Your Customer? Secure & Reliable Computing: allow your customers to focus on their Business while you do the rest! Business Solutions to Help SMBs to Improve their Performance and Productivity More money through higher value transactions with SMB customers Microsoft Software Plus Services Strategy: Offer Customers Flexible Choices
SMB Partner Community Magazine
The new issue, featuring Microsoft Response Point, is in the postal mail system. But you can obtain it earlier by following the link below.
Topics include
· Vista SP1
· Managed Services Pricing
· Response Point ROARS!
· And much more including survey data…
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