Missed today's Big Easy Live Meeting? let me know and i'll send you the deck and handouts. Plus, they mentioned a neat way to let your customers know about this offer, associate yourself with the group. go to

 

while there, please go ahead and get linked to me too :-)

Get Your Geek On – SMB Nation 2008, October 4-6, 2008, Seattle

Join hundreds of Small Business Specialists to learn more about Windows Small Business Server 2008, Essential Business Server and Microsoft Response Point plus many other technologies. BusinessSpeak track features sales activation content, issues sensitive to owners and much more. How To track provides practical hands-on business knowledge that you can apply immediately. Visit www.smbnation.com to sign up. Extended tuition payment plans available.

 

Please let me know if you will attending - can set up some meetings on the side!

suzl@microsoft.com

 

A significant offer was announced at WPC in Houston this year for the new CRM Online product!   Eligible partners can purchase the Professional Plus version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for just $19 per month, per seat – this represents a 60% discount for our partners!  All Certified (including Partners who have signed a CSA agreement), Gold, and SBSC Partners are eligible. Availability will begin in August for North America, with world Wide availability to be announced.

Call to Action: Go to the Partner Portal for more information about the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Offer (https://partner.microsoft.com/CRMforPartners).  Partners can sign up now with no obligation to purchase

I'm on Joanne Black's email distribution list and get these great articles. Had to forward this on and suggest you subscribe. Link is below.

Suzanne :-)

Get In and Get Started

You've heard it all before: Sales experts talk and talk about creating value. If we just create enough value for our clients, they will buy—whatever the price and whatever the economy. What's new about that?

Yes, the economy is lagging and budgets are cut. Yes, we have competition. Yes, clients are postponing decisions. So now what?

Offer New Ideas
Good salespeople have always talked value. Now we need to put ourselves in our clients' shoes and become creative. We must get in and get started. Think smart, not big. It's always smarter to have a smaller piece of something than a big piece of nothing. Begin with a smaller project, a reduced order, or a regional—rather than global—implementation. Get in, and get to know the client. Let them get to know you. Get to know their business.

Create Metrics
Sit on the same side of the table as your client. Work together to determine the best way to get started. Always, always, always create metrics with your client. How do you, together, define success? Get agreement that once the current project is successful—according to the metrics you've agreed upon—the client will work with you to identify other opportunities within his or her organization. A successful project breeds a successful relationship ... and successful referrals.

Negotiate or Walk
Price. Aha! This is the big hurdle. Yes, the client will want to negotiate on price. That's her job—to build business while watching the bottom line. How many times have you submitted a proposed price to a client and had her say right off the bat, "Great! Where do I sign."? It doesn't happen. We always want to get the best deal, so why wouldn't our clients?

If you must adjust your price, adjust the scale of your project or the deliverables as well. Always get something in return for a reduced rate and write it into your agreement. Maybe the client agrees to write a testimonial or promises to refer you to another business unit in his organization or to someone they know at a different company. Maybe you barter some of your services. Bartering is an age-old way of doing business, and it makes sense in many cases if you want what your client has and he needs what you have. Perhaps the client has software that your company needs, or a consulting methodology that could propel your business. You get the picture. Work it out.

If you can't work things out, be willing to walk away. It's a tough decision, but it may be your best decision. You'll be off to the next client who values what you offer and is willing to pay for it.

What are you waiting for? Get in and get started!www.nomorecoldcalling.com for more information, article and highly recommended book!!

I want to give you an update on the classes for Pac IT Pros members:
Monday August 25th Gil's AD Classes in SF - Microsoft 835 Market Street SF 9:30-4:00pm
Gil Kirkpatrick is one of the leading experts on Active Directory and Active Directory Troubleshooting.  At TechEd and Windows Connections he teaches a one day hands on AD Troubleshooting, object recovery, GPO recovery,  Domain recovery, Forest recovery and AD Disaster planning/recovery workshop.  (The fee for his one day class at TechEd is $799.)

Pac IT Pros is offer the same class Pac IT Pro members for $300 - If you want to do the hands on portion of the class, you will need to bring your own computer capable of running 4 VMs, so relatively new machine with 2-4 gigs.  If you don't have a machine that can run 4 VMs, (a relatively new machine with 2-4 gigs and 7200 RPM drives).  An alternative is to bring 2 less powerful machines and run 2 VMs on each or we will pair you with a partner so each of you will run 2 VMs.  (If you go the 2 machine route, bring a hub/switch and a power strip.)

The cost fee for the AD troubleshooting class is $300.  But wait, before you register, Microsoft has made a generous offers:  Be one of the first 65 you will receive an NFR copy of Windows Server 2008 Enterprise Edition, - 32 bit and 64 bit, Visual Studio 2008 and SQL 2008 OR a NFR copy of Vista Ultimate with SP1 OR an NFR copy of Vista Business OR an NFR copy of Microsoft Office Business with Groove 2007.
http://www.pacitpros.org/component/chronocontact?chronoformname=Class.Registration.48

Monday August 25th - Migrating from AD on Server 2003 to AD on Server 2008 - Microsoft SF 835 Market Street SF 4-6pm
I asked Gil to offer his Migrating form AD/Server 2003 to AD/Server 2008 tips, tricks, hints, and pitfalls to avoid class.  If you are like me you can't wait to migrate to AD 2008 to take advantage of all the new features.  Such as granular passwords, detailed AD change auditing, restarting AD with out re-booting a server just to name a few.

In this class Gil will talk you through steps to successfully migrate from AD 2003 to AD 2008.  By the end of this class you will know exactly how to migrate from AD 2003 to AD2008 including: Preparation for migration, prepping AD for migration, how to migrate, and post-migration checks and AD clean-up.  Gil will also cover some of the pitfalls inexperienced IT Pros make during migrations and how to avoid them.  By the end of this 2 hour class you will know exactly how to upgrade your company's AD from Server 2003 to AD Server 2008 problem free.

The cost for this class is $60 and you can register now at
http://www.pacitpros.org/component/chronocontact?chronoformname=Class.Registration.49
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Server 2008 Class at Diablo Valley College (Pleasant Hill/Walnut Creek)
This class is being offered by Diablo Valley College or www.dvc.edu - If is NOT a Pac IT Pros sponsored class.
This fall I am teaching a Server 2008 class this fall at Diablo Valley college on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4-6pm. We will be covering the hot new features in Server 2008 such as Server Virtualization, Server Core, Server Isolation, Domain Isolation, new networking protocols, new GPO's. etc. It's a 16 week course, a good excuses to get out of the office early two days a week and your cost is around $100.  DVC has 64 bit machines with 4 gigs of RAM which is perfect for running several VMs at the same time.  Lat time I checked there was room for 4 more students.  For those wanting to become Microsoft certified this class will prepare you for the 70-642 MCTS exam.  (DVC students receive a 50% discount on the exam.)

Registration for this class is on the DVC web site, http://dvc.edu  The class is CNT-114, section 8566
Register today, the first day of class is Tuesday August 26.
Any questions, here's how to get in touch with me.
Doug Spindler
douggg@comcast.net
925-258-6600

I have recently published a new eBook on what IT Professionals need to focus on in the second half of this year and going forward into 2009.

 

Please feel free to share this eBook with your colleagues, friends and whoever would benefit from this...

 

Cheers

 

Have an awesome day!

 

Stuart

 

 

Stuart R. Crawford

Vice President, Business Development

 

IT Matters Inc.

530, 1000 8th Ave SW

Calgary, AB  T2P 3M7

Canada

 

Phone: 403.710.4357

Fax: 403.503.0876

EMail: scrawford@itmatters.ca

Web: http://www.itmatters.ca

 

Access at my Skydrive

http://cid-e0867f061b7c8e88.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/Microsoft%20Special%20Offers

Did you know that there is a skilled  team  of partner technology specialist solely dedicated to providing technical and competitive sales assistance for partners?  This motivated team will provide FREE Pre-sales technical support for any Microsoft deal over $5k.   Partners must be registered at a minimum to be eligible and also are required to share information about the new sale in order to qualify. 

 

·       Technical Sales Support: Accelerate your close rate with assistance with configurations, reliability, feature capabilities, readiness, product demonstrations, scalability, interoperability, and migration.

·       Competitive Sales Assistance:   Overcome  customer objections and positively position Microsoft technologies against the competition by providing white papers, discussion guides, case studies, customer-ready presentations, IT competitive comparisons, and business incentive funds.

·       Business Value, Licensing, and Pricing: Assistance with comparison proof points, TCO, ROI, cost/value, performance, and licensing.

Keep this handy:

·       Call 1-800-426-9400 between 6:00 AM – 6:00 PM PST

o   Select option 1

o   Enter extension 82973 for non-Dynamics products

o   Have your Microsoft Partner Program ID readyFor issues or questions with TPTS service, send mail to partresp@microsoft.com

Every Friday from 10:00 am to 11:00 PST - join us to get up to date information on the following topics, PLUS have a chance to ask interactive questions of the expert presenters!

 

Join us for a series of core technical readiness webcasts, starting with WES01PAL: 5W/50 Series - The Small and Midsize Business Server Platform: Which Is Right for Your Customer?  Continue to learn about these exciting new products with two comprehensive 8-part technical readiness series, one for Windows SBS 2008 and one for Windows EBS 2008.  For each product, you will learn about:

·         Planning, Design, & Installation

·         Migration

·         Management, Health, & Reporting

·         Messaging & Remote Access

·         Security & Backup

·         LOB Support, Extensibility, & Troubleshooting

·         Virtualization

 

https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search_adv.aspx?ssid=2ff59e1b-42b9-4802-afc1-a02fb3d5eca3

here's the best site to find out about "Second Shot" getting another chance at an exam.......

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/mcp/offers/2ndchance/faq/default.mspx 

From one of our SBSC partners:

 

1 – Open HTTP & HTTPS (ports 80 & 443) on the firewall and point towards the server.

 

2 – Install a third-party SSL certificate. For future compatibility when migrating to Exchange 2007 without ISA, I use http://www.comodo.com/msexchange/, otherwise I use http://www.dotster.com/other/ssl/123.

a.                  Follow http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2007/08/21/how-to-install-a-public-3rd-party-ssl-certificate-on-iis-on-sbs-2003.aspx until you reach the Title “Transferring the SSL Certificate to the Default Web Site”

b.                  If you are not running with ISA then continue with Transferring the SSL Certificate to the Default Web Site.

c.                   If you are running ISA then install the certificate on to the two listening ports in ISA and leave the self-generated certificate on the Default Web Site.

 

3 – Exchange SP2 should be installed (done if R2 has been installed).

 

4 – Enable RPC over HTTP on Exchange

 

5 – Run CEICW and enable Outlook Mobile Access.

 

6 – Check Active Directory Users to make sure Mobile Services are enabled if not add users to Mobile Users.

 

7 – Enable Direct Push on the server

a.                  Ensure that SP2 for Exchange Server 2003 is installed on the server.

b.                  Open Exchange System Manager.

c.                   Expand Global Settings.

d.                  Right-click Mobile Services, and then click Properties.

e.                  Verify that the Enable Direct Push over HTTP(s) check box is selected.

 

8 - Install the Exchange Server ActiveSync Web Admin Tool on SBS          

If you are trying to get familiar with the Microsoft Exchange Server ActiveSync Web Administration Tool on your Small Business Server computer to take advantage of the new Mobile Security Features that will be introduced in the Windows Mobile 5.0 Messaging & Security Feature Pack, you will need to follow the steps below to get the web interface functioning properly on your Small Business Server computer:

a.                  Download the Mobile Admin pack

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e6851d23-d145-4dbf-a2cc-e0b4c6301453&DisplayLang=en

b.                  Backup the metabase in IIS (right click the servername in IIS -> all tasks -> backup/restore -> create backup)

c.                   TEMPORARILY set the default website to “all unassigned” (if it is not already)

d.                  Run MobileAdmin.exe that you downloaded in step 1.

e.                  You can also run OWAAdmin.exe at this point too for web based admin of OWA.

f.                    Reset IIS back to the way it was before step 3, if applicable

g.                  Open the properties for the ExAdmin virtual directory under the default website -> directory security -> Edit for Secure Communications and uncheck “Require SSL”

h.                  Restart the IIS Admin service

i.                    You should now be able to browse http://servername/mobileadmin and also select users to manage.

Note this interface allows 2 options:  1) Wipe the device and 2) delete the partnership.  “Wipe the device” is self explanatory - we remove all user-specific information from the device and return it to factory default (like a hard reset).  So what is “delete the partnership” you ask?  Well, when a device synchs with Exchange it pushes some information to Exchange so that the server knows about the device.  This information is referred to as a “partnership” (not to be confused with an ActiveSync partnership -no relation).  You can remove this partnership information by using the “delete” option on the MobileAdmin page.  When would you want to “delete” a partnership.  One scenario is if only one user cannot synch with Exchange when previously he/she could.  It may be that this “partnership” is confused.  Simply “delete” the device partnership on the MobileAdmin page and then resynch with the device.  After deleting the partnership, resynch with the device.  You should see a new partnership appear on the MobileAdmin page and hopefully the device synchs successfully.

 

9 - Define and enforce security policies for mobile devices

a.                  On the server, open Exchange System Manager.

b.                  Expand Global Settings.

c.                   Right-click Mobile Services, and then click Properties.

d.                  Click the Device Security button.

e.                  In the Device Security Settings dialog box, configure the device security policy for Windows Mobile devices.

f.                    Enforce, Minimum 4 Characters, 20 minutes of inactivity, Wipe after 3 failed attempts, refresh settings every 1 hour

g.                  If you do not want to apply the policy to some user accounts, click the Exceptions button, and then add the user accounts to the exceptions list.

h.                  Click OK.

 

10 – Double check and fine-tune installation by following

http://www.petri.co.il/configure_rpc_over_https_on_a_single_server.htm

 

 

FountainBlue cordially invites entrepreneurs from around the world to join us in an online lecture on Strategic Entrepreneurism, featuring Jonathan Fisher, Managing Director Teahupoo, LLC; Professor of Business, University of San Francisco; CEO, Bharosa, Inc. (Acquired by Oracle, Inc.).

 

What: FountainBlue Online Webinar on Strategic Entrepreneurism

 

Date: August 25, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m. PST

 

Location: LiveMeeting, sponsored by Microsoft

 

Costs: $20 for the Lecture, $30 for the Lecture plus one to four follow-up sessions at times to be confirmed

 

Registration: Pre-register at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=163018 by noon on August 22. Registration following that time will be a $10 additional fee.

 

In Q2 2008, only 14 companies went public, none of which were venture-backed. This is the first time in 30 years, where not a single company going public was venture funded. These are the facts. But business people need to understand what that means for them, and how to take action to support their business interests.

 

Entrepreneurs from around the world are invited to join us in a lecture on Strategic Entrepreneurism, where entrepreneurs strategically build their organizations from the beginning with a particular acquirer's needs in mind.

 

Attendees who participate in the main lecture have the option of participating in interactive follow-up sessions, on up to four topics of their choice. The times and topics for these follow-up interactive roundtables are below:

·       What is strategic entrepreneurism?

•     Monday, August 25, 7:00 – 7:30 p.m.

·       Financing: Securing Resources for a Successful Company

•     Monday, August 25, 7:30 – 8:00 p.m.

·       Customers: Getting Customers On-Board

•     Tuesday, August 26, 5:30 – 6:00 p.m.

·       Employees & Partners: Signing on the Right People

•     Tuesday, August 26, 6:00 – 6:30 p.m.

·       Product Development: Developing with Partner in Mind

•     Tuesday, August 26, 6:30 – 7:00 p.m.

·       Exit: A Win-for-All Ending

•     Tuesday, August 26, 7:00 – 7:30 p.m.

 

For more information:

·            About Strategic Entrepreneurism, read the article ‘Lean times for venture-capital-backed IPOs’, by Tom Abate, 7/1/08, available at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/30/BUKK11HKT5.DTL

·            About FountainBlue and our various entrepreneurial and leadership communities, visit http://www.fountainblue.biz.

·            About Jonathan Fisher, and his thoughts on Strategic Entrepreneurism, visit http://www.sandhill.com/opinion/editorial.php?id=193.

·            We are offering attendees a 20% discount on Mr. Fisher’s book on Strategic Entrepreneurship, scheduled for release on September 16, 2008. http://www.selectbooks.com/t_strategicent.htm.

We hope to see you online for this timely event!

Here is a great offer just announced by the Essential Business Server (EBS) Team. Free beta coupons for the EBS exam by Prometric! And to make it even sweeter, we’ll take an additional 50% off that, so now it’s FREE! Yes, I know that 50% off Free doesn’t really save you anything else, I’m just testing to see who’s really awake this morning. :-)

Here’s what the EBS Team had to say about the offer:

“Beta exams help you to understand what’s involved with running the product and help you get ahead of the pack supporting Essential Business Server 2008. 

You may be wondering why we’d give this away?  Simple; we want as many people certified as possible, and we want to make sure this exam is set to the right level.”

So, how do you get your FREE vouchers? Simple:

1. Navigate to http://www.prometric.com/Microsoft/default.htm
2. Select Schedule/Reschedule
3. Schedule an appointment
4. Select your location
5. Select Microsoft, and then the 070,071,074, 075,076 program
6. Read the legal content – hit next
7. Scroll almost all of the way down till you find 071-654 – Windows Essential Business Server 2008, configuring, select and hit next