Tag: Business

December update of SharePoint Guide


Subscribers to my Windows SharePoint Guide can now access the latest updates from the subscription site (now running under SharePoint 2010). This month some of the additions include:

– Follow through of Microsoft install method on SBS 2008
– Installation and configuration of Microsoft Online SharePoint (BPOS)
– SBS 2008 SharePoint Exchange server configuration

Also, all subscribers get automatic free access to my recently released eBook:

Windows SharePoint Masterclass: Optimizing Search

I am now working on the next title in the Windows SharePoint Masterclass series which will focus on databases operations. That is, it will provide you with a wealth of information about installing, maintaining, configuring and troubleshooting the Microsoft SQL Server versions used by Windows SharePoint. I expect to have it out very early in the New Year, so stay tuned.

My SMBNation presentation reviews are in

I’d firstly like to thank all the people who took the time to complete the feedback forms after my SMBNation 2010 presentation. I’ll share with you the highlights.

 

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I am extremely happy to see that the majority of the feedback was positive and I readily acknowledge that there was also feedback that wasn’t as positive and will certainly take that on board and endeavour to improve.

 

There have been plenty of requests for more detailed technical content which is certainly easily done but please remember that this session was only one of a number that I proposed. Also please remember that SMBNation has to select speakers and topics that it believes will appeal to attendees, no simple task. Likewise when a presenter gives a session they are never really sure about the technical skills or experience of attendees. In light of all that I tried to provide a session that was memorable, informative and beneficial to what I believed to be the majority of the audience. A certain amount of guess-work and assumptions play a part.

 

However, I do welcome all feedback, both positive and negative on what I present and how I present. I appreciate that it isn’t always everyone’s cup of tea and by all means if you don’t like what I’m presenting let know how it can be improved. Don’t be shy.

 

That said, it certainly appears most are interested in more detailed technical information about SharePoint and with that in mind I’m looking to maybe do a pre-day in conjunction with others next year (if I get the opportunity to attend again mind you). If you’ve got some ideas about what would be worthwhile and how it should be presented please let me know (director@ciaops.com).

 

Once again to all who took the time to not only attend my session but also to provide me with feedback I say thank you and I owe you a drink!

Facebook effect

When I give presentations to technology types I am always amazed at how many have never heard of docs.com. Docs.com is a collaboration between Microsoft and Facebook to allow the creation (using Microsoft Office Web Apps) and the sharing (using Facebook) of these Office documents for FREE. To get an idea have a look at my docs.com stuff at:

http://docs.com/@ciaops

Why would Microsoft want to do this you may ask? Firstly, most ‘younger’ people don’t use desktop applications anymore to create documents they use ‘cloud’ based alternatives. Microsoft realized that if it didn’t provide something to keep these people using Microsoft products they would lose them forever and potentially forgo future revenue as they moved into business and continued to use the same non-Microsoft ‘cloud’ products they use now.

Secondly, Facebook is really starting to become a very powerful feature of the technology landscape. Like it or not it is perceived as the place to be these days. This is further evidenced by the recent high profile defection of Lars Rasmussen (of Google Maps and Wave fame) and Kate Vale (Google’s first employee in Australia) to Facebook. You can read about these moves here:

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/why-i-quit-google-to-join-facebook-lars-rasmussen-20101101-1799q.html 

and

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/giant-flaw-pair-put-finger-on-google-brain-drain-20101101-179mk.html

Microsoft already owns a small percentage of Facebook and that is looking like a smarter and smarter move every day as Facebook continue to vacuum up all sorts of technology companies as it seeks to continue to grow and monetize its more than 500 million users.

Here is another interesting article “Google: The Search party is over” which details how Google is not only facing maturity in its major product (search), but also a brain drain to ‘hipper’ companies like Facebook. A few years back people considered Google untouchable, oh how times change eh?

All this makes for interesting reading and seems to indicate the way forward at this stage will involve Facebook. I would say that if you are pondering the ‘cloud’ then I think you should take a look at what docs.com (and Facebook) can do and where it may fit, because if you aren’t I’ll bet your customers and competitors are.

Never say die

Your Office365 business model


Chris Knight left a comment on my recent post about why I am positive on Office365. His major points are that firstly, here in Australia, BPOS (and Office365) is sold through our largest Telco (Telstra). They are aggressively going after service business including your clients. No arguments there. Secondly, there is virtually no margin in BPOS for resellers. Again, no argument. This is EXACTLY why I love resellers when it comes to BPOS, they have a restricted business model when it comes to online services.

Here in Australia we know that Telstra is the 600 pound gorilla when it comes to BPOS. So many resellers I see are hell bent on opposing the gorilla. My approach is, they are the only game in town and I have to deal with that. In my books it is better to ride the gorilla than try and fight it. Sure, I might get some bruises and scratches but it is going to be a hell of lot less than if I tried to fight it. Wouldn’t a smarter thing be to team up with Telstra and offer skills and services they lack? Wouldn’t be smarter to leverage their sales teams to do the lead generation for you? Telcos are good at selling phones and are looking for IT people to help them sell technology to customers. If you were a smart operator you’d seek out these relationships to help build your online business. I know I am. The interesting to note here is that there is only a limited amount of these relationships available so those that choose to ride the gorilla are going to reap the benefits I believe.

By far the biggest sticking point for resellers is the lack of margin on BPOS. Couldn’t agree more. Can you change that? Nope. So why focus on it? I believe the major revenue stream with BPOS and ‘cloud computing’ is what it has always been – SERVICES. Customers still need IT Professionals to set up, configure, architect and support technology solutions no matter where they ultimately reside. The only way that your business will make money from selling product is to sell lots and lots of it no matter whether it is infrastructure or online services. I know that is a game I can’t play so that’s why I focus on SERVICES.

For many, including myself, this means a change of business model but in this game if you don’t change you die. The resistance of most traditional resellers to move to some form of cloud strategy is creating a gap in the market that is allowing competitors to enter and potentially steal business. These new competitors probably don’t have the experience, knowledge or professionalism that existing resellers have but guess what? They are still going to win business. Why? Rightly or wrongly customers want ‘cloud’ computing because it is being portrayed as saving them money. No matter whether that is correct it is what the customer perceives that matters.

Let me give you an example of a service opportunity in relation of Office365 I see. From my understanding the small business edition of Office365 will come with 3 web sites, an intranet, an extranet and a public facing website. Guess what? They’ll all be provided on SharePoint 2010. Most customers will probably need these to be configured, customized and managed because they won’t have the time or the knowledge. To me that means SERVICES revenue and I’m sure the same applies across all the other Office365 products.

As I have said before, it warms the cockles of my heart to hear resellers focus on dealing with telcos and how little margin there is in selling online services for I know they still don’t ‘get it’. You can’t expect to go into the world of online services with the same business model (no matter how well it worked previously). You have to change, adapt and overcome. This will mean making hard decisions, that in the short term may be quite painful. However, as a business person I encourage you NOT to take these, keep doing business the way you have been doing things and leave this ‘cloud stuff’ to me.

SharePoint Guide discount code

Even though I’ve now returned from SMBNation I’ve decided to extend the discount on my SharePoint Operations Guide (www.wssops.com) for a little while longer. To get a 10% discount via the SMB Books site use the following details:

 

URL = http://www.smbbooks.com/browse-smb-books/item/84-windows-sharepoint-operations-guide.html

 

Checkout code = tour2010

 

I’ll also let you know that after some discussions I am now working on a few new products for the guide. One example will be a book on ‘5 essential SharePoint projects’. This will take you step by step through a range of SharePoint customization projects that can be applied to any SharePoint site. If you are a Guide subscriber you’ll get these for free as part of your subscription. Otherwise they’ll be a separate purchase.

 

Remember, if you have any questions about my SharePoint Guide or suggestions about what you would like to see please contact me (director@ciaops.com). Also the above code is only valid for a short time, so if you have been thinking about getting the guide now is the time!

SMBNation 2010 Fall round up

I would have liked to do a day by day blow of the conference but alas, my blog server was down so this summary will have to do.

 

I think that this year’s event was certainly a step up from last year’s event. Firstly, the Flamingo Hotel was a far better location. Being in the centre of the strip near all the major hotel is much better. The second major improvement was the WiFi. This year it actually worked and I never had any problems connecting to it while I was at the conference. This is really something when you think of all the people there and all the devices they were connecting to the Internet. I also think that the vendor hall was much better this year. Last year it look pretty bare given the size of the room but this year it seemed much busier.

 

I was a little surprised that the vendor hall was over at the end of day 2. I understand why but I think many others like me expected it to be open till the end of the conference.

 

As for the sessions the stand out was Dana Epp’s on hacking WiFi. I think that everyone in the room can now really appreciate how easy it is to hack even secure WiFi. It was something Dana says that he’ll never present again so it was special to actually see him take over people’s Hotmail and Gmail accounts live.

 

The sessions on the upcoming versions of SBS were well attended as was the MVP panel. There was plenty of stuff on the Cloud with Dave Sobel’s interactive session a very interesting argument for how Cloud solutions can really replace on-site implementations.

 

I didn’t get to many business session this year but heard that it was a bit of a hit and miss affair. Some were very good others left something to be desired.

 

As for my session (Why SharePoint is Critical to SMB), well I am happy to report that it was well attended (as much as I tried to discouraged people from attending they still did). If you want the slides from the presentation they are available at www.ciaops.com/downloads or directly from this link.

 

However, by far the greatest gain you can obtain from being at SMBNation is the ‘hallway networking’. There are just so many smart people here with all different business models and ways of getting results that you’d be mad if you didn’t take advantage of that. Even after the conference day, being here is an opportunity to have dinner with these people and pick their brains.

 

I certainly hope that I get the opportunity to return and thank Harry Brelsford and his dedicated staff for putting on such a great event.

Did ya miss me?

A few weeks ago I took some time off (as I am now committed to doing every year as part of a better work life balance) and typically the technology let me down. A few days out the power supply on my local Hyper-V machine blew and not only brought the machine down but also the UPS it was connected to. Impressive eh? Not much I could do until I returned.

 

Firstly, the reason that I have a local SharePoint server is that I typically need to test things at the command prompt level and most SharePoint hosting companies don’t allow this. I could host a complete server in a data centre but then it is isn’t quite the same as running a Hyper V server with different operating systems now is it? Bottom line, I maintain a single server mostly for testing purposes but it does provide content live to the web. Thus, no power supply, no blog.

 

Now that I have returned from my trip and SMB Nation Fall 2010 I can catch up on all those posts I didn’t do when I was away.

 

Stand by – normal transmission will resume shortly.