Comments on: lots of ideas

By: Ryan_jh

Ryan_jh — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:02:15 +0000

At last…
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By: Edward_lt

Edward_lt — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:01:14 +0000

And some more..
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By: hhbaq

hhbaq — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:44:02 +0000

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By: Tim Kitchin

Tim Kitchin — Tue, 22 May 2007 07:28:15 +0000

Hugh, I take your point around overhyping a small window of advisory work – but i want to celebrate the opportunity you have. There is a real question here for any company managing ever more complex value networks…
Ultimately modern partner relations reduces down to tight (SLA-based) contractuals and ‘fluff’.
From time to time new collaboration models are tried (social model innovation anyone?) but generally under the auspices of CSR.
I’d love to hear that MS has some pervasive innovation running around new ways of engaging…business models included, but
it’s just so hard to do at scale.
When web 2.0 has gone through the hype cycle, we may find a way to entrench its social network learnings into business practice…
At present, we’re in a dot-com type moment. Too much exhuberance; not enough perspective.
Vodafone, HSBC and even FMCG megabrands would love to know how the IT sector manages this complexity. I’m sure the IT sector would love to know itself…
If you can help clear the fog…great.

By: Christian Longstaff

Christian Longstaff — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:58:26 +0000

Stilgherrian – I’m the guy Steve Clayton referred to and I’m moving to Sydney next month to work in Nick’s group as an ISV Partner Development Manager. Please make contact through our blogs and I’ll give you a call once I find my new Aussie feet end of May… Meanwhile, please connect with Nick and Frank.

By: Nick Mayhew

Nick Mayhew — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:20:13 +0000

Stilgherrian
I am one of those said ‘people in your town’, working in the Australian Microsoft partner group. Incidentally I used to run a Microsoft partner in the UK only 2 years ago (for the previous 8 years) so I have some useful perspective, and also I hope I’ve not become too institutionalised yet
If you send me an email (through my blog is the best way probably) I’ll get someone locally to call you and see what we can to do help change your mind about how seriously we take our partner model and every one of our partners. Of course we can’t hire 14000 account managers to manage 1:1 every one of our 14000 australian partners, but as a group our business absolutely depends in every way on how we work with our ‘channel’. Partners are the lifeblood of Microsoft and whilst we are not perfect there is genuine and sincere passion for helping partners grow their businesses, whether they be 1 man companies or the largest IT organisations. Let’s chat !

By: steve clayton

steve clayton — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:40:38 +0000

Stilgherrian – I know some people in your town. I’m not sure if they’re good with printers but they’re definitely out in the community.Have you come across Frank Arrigo and Nick Mayhew? A guy from my own team is about to move to Oz so I’m hoping he could swing by and address the pimple on butt issue too

By: Tony C

Tony C — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 21:23:45 +0000

Semantics aside until the English language grows a new word for it I guess ‘Partner’ is as good as any. What is true though is that without ‘Partners’ Microsoft can’t get much done, it’s the most indirect organisation on the planet.
Also as a Microsoft employee I have to confess I have rummaged under a users desk to fix their printer, it just wasn’t in Parramatta. Sadly I don’t have a cubicle either or an office. )

By: John Dodds

John Dodds — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:17:06 +0000

Significant others?

By: Matt Zimmitti

Matt Zimmitti — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:43:38 +0000

The last *thing* that I referred to as a “partner” was a person that I was rather intimate with (all respect to her). I wouldn’t fret over the term as it is the right one. Microsoft is in fact partnered with a zillion other businesses. It’s creepy to think of it that way but in the end it is the right term.
I don’t want to go too far off on a tangent but “partners” tend to be co-dependent enablers. If Microsoft isn’t pleasantly partnered with its partners I’m not sure about dating anymore.

By: Stilgherrian

Stilgherrian — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 06:33:04 +0000

I run a “consultancy with one or two employees” not in Vermont, but in Sydney, Australia. Either way, while “partner” is a neutral word I don’t think I can ever imagine Microsoft being a genuine partner.
Partners cooperate. Partners change the way they do things to accommodate each other. No matter how much Microsoft changes its culture, at the end of the day my business is still less than a pimple on the butt of their elephant.
They’ve got a long way to go to convince me that fiddling with language like this is anything more than marketing gimmickry.
Maybe that’ll change when I see a Microsoft employee emerge from their cubicle and start rummaging under a user’s desk in Parramatta to see why a printer isn’t working.

By: steve clayton

steve clayton — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 04:08:59 +0000

slimly mollusc…that’s a new one

By: sky

sky — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:23:15 +0000

I’m worried that you are going to end up providing me with a false sense of hope for a too-large, bureaucratic company that wants less about the quality of the OS, music player, video game console, cellphone system and whatever else they do than the other guy.
Is there really hope, or are you just jerking us around with this?
There’s no doubt that this is a great PR move for MS, but come on. A company that size has got to be able to pay for smoke and mirrors to hold up the bottom line.
Do you think your work is smoke and mirrors? You are a marketer, after all. Maybe that’s a stupid question.
Cheers

By: Alan Bostick

Alan Bostick — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:14:32 +0000

"Microsoft Ecosystem Member" doesn't work at all, at least for me. My immediate association with it is N.Z. Bear's "Blog Ecosystem." Bloggers put little badges on their blogs that say things like "I am a Crunchy Crustacean in the Blog Ecosystem!" Nobody wants to be Microsoft's slimy mollusc.

By: Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 00:53:46 +0000

Let’s see… lovers? co-dependents? fellow travellers? hangers-on? enablers? carriers? No, maybe they’d better stick with partners.