The News

Figuring Out the Balance

By Jenny Davis

Jane Olson and I had the opportunity to attend the User Group Summit the first week of November. As mentioned in last quarter’s issue, we are the publisher for the AXUG®, CRMUG®, GPUG®, and NAVUG™ magazines, and our presence at the event was aimed at gathering content for the User Groups’ winter magazine issues.

While there, I sat in on a Town Hall session that featured a panel of Microsoft Dynamics team members. The questions ran the normal gamut from feature requests to release date inquiries.

I don’t quite remember how we landed on the topic, but the conversation turned to customer/Partner relationships.

Actually, now that I think about it, I think one of the Microsoft panelists was talking about an online tool.  When the panelist asked who had previously heard about the tool from their Partner, not many customers raised their hands.

That’s when the conversation turned…southwest. Not totally in the ditch, but close. Read more »

Partner News

By Jasmine McNellis

January 24, 2012:  Visionary Software announces the availability of CRM Rules!, a new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 ISV add-on product. CRM Rules! provides a deeper level of customization without coding. Users can now create a rule and CRM Rules! automatically generates and deploys JScript into the CRM forms. CRM Rules! makes customizing forms with JScript as easy as adding a field using CRM’s out of the box customization capabilities.  Works on-premise or in the cloud. Contact sales@vscrm.com, call 877-CRM-1942, or visit www.vscrm.com for more information.

January 23, 2012:  Based on customer and partner demand Encore Business Solutions is happy to announce the launch of Project Tracking Lite. Project Tracking Lite addresses fewer project tracking requirements for those customers needing less but is built with the same quality and performance as our full blown Project Tracking solution.  In addition to expanding our solution base, we’re excited to announce that our Project Tracking with Advanced Analytics solution was awarded a place on the DynamicsWorld 2012 list of top 15 most useful add-ons for Dynamics GP. For more information about this solution or any of our other products please e-mail sales@encorebusiness.com or visit www.encorebusiness.com.

January 23, 2012:  SBS Group gladly welcomes Invantech Business Solutions as the newest member of the SBS Partner Network.  A leading technology consulting firm, SBS Group provides accounting and business solutions to mid-sized companies through a network of regional offices across the United States. With over 25 years of successful experience in providing business management solutions, SBS has extensively expanded its Partner Network and is now one of three exclusive Microsoft Dynamics Master VARs in the U.S.

January 20, 2012:  Checkout the Winter 2012 online version of The List and search for the solutions you’re looking for!

January 19, 2012:  Save The Date!  eXtremeCRM 2012 Las Vegas will be held on September 30th – October 3rd at The Las Vegas Hotel.  For more information visit www.extremecrm.com.

Convergence Tip of the Week Festival – Week 1

By Jasmine McNellis

Today kicks off our Convergence Tip of the Week Festival.  Each week we will feature tips from VARs and ISVs who are also preparing for Convergence Houston 2012.  This week brings you tips from Manick Vel of ZSL Inc.  If you would like to provide a Convergence tip for a future post, please contact Jasmine@thepartnerchannel.com.

Smart Conference Attendee Experience – Tips
Here are some tips to help you maximize the return on investment from your conference attendance:

1. Early booking - It is best to stay at the conference location for “after-hours” networking.

2. Conference Objective – What challenge are your trying to solve by going to this event? Communicating what you seek and set an objective before heading out.

3. Pre-schedule – Review and research the vendors in advance for possible solutions. And schedule meetings with key exhibitors in advance to get more attention.

4. Learning Sessions – Plan the session schedule beforehand and highlight the sessions most relevant to the problem you are trying to solve.

5. Innovation - Seek for emerging solutions and inspiring new ideas to consider in addition to your problem solving.

6. Meet People – Spend time for genuine, in-depth conversations with peer attendees and jot down notes on business cards.

7. Social Media – You can use Twitter to follow up the sessions, tweet about the session highlights to your followers.

8. Self-Pace – Get some good sleep, eat right to keep energy up and take time to step outside and breathe between sessions.

9. Follow-up – Take the time to drop your thank you email to new contacts. Doing so helps your next show be even more productive plus builds your personal reference library of industry experts.

10. Action Plan - Review your findings and formulate a plan to further investigate and evaluate solutions. Share your knowledge and resultant action plan with co-workers who didn’t attend the show.

Check out the Tip of the Week Festival to see a list of past tips.


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