Central Region LAR Readiness Update - May Edition

Hello Central Region Partners!

The Central Region Managed Partner Team in partnership with the Readiness Team will use this BLOG to post Central Region and National Readiness events and resources.  With so many areas for you to find training opportunities, both in person and on-line, the Central Region Readiness team will provide updates on the readiness efforts happening within the region. Identifying the right resources for enablement is very important to us as we engage with our joint customers. 

*Please find the most recent update of MSFT Partner Readiness and visit the Central Region LAR Readiness Site for more information!

 

Readiness Focus Areas – Click on these Links
 
Top H2 Priorities for Central Region

• Central Region LAR Readiness Opportunities
• National LAR Readiness Opportunities
• Self-Paced Training and Readiness Resources

 

Top H2 Priorities for Central Region – Enablement Opportunities

• D-DAY is June 6^th!   All Deals into processing by June 6, 2013.
• REVENUE, REVENUE, REVENUE – No Deal is off the table!!  Engage Your MSFT Rep!
• Keep up with Net New EA Momentum – Customer Targets for EA Agreements and continue to position EAP/ECI Opportunities to your Customers.
• Maximize ALL of the True Up and EA Add-On Opportunities – Up Sell and Cross Sell Your Customers to help Close the Gap!  Customer Call Down Activity.
• Keep OTRRR as “Top of Mind” – Rigor and Execution on T-36. Keep Monetizing and Push to Get Renewals in early.  Engage the MSFT Teams Early and Often!
• New Select Business – Excellent money making opportunity in H2 – Leverage Select Empowerment through your MSFT Account Manager.

 
Office 365 Promo – ALL EA Customers are a Targets

• Leverage EA Packet – eapacket@microsoft.com

 

Central Region LAR Readiness Opportunities

• Central Region LAR Sales/Licensing Web Cast Series – Delivered by MSFT Sales Specialist Team
  • Windows Server 2012/Systems Center/ECI – May 7^th and 9^th  
  • EA Packet Best Practice – May 14^th

*Invitations will be sent through the Central Region LAR PAM Team

**Dates and Topics are subject to change

LAR Enablement Toolkit

Microsoft Sales Data Repository for LAR Partners to help understand product positioning, customer focus and how to make “The Pitch” to our joint customers.

*Available through your Regional LAR PAM

 

Central Region LAR PAM Team

CDW: North Central and South Central - Tanya Cwiakala; tcwiakala@microsoft.com

CDW: Midwest and Heartland - Christina Carl; ccarl@microsoft.com

Dell:  Scott Riphenburg; scottrip@microsoft.com

SHI:  Ed Citro; edcitro@microsoft.com

SoftwareONE and Softmart:  Darryl Williams; darrylwil@microsoft.com

Insight, Zones, PCM & En Pointe:  Susan Turzinski; susanpet@microsoft.com

Softchoice and PC Connection:  Lance Stovall:  lstovall@microsoft.com

 

National LAR Readiness Opportunities

May Product Training

In-Person Training, Live Webcasts, and Partner Calls

Date	Location	Event
Connect with your local team
May 17	Live Online	Central Region partner call
Sales & Marketing
May 15	Live Online	Turning Attendees into Real Prospects through Event Marketing
May 15	Live Online	SMB Customer Talk Blitz Campaign
Application Development
May 7	Live Online	Windows 8: Lab #7 -Tiles and Notifications -C#
May 29	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Windows 8 with C#/VB and XAML – Building Windows 8 Apps with Technologies You Love
Microsoft Dynamics
May 9	Live Online	Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 – Top new features
May 13	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Dynamics GP Web Client
May 14	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Dynamics CRM - Service Update User Interface (UI) new features
May 17	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Dynamics CRM Client for Outlook
May 20	Chicago, IL	Microsoft Dynamics CRM Enterprise Academy
May 23	Live Online	Microsoft Dynamics CRM Service Update: SDK New Features
May 28	Fargo, ND	Microsoft Dynamics AX FastTrAX Summer Institute
May 29	Fargo, ND	Microsoft Dynamics AX Fast TrAX Enterprise Academy (AXEA) Consultant Class
May 29	Fargo, ND	Microsoft Dynamics AX Fast TrAX Enterprise Academy (AXEA): Consultant Track
Microsoft Lync
May 6	Live Online	Practice Accelerator for Microsoft Lync Server 2010 Enterprise Voice  - Cancelled
May 8	St. Louis, MO	First Look: Lync 2013   Microsoft Tech Showcase: search Lync 2013
May 14	Live Online	Microsoft Lync 2013 Ignite
May 30	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Lync Server 2013 Architecture and Migration
Microsoft Office & Microsoft Office 365
May 7	Live Online	How to Upgrade to SharePoint 2013
May 8	Live Online	Microsoft Office 365 Workshop: Delegated Administration
May 8	Live Online	How to Sell Microsoft Office 365 Using the New Licensing Options
May 15	Live Online	Chalk Talk: OAuth and Application Identity in SharePoint 2013
May 15	Live Online	Microsoft Cloud How To Series: Learn How To Demo the New Office and Close Deals
May 15	Live Online	How to Sell Microsoft Office 365 Using the New Licensing Options
May 16	Live Online	Microsoft Online Services Advisor Incentives Call
May 16	Live Online	Chalk talk on SharePoint Online (Office 365)
May 20	Live Online	Content Management changes in SharePoint 2013
May 21	Live Online	Exchange Server 2013 Deployment and Coexistence
May 22	Live Online	How to Sell Microsoft Office 365 Using the New Licensing Options
May 29	Live Online	How to Sell Microsoft Office 365 Using the New Licensing Options
May 31	Orange, CA	Microsoft Office 365 with SharePoint 2013   Microsoft Tech Showcase: search SharePoint 2013
Microsoft SQL Server
May 17	Live Online	Master Data Services (MDS): The SQL Server Solution for Master Data Management
May 31	Live Online	Microsoft SQL Server 2012: New Modeling Features in PowerPivot with SQL Server 2012
Microsoft System Center and   Private Cloud
May 28	Live Online	System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2012 Momentum Workshop: Deep Dive into Patch Deployment
Windows 8
May 7	Live Online	Windows 8: Lab #7 -Tiles and Notifications -C#
May 8	Springfield, IL	Windows 8 (IT Pro) First Look Clinic (search TechShowcase site)
May 14	Live Online	Windows 8: Lab #7 - Tiles and Notifications -JavaScript
May 14	Live Online	Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8: Better Together   Microsoft Tech Showcase: search Windows 8
May 29	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Windows 8 with C#/VB and XAML – Building Windows 8 apps with technologies you love
May 21	Live Online	Windows 8: Lab #8 - The Windows Store APIs -C#
Windows Azure
May 7	Tulsa, OK	See and Do: Build Virtual Machines in the Cloud with Windows Azure (search TechShowcase site)
May 8	Live Online	Introduction to Windows Azure Access Control Service
May 9	Live Online	Introduction to Windows Azure Virtual Machines
May 9	Oklahoma City, OK	See and Do: Build Virtual Machines in the Cloud with Windows Azure (search TechShowcase site)
May 15	Live Online	Connecting a Paas Application to an Iaas Application
May 17	Metairie, LA	See and Do: Build Virtual Machines in the Cloud with Windows Azure (search TechShowcase site)
May 22	Live Online	Introduction to Cloud Services
May 22	Live Online	Windows Azure Caching
May 23	Live Online	Introduction to Windows Azure Virtual Machines (Linux)
Windows Server
May 10	Live Online	Chalk Talk - Designing and Deploying an Active Directory Infrastructure in Windows Server 2012
May 24	Live Online	Chalk Talk: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure/Remote Desktop Services
May 28	Bloomington, IL	Windows Server 2012 First Look Clinic (search TechShowcase site)

 

Self-Paced Training and Readiness Resources

Gear Up - www.ms-gearup.com

Sales and Licensing Advisors	A single-page, downloadable reference providing  prescriptive conversational guidance concerning Microsoft products and  solutions
eToolkit	Online sales reference guide containing essential baseline  information of Microsoft products, sales, licensing and services.
LicenseWise	Provides comprehensive, up-to-date product and licensing  information to help simplify the creation of customized quote generation

Important Readiness Resources

Training Hot Sheet – “U.S. Partner Training Hot Sheet – March 2013”

United States MS Partner Network – “Partner Learning Center” - On the first and third Friday of each  month, the U.S. Partner Team delivers a newsletter for U.