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IO? BPIO? APO? WTF?

  • Artikkeli

Welcome to the wonderful world of Infrastructure Optimisation.  Optimisation, or Optimization as the Americans say, is the technique of getting the best out of what you've got and in the context of IT this means making sure you manage your IT estate well.  Remember the old saying "work smarter not harder" - yeah my boss is continually telling me that - well this is the same deal but for IT.  Are you really taking advantage of your IT investment and ensuring that the money you shell out for IT products and services is not going to waste?

This kind of question is an example of the kinds of drivers behind the Infrastructure Optimisation discussion.  Research from the likes of Gartner has shown various levels of maturity when it comes to an organisation's IT, there are those which are basic which means they are not really leveraging the potential of their IT investment through to those who are dynamic (the holy grail) - I'm not sure even Microsoft are there but its something to aspire to.

Those IT organisations that are basic are generally considered by the company as being a cost center and a black hole for funding that generally doesn't display any ROI and benefit to the business.  As an IT organisation matures this perception tends to change to something that is valuable and is a strategic asset because of the benefits it can provide back to the business.

At Microsoft we've identified three different areas that our products fall into when it comes to Infrastructure Optimisation which makes it easier to understand where you as a partner should focus;

  • Core Infrastructure Optimisation
  • Business Process Infrastructure Optimisation
  • Application Platform Optimisation

Core IO covers products like Windows Client, Server and Management products.

Business Process IO covers products like Office, SharePoint, BI

Application Platform Optimisation covers our developer products and technologies like Visual Studio, .NET, Silverlight.

Still confused? Don't worry we're running some training in October (and again later this year) that help explain what these three areas of optimisation are and how Partners can sell more effectively using these streams.

1. Selling with Infrastructure Optimisation

This one day workshop will provide partners with the tools and techniques required to leverage Infrastructure Optimization to increase their sales pipelines. This workshop will show delegates how to identify new opportunities using IO as well as how IO provides the basis of selling high value solutions to customers. Delegates will be taken through a highly interactive workshop that ends with the delivery of an IO briefing to the customer and the definition of a Strategic Technology Roadmap.

Five deliveries will be scheduled, the first taking place on 15th October in Reading (Regus TVP)

Cost for partners to attend:  Free

Link to enrol or for more information: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search.aspx?ssid=91805125EEEA460A9F4AD938F60D0B7F

2. BPIO University

This 3-day instructor-led training teaches partners how to position the 2007 Microsoft Office system in business conversations with customers—driving to a higher close rate.

Focused on the 2007 Office system and the Business Productivity Infrastructure Optimization (BPIO) campaign, this programme will help you:

· Enhance customer acquisition,

· Increase the depth of your relationship with customers so that you become a “trusted advisor”,

· Develop new sales methodologies, and

· Extend your relationship with customers.

Five deliveries will be scheduled, the first taking place on the 16th October in Reading (Regus TVP)

Cost for partners to attend:  Free

Link to enrol or for more information: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search.aspx?ssid=65E24EA73A1844BD8C9FD74B6800E579

3. APO University

The APO (Application Platform Optimisation) Sales University is a comprehensive three day sales readiness programme that will prepare and arm strategic partners with the knowledge and tools to drive growth and win customers on the Microsoft Application Platform.

This programme will help you:

· Get an in-depth understanding of the Application Platform Optimisation Model, its relationship and interdependence with the other Microsoft IO models (Business Productivity and Core Infrastructure)

· Learn how to leverage the APO model to help customers solve real world problems.

Four deliveries will be scheduled, with the first taking place in November in Reading.

Cost for partners to enrol: Free

Link to enrol or for more information: https://training.partner.microsoft.com/plc/search.aspx?ssid=F4C517E9FF6D4A94BA3DC83B51F76BB8

If you have any more questions about this topic or want me to blog more about it then leave me a comment and let's have a conversation about it.  If you've got training specific queries then please give the Partner Training help desk a call on 0870 8509442 or via email on ukplc@microsoft.com.

 

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Comments

  • Anonymous
    October 08, 2007
    Its good to see this momentum behind IO. I think there's more we can be doing to flesh out BPIO and help our partner eco-system with some serious IP on how to translate business productivity into ROI and competitive edge.