The Sikh Geek

Both Gareth Brown and I were at TVP today to meet with Tanya Shirlow, Group Partner Engagement Manager. We had lunch with David Overton (always good to see him), Emma Richardson and Sarah Guy. We chewed the fat on all things Small Business and SBSC. We then later met with Robert Epstein, head of Small Business Sales & Marketing and had a good brainstorming session around Small Business Marketing. Gareth and I talked quite a bit about raising the bar for SBSC and Microsoft working with its most proactive Partners. It was good to see recognition of this that not all SBSC Partners are created equal. I made the point that the best SBSC Partners are indeed the very best. There was a good recognition of AMITPRO as one of the best Groups and Nicola Young talked about Accredit IT (which some of the guys have signed up to) and the Business Link initiative with Microsoft Partners in the West Midlands.

The good news is that there is a new team in place with Small Business being separated out from Medium Business. There’s recognition that Microsoft needs to work more through the SBSC Groups and work more closely with those Partners who regularly turn out to such gatherings. I think there is a willingness to try new things and I’m keen that Microsoft and SBSC Partners don’t just end up talking amongst ourselves all the time but let’s go out and engage with potential customers.

It was a good open and honest discussion.