Just Who Were these Computer Resellers?
Microsoft wanted to get the broadest, most representative
view of computer resellers.
They had to ensure that the Roundtable included men and
women, some Microsoft "haters", and good geographic
representation. In particular, Microsoft was looking to its computer
resellers, and computer resellers in general, for answers to many of their
most burning questions.
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Who are these computer resellers?
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What defines today's small business computer
resellers?
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What are computer resellers' biggest struggles? What
keeps then up at night?
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What kinds of products should Microsoft be building
for computer resellers and the small businesses they support?
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What kinds of tools do computer resellers need to be
successful with Microsoft products?
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What kind of trends do computer resellers see and what
kind of insight can they provide to Microsoft on the daily events they
see in the field with small businesses?
Why These Computer Resellers Were Different
At the time, there already was a Microsoft Certified
Solution Provider Partner Advisory Council and a Microsoft Certified
Solution Provider Partner Forum. However, Microsoft Direct Access knew
that world of computer resellers was extremely broad and knew that they'd
need to create a similar representative group of computer resellers that
could speak for computer resellers "at large".
Microsoft Direct Access was careful to select a
representative mixture of computer resellers; some of who were quite vocal
about their dissatisfaction with current Microsoft products and channel
programs for computer resellers.
In particular, Microsoft Direct Access didn't want to
select people that were "friends" or "fans" of
Microsoft. They wanted to hear from everybody, including those who
"weren't crazy about Microsoft or were on the fence." To build a
pool of prospective Roundtable participants, a request for applications
was put out through the Microsoft Direct Access web site and listserv
weekly email newsletter.
They established two main selection criteria that
comprised the "bias" for the Roundtables.
1. The computer resellers could not be Microsoft Certified
Solution Providers.
2. The computer resellers had to be focused on small
business as their primary target market.
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