February 2012 Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: January 26, 2012
Our first session will be presented by Dominic Gill who will be filling in the group on the current developments with IT Apprenticeships in the UK.
Dominic should be well to know to many of our group members as he’s visited on behlf of Microsoft on many occasions previously.
Our second session will be a group discussion – to pick up the postponed topic from last month we’ll be talking about the Microsoft Partner Program.
The goal of this session is to gather some feedback to pass back to Microsoft – what’s good and bad about the partner program and what changes would be beneficial for everyone.
If possible it would be great preparation if you could have an approximate figure of Microsoft software you have sold in the last year. This way we can determine how much as a group, AMITPRO attendees generate for Microsoft – I’m expecting it to be a significant amount!
It doesn’t have to be “to the pound accurate” and if you’re not comfortable sharing with the open room we can add this to the total privately
We meet in the bar at the Arden Hotel between 5.00 and 5.30 or if you ask at reception for the Microsoft event they’ll point you in the right direction.
If you’re planning on coming to the event please sign up at http://amitprofeb2012.eventbrite.co.uk
January 2012 Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: January 3, 2012
Happy New Year!
Our speaker for this month is Craig Sharp from Birmingham based Abussi, providing a presentation on ‘Introducing VoIP to your MSP Business’
Craig will speak to the group about his experiences in deploying VOIP solutions over the past 6 years, from early adoption of unfit solutions through to the present when VoIP can be a vital part of the MSP toolbox for helping clients remain ‘sticky’ to you, while adding revenue to your business.
Some key areas he’ll cover :
A background to the varied VoIP solutions on the market along with an explanation as to their purpose, value and benefit to clients, and a check list of pre-deployment considerations. Starting from ‘Is VoIP right for this client’ through to what DSL services to use with each solution and how to manage client expectations. There will also be some technical background on setup for handsets and features on typical Hosted PBX systems.
Abussi is similar to many of the MSP businesses attending the AMITPRO event and so this is a unique opportunity to hear how an IT provider and MSP has added VoIP into their portfolio of services, with both positive and negative results. If you are looking to start 2012 with a VoIP offering, then come along and learn what does and what doesn’t work and find out how VOIP could add value to your business.
Our second session will be a group discussion – as voted for last month we’ll be talking about the Microsoft Partner Program.
The goal of this session is to gather some feedback to pass back to Microsoft – what’s good and bad about the partner program and what changes would be beneficial for everyone.
If possible it would be great preparation if you could have an approximate figure of Microsoft software you have sold in the last year. This way we can determine how much as a group, AMITPRO attendees generate for Microsoft – I’m expecting it to be a significant amount!
It doesn’t have to be "to the pound accurate" and if you’re not comfortable sharing with the open room we can add this to the total privately
We meet in the bar at the Arden Hotel between 5.00 and 5.30 or if you ask at reception for the Microsoft event they’ll point you in the right direction.
If you’re planning attending the event you can sign up here
December 13th Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: December 7, 2011
Here are the details of our final meeting of the year.
Our speaker this month is James Akrigg Head of Technology for Partners at Microsoft
James is a great speaker which I’m sure you’ll agree with if you’ve seen him speak at any of the regional partner briefings and he’s coming to chat the group about the current Small Business Server line up alongside System Center, Lync, Office 365 and Windows Intune.
As a follow on from last months SBS MVP Roadshow it’ll be good to expand on what was covered there from the Microsoft perspective.
Also following our current slightly tweaked format we can use the second half of the evening to quiz James some more and discuss some of the topics surrounding challenges we’ve all faced in 2011 as well as looking forward to 2012.
In lieu of an official Christmas outing it’d be great if everyone could hang around for at least one drink after the meeting to close out the year!
For anyone that hasn’t been to the meeting before we meet in the bar at the Arden Hotel between 5.00 and 5.30.
Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday
If you’re planning on attending please use the sign up page so we can get an idea of numbers.
SBS MVP Roadshow–November 14th
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: November 8, 2011
Just a quick reminder that our November meeting isn’t on it’s usual second Tuesday of the month.
We’re hosting the SBS MVP Road Show on Monday 14th. We’ll be starting at 17:00 promptly so please get there as soon as you.
Also a reminder if you are coming please remember to register on the MVP page itself as they’ll need to know attendance figures, etc.
Please invite anyone you think may be interested as all are welcome and since these guys are flying into the country to come talk to us it’d be great if we could get a good turnout.
Full details are on a previous post here —–> http://amitpro.org/2011/10/04/november-special-eventsbs-mvp-roadshow
Hope you all have a good week and look forward to seeing you Monday night!
October 11th Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: October 5, 2011
Our speaker for this month will be,
Stephen Corrigan – 3CX
“3CX develops IP PBX software for Windows. Nowadays, the IP PBX market is booming and the benefits of a VoIP Phone System / IP PBX are so evident that companies are switching to IP PBX systems at a staggering rate. IP Telephony equipment sales are increasing each year by more than 50%!
3CX Phone System for Windows is an award-winning software-based IP PBX that replaces a traditional proprietary hardware PBX / PABX. It is entirely SIP standards based and therefore interoperates with most popular SIP phones, SIP VoIP Gateways and SIP VoIP providers. It is intended to completely replace a traditional PBX, be easily manageable by system administrators and to integrate well with Windows Network infrastructure.
3CX allows businesses to experience the multiple advantages of a SIP PBX through its fully functional 3CX Phone System free edition and its fully supported and competitively priced commercial editions.”
Just a reminder of some of the things agreed at the last meeting.
• We’re going to trial having just one vendor/distributor speaker at meetings and using the second session to discuss a technical or business topic, have a member presentation or community update, etc.
• The agenda for the session will be agreed in advance so if there are any suggestions for the this one please let me know and we’ll pick a couple to start with. Any not used can go onto a list and be put forward for the following month. I’m sure you’ll all agree last month went well so it’s worth experimenting with. We can be flexible on this where needed.
Finally a reminder of our November special event with the SBS MVP Roadshow that I emailed around yesterday. (Full details are here)
We’ll be running on a different day to usual – Monday November 14th
We’ll be starting at 17:00 so everyone will need to get there a little earlier than usual.
It would be very helpful if you could register on the SBS MVP Roadshow page so we can plan numbers, etc. The roadshow team are doing some promotion on this too so hopefully we’ll have a bumper turnout.
For anyone that hasn’t been to the meeting before we meet in the bar at the Arden Hotel between 5.00 and 5.30.
Look forward to seeing you on Tuesday
November Special Event–SBS MVP Roadshow
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: October 4, 2011
We’ve mentioned at previous meetings that the November meeting was going to be a little bit different so want to give you as much notice as possible.
You may or may not know of the Microsoft MVP programme. Microsoft award certain individuals “Most Valuable Professional” status based on their work in the community and there are various MVPs for the Small Business Category around the world.
The SBS MVPs have been doing a roadshow around America and are also bringing it to the UK. They’ll be coming to the November meeting AMITPRO on Monday November 14th
Two very important details to note
1) The event is on the Monday 14th November – different to our usual second Tuesday of every month but needed to fit in with their tour of the UK user groups
2) We’re be STARTING at 17:00 – there is a lot of content so hopefully it’s ok for everyone to get there a little early just for this special event.
Exact names haven’t been confirmed yet but some of the SBS MVPs in attendance can certainly be considered SMB Community celebrities!
Event description from the website is below: if you are planning on attending if you could sign up using this link it’ll help the roadshow team with their planning.
All are welcome and feel free to invite anyone who you think may be interested!
“The SMB MVPs are delighted to bring their International SMB MVP Community Roadshow to Birmingham on November 14th.
This is a chance to hear first-hand from your peers in the field how they are implementing the New SMB Stack from Microsoft and see it actually demo’d on current shipping HP Hardware. This is not a canned sales pitch; this is a live demo by some of the SMB MVPs on real world scenarios they are deploying today.
Each stop on the tour will be a little different as the presenters change as the tour progresses and they also have to flexibility to shape the discussion to fit the local audience.
This is a free event, but you must register to attend. The program will start at 5:00pm PM and end at 9:00 PM.
Registration is limited to 60 attendees, so please make it a point to register as soon as possible. This is a great opportunity to get hands-on with the latest Microsoft and HP solutions, network with the MVPs and your peers and get a great lunch thrown in as a bonus – and the price is FREE!”
June 2011 Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: June 6, 2011
Our next AMITPRO meeting is upon us! (June 14th)
Our speakers this month are:
Neil Perry / James Steel – ZenSoft (Backup Assist)
Following on from the success of their last visit to AMITPRO ZenSoft will be back to talk about BackupAssist.
BackupAssist makes backups and data protection simple by performing automatic, scheduled backups of Windows Servers. With solutions for both local and Internet-based backup, the ability to back up everything from individual files to complete servers (including Active Directory, Exchange and SQL) – both physical and virtual – and support for a wide range of backup devices, BackupAssist is unmatched for its flexibility and versatility.
BackupAssist has been specifically designed to meet the needs of small to medium organizations. Our philosophy was, and still is, to make the software as simple to use as possible (for novices and system administrators alike), and provide the essential features for comprehensive server backup, while leaving out the unnecessary bells and whistles that make other backup software more complex and more expensive. Many backup packages are designed for large enterprises and contain complex processes, excess features and come with a big price tag. BackupAssist is simple to use, affordable and “just works”.
Jonny Marris – Accousti Products
Although the current economic climate is tough, there are some key products that are recession proof because they provide businesses with ways to save money, improve productivity and help the environment. Quiet racks represent a relatively untapped market opportunity which many IT resellers would be wise to add to their product spectrum.
The speaker for this session is Jonny Marris, the Business Development Partner for Acousti Products, the only independent Value Added Distributor of quiet server and data racks. This company has unprecedented skill and experience with quiet rack technology, plus a unique independent approach with the ability to supply the most comprehensive range of quiet racks. Acousti Products provide specialist advice in choosing the right rack for any particular situation.
In attending this session you will;
- Learn about the science behind noise reduction
- Learn how easy it is to resell quiet racks with Acousti Products
If you haven’t been to the group before we usually meet in the bar between 5.00 and 5.30. (www.ardenhotel.co.uk)
If you’ve never attended any AMITPRO meeting before but would like to then please get in touch via the contact page.
Look forward to seeing you then.
Microsoft and Purple Cow @ AMITPRO (May 2011)
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: May 17, 2011
Thanks to everyone who made the meeting this month. Our speakers were eagerly anticipated and didn’t disappoint!
Chris Parkes – Microsoft.
Chris is the Territory Manager for the Central region so his job is to look after companies such as AMITPRO members!
The presentation was focussed around Microsoft’s cloud offerings and looked at the how we’ve got to the current definition of “cloud computing”
These offerings are broadly broken down into three core areas.
Examples of each area include
- Software as a Service – Dynamics CRM online
- Platform as as Service – SQL Azure
- Infrastructure as a Service – Office 365 (Exchange / SharePoint /etc)
Chris covered some of the usage scenarios where Cloud solutions would be advantageous over a traditional on-premise solution.
Next we delved into some of the specific solutions with a final focus on the imminent release of Office 365.
Chris gave very honest and open presentation and acknowledged that while Cloud solutions are the current hot topic it may not always be the right solution for every business so on premises solutions won’t disappear overnight and there are still questions customers need to face around security, migration, data protection as well as how solution providers will need to evolve their business models so they can still provide value.
The slides Chris used are available here and here.
Susanne Dansey – Purple Cow Ideas Management
Always a popular speaker at AMITPRO Susanne was hear to give her presentation called “Creative Ideas for ICTs Professionals”.
Susanne started off by explaining the Purple Cow concept, if you don’t know this is a good place to start but in summary – BE EXCEPTIONAL.
From here the session become very interactive and actually had nothing to do with technology. It was to do with interacting with your customers, standing out from the crowd, sorting that work/life balance, thinking about your business model and how you can turn it upside down to do more of the fun stuff and much more!
The discussion in the room was lively and there were some great little nuggets of information for improving your business from the people around the table.
The end result was a hugely inspiring session that continued in the bar until late into the night!
For some bite size chunks of the areas Susanne was talking about you it’s highly recommended you check out the “The Cowshed”.
Thanks go out to both speakers for making it really interesting meeting!
See you in June!
May 2011 Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: May 4, 2011
Hope you’ve enjoyed all these bank holidays!
We’ve got a great line up for our next meeting. (May 10th)
Chris Parkes – Microsoft
Chris is a partner territory manager and looks after the central region (i.e. us) and has been a visitor to AMITPRO recently. His rather entertaining bio is here (he really likes curry!)
His session will cover,
Microsoft Cloud Services – Platform Strategy Update
In helping Partners understand the value of the building block components available through Microsoft cloud services offerings, this session is aimed at leaving Partners better placed to make informed business decisions to help shape their customers’ future platform of choice.
Any session with a focus on cloud services is always a lively one and with Microsoft’s offerings currently expanding/evolving/etc (Office 365?) this should help answer any question you may have about the direction Microsoft are currently taking
Next up is,
Susanne Dansey – Purple Cow Ideas Management.
If you’ve been involved in the SBSC community at all you’ll know all about Susanne!
Having worked for ReadyCrest, WestCoast and Dell in recent years she’s been able to see our part of the market from all ends and now heads up Purple Cow. She also presented at AMITPRO in August last year which was very well received!
Susanne is going to run an interactive session that turns the conversation of running an IT business on its head, parks the technology conversations to one side and talks about the increasing importance to get a handle on what your business exists for. It covers business models, mindset and current trends in the business world.
This’ll be a great chance to have a think about where your business currently is and where you want it to go in the future. Make sure you bring your thinking caps!
We usually meet in the bar of the Arden Hotel between 5:00 and 5:30 – hope to see you there!
April 2011 Meeting
Posted by: Andy Parkes on: April 11, 2011
It’s April already and our next AMITPRO meeting is upon us! (April 12th)
Our speakers this month are
Stuart Farmer from Elite Suite Software
Elitesuite Limited was founded by Stuart Farmer, a highly experienced IT consultant and successful entrepreneur.
The catalyst behind Elitesuite was the desire for organisations, both public and commercial, to achieve a better return on their IT investment, by improving the usability and productivity of existing applications.
Over a number of years, the team at Elitesuite identified recurring usability gaps in Microsoft software and non-Microsoft applications.
Organisations lose huge amounts of time performing time-consuming, repetitive file management tasks such as searching, previewing, saving and uploading.
To solve this problem, Elitesuite developed Elitefile – a unique desktop PC product that improves the performance and productivity of existing IT applications, through centralised and intelligent file management.
Adam Norman – Advanced Consultancy Solutions
Advanced Consultancy Solutions is a Management Consultancy firm specialising in IT service Management and operations.
They provide consultancy and outsourcing solutions for IT Managed Service Providers in a range of sectors.
Adam will be giving a brief overview of the companies service offerings and then presenting two short presentations; the first on Business process re-engineering and the benefits to a business, the second on a reactive service provider v a proactive approach.
If you haven’t been to the group before we usually meet in the bar between 5.00 and 5.30. (www.ardenhotel.co.uk)
I’m going to be late to the meeting this month as it’s my daughter’s birthday but I’ll be leaving you in the capable hands of Matt Barton from Ostrich IT.
I should be there for the second session once the children are all tucked up in bed so look forward to seeing you then!
Andy
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