The Future of Productivity - the sweetspot of eReaders and Business Solutions #li #il #yam

The worlThis post was published before july 2010. The information in this post was asked to take offline until now to make sure that Ricoh Innovations had room to wrap up the release of their first production version.

This year Microsoft World Partner Conference me and my collegue had the opportunity to meet Ron Barr of Ricoh Innovations. Our goal was to get to know each other since we are collegues in the Ricoh family and share some developments and ideas. Ron had this prototype with him of a Ricoh eReader. The device has a WIFI and 3G connection, the surface is based on the kindle technology on top of that a pen interface is implemented. Writing on the surface realy feels like wrinting on paper. Not to smooth, and a lot like writing with ink on paper.
Ron informed us that this was the first time he was able to show a prototype of Ricoh so upfront and I´m really glad we experienced the tablet. Some things are changing. As Steve Balmer announced several times now, The Cloud demands smarter devices and Microsoft COO Kevin Turner mentioned a sweet spot in their ´three screens and a cloud´ vision on the future of productivity during his WPCDC speech. An open space between the consumer focused space of the apple iPad and the fat desktop devices on the other end. Actualy he positioned the Kindle on the the far right end of the spectrum, but that is the kindle static ´read only´ interface. Well this Ricoh device rocks, it is able to go beyond the crisp display of books and is able to deliver support to business processes. The layer on top of the Kindle infterface is able to capture writen input and will integrate that interaction with business processess.
There will be a SDK available. We think it should be free of charge. The community will take care of the huge opportunity. We discussed the need in logistic processes and other paper and information appended processes. The possibilities are infinited. How should we price the product itself. Well in our opinion the added value of the product is not the issue, it´s the huge added value of the process behind that. Maybe free of charge is not the way to go, but look at the US eReader forecast and the prediction the prices of a stripped down device will drop to less than $50.

The device will launch in the US april 2011. We in the front line of Europe will try to support the device as soon as possible.

First Recap Microsoft World Partner Conference #wpcdc #mspartner

Sitting on the couch I try to kill my jetlag and recap the 2010 Microsoft World Partner Conference in Washington DC of last week. At this moment not all content is online jet and in my opinion we lack the keynote video of Kevin Turner COO of microsoft the most. I will cover that part later. For those who want to take a peek, read the transcription.

 

Last year WPC09

The wpcdc was usefull but not as spectacular as the one last year in New Orleans (WPC09). Every event is produced different arround a theme. The theme of last year, in the middle of the worldwide crisis was about change. Kevin Turner and Steve Balmer talked about the worldwide reset. - chack out the last year videos of these keynotes.

 

It was not only the change resulting the crisis that hit us all, but it was the enormous opportunity and the energy how it was brought to the stage last year. Kevin Turner had a five point game plan back then.

1. Be realistic about the causes of our challenges - environment vs strategy
2. Prepare for an unknown length and depth of downturn
3. Deepen and strenghten our customer and partner relationships
4. Grow our marketshare and compete to win
5. Response with a sense of urgency

Also last year there were a lot of realy changing new products to announce by Microsoft. Wave 14 is implemented since the 2009 WPC. This means that the most important products of Microsoft like Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft server 2008, SQL server 2008R2 and of course the new release of SharePoint 2010. Just a few products from the wave 14 have to be released in the next few months.

 

Last but not least the new partner program was announced at the last WPC in New Orleans, 12 months ago now. So just 6 months to go.

 

What happened last year?

The Wave 14 product released are a big succes for Microsoft, no doubt. Never experienced such a big demand in the market with a new server product like SharePoint 2010 so soon after it's release. Clearly the market picked up the possibility's this new version delivered to the market. Never met such a confidence in a new release from the perspective of the market as we experience now with SharePoint 2010.

 

The change in the partner program is implemented in a few fases. I mention two with impact for us Microsoft Partners:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)
• Competences

 Measurement of the customer satisfaction is now obligated to meet the partner competence requirements. when reenrollment is necessary this customer survey must be carried out. The competences itself are changed recently. Other names, other requirements, some competences are new. In this fase this will have just a limited impact on the partner status.

 

Most obviouse result is that the Partner status will change in the new Microsoft Partner Network. Microsoft Gold partner will change.

 

The biggest Buzz last year and still very hot is the cloud. Microsoft is ALL IN.

 

Does Microsoft meet the expectations this WPC10?

About 13.000 attended this event. That is a lot!

 

This year Kevin Turner presented his game plan. 4 this time.

 

1. Leading with the cloud
2. Driving Windows 7
3. and Office 2010
4. Growing share by competing to win

The wave 14 products are released, just as expected and doing very well. The announcements of the release of a few products left in the wave 14 are confirmed nothing more. Not spectacular, but most products are released just a few months ago. We all knew there wouldn't be to much new in this corner. Take a look at the points of Kevin Turner. Ofcourse the opportunity of software renewall of Windows and Office is HUGE and betting BIG on cloud can be found on the first place... Still not spectacular. 

 

In the partner program some things changed. The titel on the Microsoft partner badge is changed from Microsoft Partner Network to just Microsoft Partner. Well, partners are partners, not a network. Most spectacular was the announcement a very little while before the start of the event that Allison Watson will be succeeded by Jon Roskill as corporate VP worldwide partner group. She was still all over the program. Well her name was and the name of Jon not... Check out the transcription of her latest speech at the WPC10.

The change to Jon Roskill was downright disappointing. He will be great I guess, but till now I did not see that. Everyone I spoke, felt the same I am afraid. He lacks the energy of Allison, looks like he has no confidence and is not able to fascinate the audience. At the beginning of his carreer he looks upon a huge challenge. The challenge to lead Microsoft and it's Partner Network to the next and last fase.

 

The last thing happend this year is the cloud. We are all in is what Steve Balmer, Kevin Turner and all other excecutives shouted. Betting big on Cloud. Well I believe that BUT, it is very disapointing that we heard nothing about the renewall of BPOS the current name of the current online business productivity proposition of Microsoft. I expected the BETA release would be announced at this event. It looks like this will not happen till Q1 2011.

Ofcourse Microsoft announced the Azure Appliance, but that's about all folks. A small ray of hope is the fact that this means that Microsoft CRM Online will be in the same release pace as the new BPOS wave...

Bill Clinton Guest Speaker at Microsoft World Partner Conference 2010 Washington DC #WPC10

Last year Microsoft World Partner Conference was in New Orleans. I loved that city, loved this BIG event. Last year I bumped into Jesse Jackson at the Hilton near the Ernest N. Morial convention center while drinking a beer at the bar.
This year the guest speaker at the conference will be Bill Clinton. Well I'm VERY currious what this former worldleader can tell and learn us about working together in this rapidly changing world of information.