Find out what’s new for Microsoft partners this week. We’ll connect you to resources that help you become market-ready, connect with customers and prospects, and differentiate your business. You can read previous weeks’ issues at http://aka.ms/uspnewsletter.
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Top stories
Office 365 Partner Community: focus on Ignite 2015 highlights and Office 365 for Developers
In part 1 of this month’s Office 365 Partner Community blog series, with a focus on announcements from Build and Ignite, Michael Panciroli talks about Office Add-ins, Web apps, the Office 365 unified API, and the Office 365 Developer Program. Read more.
Azure Partner Community: Announcements from Build and Ignite, and preparing for WPC 2015
In part 1 of this month’s Azure Partner Community blog series, with a focus on how announcements from Build and Ignite will impact partners, Nick Johnson talks about preparing for WPC 2015, taking stock of your Azure practice, and how to build an actionable technical readiness plan. Read more.
Optimize your Office 365 onboarding and usage engagements with your customers and Microsoft – best practices for partners
Once your customer has made the decision to purchase Office 365, it’s critical to have an agreed-upon plan for not only deploying the Office 365 seats, but also for encouraging users to learn about how Office 365 will help them get their work done and begin using it. Learn the best practices for using FastTrack and Onboarding Center resources to your business advantage. Read more.
US Sessions at WPC 2015 focus on enabling great customer experiences through technology
On Tuesday, July 14 at the 2015 Worldwide Partner Conference, the US Partner Team is delivering a day of sessions that lead up to the Microsoft North America General Session. Session content will focus on lighting up user experiences that are enabled by technology, and help you understand how to build a new practice or enhance an existing one—while keeping your profitability in mind.
- Add these sessions to your WPC Schedule in Connect
- View these sessions in the Session Catalog: filter on Partner Type > US Partner
Your keys to cloud profitability at WPC 2015—register for the deep dive on Sunday, July 12
Partner profitability is top of mind for us. In today’s rapidly evolving technological landscape, we know how important it is for your cloud business to grow to stay competitive. At WPC, you’ll learn how to accelerate your transition to the cloud through best practices that deepen customer relationships and increase profitability, and investments that create a stronger market valuation for your business.
- Register for the Cloud Partner Profitability Deep Dive on Sunday, July 12
- Find more profitability-specific WPC 2015 sessions in the Session Catalog or Connect: filter on Business Challenge > Drive Profitability
Why you should connect with Voices for Innovation at WPC 2015
This guest blog post by Jon Sastre, President and CEO of ConQuest Technology Services, a Microsoft partner, explains what Voices for Innovation (VFI) is and why partners should care, and gives examples of what VFI members have done over the past year. VFI will be at WPC 2015, giving you the opportunity to have a face-to-face conversation with VFI members. Learn more.
Dynamics partners: Make the most of your marketing with the Marketing Services Bureau
Check out the new service offerings for Dynamics partners from Dynamics-savvy vendors. You’ll also find a new look and easier navigation at the Marketing Services Bureau site on PartnerSource, making it a snap to find the exact marketing support you need to grow your business. Learn more.
MCC – 7K events reaching over 1M SMB customers
Microsoft Community Connections (MCC) is designed for Small and Midsize Business partners, and enables them to use Microsoft resources to generate more leads and increase their sales pipeline. From a partner standpoint, MCC = net new customer acquisitions. Watch our short video to learn more.
Skype for Business webcasts – Summer schedule
Skype for Business brings together the well-loved, familiar experience of Skype, with the enterprise security, compliance, and control that businesses expect from Microsoft. Register for these technical webcasts, and learn about the capabilities and features of the client and server versions of Skype for Business. You’ll get technical information about configuration, migration paths from legacy versions, video interoperability, deployments, and user adoption. Register today.
Offer ends June 15: Migrate your customers to Office 365 for free
Through June 15, help your customers that are new to Office 365 get up and running more quickly. Microsoft US partners can receive between 50 and 149 MigrationWiz Premium Mailbox Migration licenses for each qualifying customer migration initiated and completed by June 15. MigrationWiz is a comprehensive and easy-to-use data migration solution that helps you improve your customer’s migration experience and enable faster Office 365 adoption. Offer ends June 15.
Partner calendar through June 19
 | Refer to the June Hot Sheet for a comprehensive, frequently updated training schedule. See our weekly post that highlights upcoming training and training-related resources.
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Week of June 8
Monday, June 8
Tuesday, June 9
- Microsoft Skype for Business Partner Integration Day in Dallas, TX
- Enterprise Mobility Suite Series: Compare Point Solutions for Enterprise Mobility to Microsoft EMS
- SMB Cloud Office Hours: Power BI – How to Demo
- Enterprise Mobility Scenario – Sales approach to Enterprise Mobility Suite
- Introduction to Office 365: Services, Plans and Internal Use Rights (IUR)
- Developing an End-to-End Business Solution Across Office 365 Platform
Wednesday, June 10
- Build Tour in Chicago, IL
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online: Activating Your IUR Licenses
- Skype for Business: Edge architectures and configuration
- Visual Studio Development: Mobile Apps for Windows, IOS and Android
- Modern Biz Technical Training for SMB
Thursday, June 11
- Microsoft Skype for Business Partner Integration Day in Atlanta, GA
- Microsoft Virtual Academy: Azure RemoteApp Core Skills
- SMB Marketing SureStep office hours
- Azure Mobile Service
- Office 365 Real World Scenarios for SMB: Communicate professionally and easily
Friday, June 12
- HA and DR Patterns and Practices on SQL 2014
- SMB Partner Insider Call Series – East Region
- SMB Partner Insider Call Series – Central Region
- SMB Partner Insider Call Series – West Region
Week of June 15
Monday, June 15
- Partner Practice Enablement: Azure Technical Training
- Build Tour in Los Angeles, CA
- Ask the Experts: What's new or planned in Office 365
Tuesday, June 16
- Microsoft Skype for Business Partner Integration Day in Washington, DC
- Windows 10 Learning Series: Windows 10 for IoT
- Delve – Your Personalized Experience of Office 365
- SMB Cloud Office Hours: Power BI – Outlook Favorite Features and How to Demo
- Drive Skype for Business Adoption
- C# 6 New Features
- Selling Enterprise Web and Mobile Apps with the New Azure App Service
Wednesday, June 17
- Cloud Profitability Webcast: Changing Business Operations in a Cloud Environment
- Microsoft Virtual Academy: Building Websites with Python and Django
- Selling Enterprise Web and Mobile Apps with the New Azure App Service
- Demonstration of Azure Event Hub and Stream Analytics
- Office 365 Initial Journey: How to perform your best Office 365 Demo and leverage the FastTrack program
Thursday, June 18
- Office 365 Practice Accelerator for SMB
- Azure Partner Community Call
- SMB Marketing SureStep office hours
Friday, June 19
- No listings at the time this post was published – please check the Hot Sheet