{"id":1116,"date":"2012-08-20T15:02:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-20T15:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/08\/20\/partner-area-lead-2012\/"},"modified":"2012-08-20T15:02:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-20T15:02:19","slug":"partner-area-lead-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/08\/20\/partner-area-lead-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Partner Area Lead – 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last week there was a blog post on the official Microsoft UK SBSC blog announcing the SMB Partner Area Leads for 2012<\/a>. <\/p>\n

They are <\/p>\n

Robert Gibbons of Think4 IT Solutions<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Guy Gregory from The Final Step<\/a><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

me! <\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So the first question most people ask is\u2026\u201dWhat is a PAL\u201d? <\/p>\n

There is a really good description on the announcement blog post.<\/p>\n

\n

Partner Area Leads are the spokespeople for the Small Business Community and smaller Partners who would like to engage more closely with Microsoft.  PALs have regular contact with Microsoft, are Partners themselves, and will be instrumental within their local Small Business Community.  These are people that have an incredibly valuable insight into small IT companies in the UK and can credibly feedback to Microsoft about ways we can improve the Partner experience, about products and services, and any other area of the Microsoft business.<\/p>\n

PALs are not paid by Microsoft and give their own time to support the community and the small businesses they work with, this is done from a passionate belief in the community. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Richard Tubb<\/a> \u2013 one of last years PALs also has written about this on more than one occasion and this particular post gives lots of details<\/a> on exactly what the role is and what\u2019s involved.   <\/p>\n

I\u2019m really pleased to have been offered the role. The people who taken on the role in previous read like the \u201cwho\u2019s who\u201d of the UK SMB community. <\/p>\n

Vijay Riyait,<\/a> Gareth Brown<\/a>, Steve Wright, Andy Trish<\/a>, Richard Tubb<\/a>, Chris Timm<\/a> and Guy Gregory<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to spend time with all of the people on that list and can hand on heart say each one of them . <\/p>\n

I still stand by that. <\/p>\n

With all the changes and upheaval going on having other people to share experiences with, to ask advice and get help and feedback to and from the correct people is going to be a key factor in making sure your business is ready for the shift that is already underway in our part of the industry. <\/p>\n

The Partner Area Lead role has been there to help with this kind of thing for years! Over the next year I\u2019d like to help ensure partners have access to every possible resource to help grow their business. <\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t always mean Microsoft though<\/strong>. A big part of AMITPRO has always been helping local IT companies to grow, improve and raise standards. Ensuring everyone is making full use of these kinds of resource are what I see to be portion of the PAL role. <\/p>\n

I\u2019ve already had several chats with both Guy and Robert and I\u2019m really looking forward to working with them over next twelve months. <\/p>\n

Whatever happens it\u2019ll be interesting to say the least.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week there was a blog post on the official Microsoft UK SBSC blog announcing the SMB Partner Area Leads for 2012. They are Robert Gibbons of Think4 IT Solutions Guy Gregory from The Final Step me! So the first question most people ask is\u2026\u201dWhat is a PAL\u201d? There is a really good description on<\/p>\n

<\/span>Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[117,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pal","category-sbs-community"],"yoast_head":"\nPartner Area Lead - 2012 - Andy's Techie Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/andyparkes.co.uk\/blog\/index.php\/2012\/08\/20\/partner-area-lead-2012\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Partner Area Lead - 2012 - Andy's Techie Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week there was a blog post on the official Microsoft UK SBSC blog announcing the SMB Partner Area Leads for 2012. 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