discussUC

Authors: Cisco

Authors: Julia White

The new year is starting off with a bang – a great new set of Notes customers decided to Exchange and SharePoint.  At this rate, 2011 could be one of our biggest Notes “switcher” years, yet.    With IBM’s annual Lotusphere conference starting next week, it means that Notes customers...

Authors: Julia White

I am guest blogging on the Why Microsoft Blog today and tomorrow with some thoughts about Google.  Check out the post today here.

Julia White

Senior Director, Exchange Product Management

Authors: Dean Howarth

Last Wednesday I posted that we'd released Lync to manufacturing, meaning our code is locked and the product is ready. We received some great questions as a result, so I wanted to address a few of them here.  

First, there are still a few more steps before Lync is officially available. As I noted in the blog our worldwide...

Authors: Julia White

What a fun week on the UC Blog!  We saw lots of spirited comments from the Notes community, especially in response to my Monday post.  Certainly, there is a lot of passion among Notes users.  There is

Over the last several weeks, I've been proud to highlight why customers of all sizes, geographies and industries have picked Microsoft over Google Apps. Some have left Google after realizing 'it's more pony than horse', others gave it a test drive and found out quickly it was 'more showroom than track ready'.  (Sorry, I couldn't resist) . Despite the hype machines running overtime at the GooglePlex in Mountain View, customers are voting with their feet to pick Microsoft.

This is why I am excited to highlight two more customers who have decided to share their reasons why Microsoft has become their trusted software vendor. As always, if you want more customer examples or content that outlines how our solutions differ to Google, you can always visit this website.

Leaving Google.  Why Even Free Google Apps Wasn't Worth It

Jared Morgan from Bradshaw and Weil in Paducah, KY has written a guest post over on the MS Online blog about their experience leaving Google Apps Standard Edition for MS Online. Standard edition is a free offering from Google that is limited to 50 users. They see the tremendous value in BPOS to now pay for the suite of services. Jared shares why as a small business the cloud offers a cost effective way to remain agile while gaining access to technology previously out of reach due to cost and on site company support. My favorite part about Jared's post is his singling out of SharePoint Online as a key benefit of the BPOS Suite, "What I thought I was getting as a simple throw-in with BPOS, SharePoint Online has turned out to be as valuable as Exchange Online, if not more so."

SharePoint is the fastest growing product in the history of Microsoft. It's received numerous accolades from industry analysts including top placement in all related Gartner Magic Quadrants. Imagine being a small business with under 50 employees and having access to such a product via the cloud? It's no surprise why SharePoint is a winner for Bradshaw and Weil and 'Why Microsoft' is an affirmative statement and not question at all.

Future Proofing Your Business - Cloud on Your Terms with Microsoft

On the Exchange Blog, David Aird, Head of IT for MITIE, a strategic outsourcing and asset management company, shares his insights into why they selected Exchange over Google Apps. He explains how Microsoft provides flexibility they need and how Google is an ultimatum full of hidden costs. We are the only company in the industry that allows you to run your solutions on prem, in the cloud, hosted with a partner or a hybrid. That means that companies like Bradshaw and Weil who are 'All In' can embrace the cloud immediately and for companies like MITIE, they can still run the systems themselves but by being on Microsoft, they have a product that is 'future proofed' because it allows them an 'on ramp' to go to the cloud on their terms.

"We looked at Google. They were competitively priced but with only three years in the productivity space, they lacked maturity and seemed like a risky investment… Ultimately, we choose Exchange 2007 for its manageability, reliability and enterprise class support. Despite all the recent focus on the cloud, we're not quite ready to move our data outside of our immediate control. When we do, we'll do it on our terms rather than being forced into a fit that's not right for our business." (see post for full transcript. I pulled from two paragraphs)

Stay tuned for more customer stories in the coming weeks as we continue to highlight 'Why Microsoft'.

Billions of people are coming together for the ongoing World Cup in South Africa, and I suspect that the global phenomenon is hard to miss wherever you are reading this post. I know I have greatly enjoyed the games and been especially riveted by the United States games as they have fought out two tough, come from behind draws and are on a knifes edge going into their last group game to decide if they will advance into the knockout round. I am a big fan of the US team, and even traveled to Trinidad last year to watch the team compete in an away qualifier in which they won a tight 1-0 game that was very helpful for advancing to the World Cup Finals.

I recently traveled with my wife to Africa, spending some time in Morocco, Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. While she speaks French, I am quite limited in that language, so I was reduced to speaking in the language of soccer instead. This approach was a pretty big success and I ended up referencing the global heroes of the pitch with people throughout our trip, from cabbies in Morocco to leaders of their community the DRC, and pretty much everywhere in between

This got me thinking about the universality of the game and how many platforms people are experience world cup matches. Personally, I have seen matches on my laptop, the TV and in some limited capacity on my smartphone. In many ways, this multi-device approach mimics the path that communications has gone as well, with our collective ability to converse and collaborate across a myriad platforms and devices. I am glad to work at a company that is leading the way in this growth.

For another angle on the World Cup and I please to share a perspective from my colleague, Lee Shorten, the managing director for the UK, who authored an interesting post for the BNET Sterling Performance blog that focuses on business and management. In his post, Following Fabio Capello: The Team-Only Retreat, he looks at the management decisions of the UK national team coach, Fabio Capello, as a lens for looking at business management. Capello is a real icon in world soccer, and I believe the highest paid national coach at the World Cup.

Below is an excerpt from Lee, and I encourage folks to click through to his full post. One thing that is quite interesting is that Capello’s management thus far in South Africa has yielded pretty underwhelming results. England has had two difficult and disappointing draws and is in real danger of missing out on the knockout rounds. However, I don’t think that invalidates the lessons Lee drew from Capello’s work leading up to South Africa. It is still good business to engage all aspects of the business involved and working to ensure that organization is collectively pulling in the same direction. But, I do wonder what others out there might think about the approach and what other leadership techniques he might have applied for his team.

Following Fabio Capello: The Team-Only Retreat

The lessons we’re learning from the world of football can be applied to the business world too. In an era where the company away day has become an accepted part of management strategy, the spotlight on Capello’s World Cup tactics should also give managers an opportunity to look at their own management techniques, and identify which ones are the most successful.

 

- Tactical team talk: Always take the opportunity to talk to your team and allow them to really get to grips with what you’re aiming to achieve.
- Full squad training: Get all levels of the business involved.
- Extra time: Capello’s tactic has been to place the team in a closed door environment, making sure they concentrate on one thing only and eliminating the potential for distractions.
- Celebrate a win: If your team has been putting in the hours remember to reward them for it.

Authors: Avaya Insights

Before I get into my post, let me offer Avaya's heartfelt empathy and concern to the millions so directly affected by the devastation in Japan. The pictures and videos that have emerged over the last few days from the destruction and tsunami have been scary and captivating. Personally, they have brought back a flood of...