Microsoft Inspire 2023 just wrapped up, but what should you know? Eddie Bader joins us to share his takeaways from the conference. Eddie is the Director of Projects, Process Management & Strategic Alliances with 6th Street Consulting, a Consulting firm focusing in on all things Microsoft, specializing around user productivity and collaboration on SharePoint and Office 365. Eddie also serves as the President of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (Americas), commonly referred to as IAMCP.

Eddie stated that the overwhelming themes of the conference were around the adoption of AI and on the success of the Microsoft Partner. He gave the charge to specialize, productize offers and create IP. Be creative and drive innovation by not focusing on ‘selling AI, but the business outcomes of AI’. He also believed that Microsoft is listening more to the ‘voice of the partner’ and that there was ‘gold in every session’ of the conference.

We appreciate how Eddie spoke about various communities coming together, including IAMCP, WIC and BCPA. Together, we can be ‘unstoppable’. Get involved in these wonderful communities.

Connect with Eddie on LinkedIn, check out your local community and IAMCP Chapter and learn more about 6th street consulting bu visiting 6sc.com/

What are some strategies for building an effective security stack? How can leveraging partnerships become a key component for capturing more revenue?

Michelle Ragusa-McBain, Vice President of North American Channels for SonicWall, a leading provider of network security, wireless access and remote access products and solutions joins us to speak about her new role and what to expect from their partner program. They have been recognized as an industry leader in threat prevention, having secured a perfect threat detection report 8 quarters in a row.

Some of the benefits partners can expect include:

Lead flow equating to more opportunities

Rebates and market development funds

SonicWall University

Michelle has always been an advocate for underrepresented communities in tech. Representation matters; mentorship matters; sponsorship matters; Diversity of thought matters.

To learn more about Michelle, connect with her on LinkedIn and visit sonicwall.com

Driven by a passion to bridge the digital divide and empower underrepresented communities, Nikkia Carter took the next step and made the move across the Atlantic to the country of Ghana. Nikkia is an author, speaker, advocate and serves as the CEO of NTC Tech Consultancy, a Microsoft solutions partner, providing a full range of services including technical support and training.

We dive into her leadership journey, including her time at Microsoft, her now second business and learn about her pursuit of leveling the tech playing field. We also talk about her move to the continent of Africa. Her goal is to ensure that all communities have access:

Access to Funding

Access to Knowledge

Access to Biz Apps

We ask about learning and growing your personal brand and how this even goes beyond your social media presence. Keep looking for opportunities to speak and to make an impact.

To learn more about Nikkia, NTC Tech Consultancy, her work with technology and Education, connect with her on LinkedIn and visit consultNTCtech.com

Part 2 of our conversation with Matt Lee, Educator, Speaker, Podcaster and Senior Director of Security and Compliance at Pax8.

We continue with Matt’s philosophy on security:

Security is a combination of the right tools, people, processes and capabilities.

Security is the whole life cycle, including detection, response and recovery.

Must have the right mindset of adjusting and learning.

He also dispels the position 'of how expensive' security can be. It's not about money as much as it's about being intentional. “Security is significantly more about the surgeon than the scalpel."

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn, get involved with the charities he supports, listen to the Beard Banter Podcast and visit both cybermattlee.com/ and pax8.com.As a community, let’s get him to that goal of raising $1M in 2024 Bike MS

Consider the goals you have for yourself and your organization. Are they big and bold enough to challenge you beyond your comfort zone?

A true CyberSecurity Evangelist, Matt Lee, Senior Director of Security and Compliance at Pax8, talks about having ‘audacious goals’. These are goals that seem to be outside of the realm of possibility, but are exactly what you need to achieve your possibility. Matt is a highly sought after speaker, educator and force multiplier within the cybersecurity community.

We learn about his role with Pax8, discuss his work within the Community, his Beard Banter podcast, fundraising efforts, the recent Pax8 Beyond Conference and his experience as a speaker.

The Charity Beard Shave raised over $200K, supporting various charities including:

Hackers for Vets

Bits N’ Bytes

Diversity Cyber Council

Women Who Code

Bike Walk Wichita.

He has a goal in 2024 to raise $1M for Bike for MS.

Connect with Matt on LinkedIn, get involved with the charities he supports, listen to the Beard Banter Podcast and visit cybermattlee.com/

A single event can change everything for you and your business. We were fortunate to join other Microsoft Partners and Stakeholders at the First Black Partner Growth Initiative (BPGI) Summit at Microsoft’s HQ in Redmond, Washington. In partnership with the Black Channel Partner Alliance (BCPA) and AppMeetup, tech leaders throughout the country came together for an interactive experience focused on driving innovation and business growth.

The depth of support and commitment from Microsoft and other leading organizations to the growth, development, sales acceleration, and success of the Black partner was amazing. The events of the week included:

Partner Reception

Summit featuring talks and workshops from industry leaders, as well as Senior Microsoft executives.

Accelerator Catalyst Graduation

BCPA Golf Classic

Strategic Networking

Become a supporter of this vision:

Go to Microsoft’s website and searching for the Black Partner Growth Initiative (BPGI)Visit bcpalliance.com

Visit bcpalliance.com

Visit AppMeetup.com

Diversity and Inclusion matters. Join this movement. Ignite the fires of innovation and watch out for the endless possibilities.

We love fascinating conversations with incredible leaders. Having a drive to grow and sell businesses and still impact the partner ecosystem are some of the areas we touch on with Heather Margolis. Heather is the SVP of Marketing at 360insights, a channel incentive management platform. Recognized as a channel marketing expert, her vast experience includes marketing for big-brand tech companies like EMC, EqualLogic and Dell before forming her own organizations: Channel Maven Consulting, and Spark Your Channel.

We also learn about:

Heather’s mindset, entrepreneurial and leadership journey.

Incentives are more important now and how 360insights helps to guide and increase partner engagement and success.

Family life after selling her businesses.

What she enjoys about speaking.

Visit 360insights.com/ to learn more about their incentive management platform, and find Heather on LinkedIn and follow her on Instagram: @channel_maven

Diversity and representation within leadership are increasing among tech organizations that want to ensure they’re providing an inclusive environment for all, but there’s still so much more work to be done. What else can you do to impact greater change? It starts with an awareness of where your organization truly is and then an intentional commitment from the top to change.

Cassie Jeppson, Director of North American Channel Programs at Lenovo shares her thoughts about Channel Programs, DEI initiatives as well as serving as President of the Alliance of Channel Women’s Board of Directors. She is shaping how channel partners find success and she is elevating the voices of incredible women leaders.

We discuss:

Work-Life Harmony

Lenovo’s 360 Partner Program.

Lenovo has 21% global female executive representation with 29% minority representation in the US. Cassie states that they know 'it's not enough'. By 2025, their goals include increasing these to 27% and 35%.

Some of their programs include employee resource groups, leadership programs to develop high performers. Cassie stated that you don't have to develop these yourself as there are third-parties out there including AppMeetup who can provide that for your leadership teams.

Take a top down approach to effecting change. Look at everything from hiring, to mentorship programs and to the investment needed for the development and retention of top talent. Make a decision to become an advocate and accelerate the growth of minority and female technology channel leaders.

Technology can make an incredible impact on human potential and on our ability to fuel passion and find purpose. We can leverage and harness technology to restore a sense of community and help us evolve to create more value in life.

David Cole Jr. is the President and Founder of Uhai Technology LLC, a permission based knowledge sharing & collaboration platform available for mobile & desktop. The translation of the word Uhai in Swahili means Life, and this is the foundation of what David is building with his organization. David stated that 'smaller bites of wins and victories will lead you to where you're trying to get to.'

In this episode, we also discuss:

His entrepreneurial journey and the formation of Uhai Technology

Inspiration from his father and advice for entrepreneurs with the 5 P's: Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance

His mantra “do well by doing good”

The pull toward Ghana and the Continent of Africa

Correlation between playing football and being exposed to Microsoft

To learn more about David, connect with him on LinkedIn and visit uhai.co

Be sure to reach out to him about supporting his cause to provide Football (Soccer) cleats and gear for the youth.

How can your emails stand apart from the volume and clutter of unopened messages? Increase the chances of your brand and message being seen and leave a call to action by leveraging technology within your emails.

Founder & Chief EyeMail Officer, Lisa Jones joins us to talk about her leadership journey and how her EyeMail platform has become a game changer for professionals and organizations. EyeMail is a world class marketing communications technology, integrating video within email to increase customer engagement and conversion.

In this episode, Lisa touches on:

• Navigating the sector as a woman and minority

To learn more about Lisa and EyeMail, visit eyemailinc.com and bring your emails to life.