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The "Digital Transformation" is having a profound effect across healthcare. Companies like Microsoft are advancing their investments in the Healthcare IT market to meet the growing demand. Specific areas of focus include: patient care, empowering care teams, optimizing operational effectiveness and transforming the care continuum.

Gartner reports, "digital healthcare is propelling spending in enhancing core automation systems such as various health information systems and other associated technologies such as information exchanges and analytics that help derive meaningful use from these core systems."

The opportunity in healthcare for partners is immense,  so I asked a former colleague Bill Hawkins to guide our audience of listeners through it.

Bill Hawkins is Microsoft's Partner Lead for US Healthcare, where he is responsible for setting the strategy for partners engaging with Microsoft's field sales organization focused on US Healthcare. His work is focused on the company's Core Priorities and driving mutually beneficial outcomes. Bill works closely with partners across the healthcare ecosystem to accelerate their growth, solve for customer's business needs, and continuously search for innovative solutions.

In the first portion of the interview Bill outlines the transformation going on in the Healthcare business and the role of IT Solution Partners in solving for these issues and areas. Specifically we discuss the shift from "healthcare enterprise" to a "consumer-focus" and "outcomes focused" model. This shift creates massive amounts of data. Managing, securing, sharing and protecting the data is key to improving and ensuring the best possible patient outcomes. This is the new reality.

As the conversation advances, we peel back on the opportunity for partners and focus on Microsoft's technologies and properties that help drive these outcomes. Listeners can go to Microsoft's Healthcare page here to learn more about Microsoft's Health Vision and focus areas, view case studies and read timely blog posts.

The Healthcare team will also be engaging with partners at Microsoft's Annual Partner Conference, formerly know as Worldwide Partner Conference and now call Microsoft Inspire - July 9th - 13th in Washington, DC.

As I do with each of the podcasts, I focused the last segment of our interview on Bill's career and professional journey. Bill shared some of his philosophy and we had a great discussion about one of his role models, John Wooden. One of Bill's favorite books on Wooden is Wooden by Coach John Wooden with Steve Jamison. And Bill talked about John Wooden's Pyramid of Success, which you can download in PDF format here.

After the interview Bill recommended another book for our listeners 

This is a timely edition of the podcast, given the attention to cyber security, digital privacy and jobs creation in the United States. If you believe that technology can be a force for good in society, then you'll enjoy the opportunity presented in this discussion to drive positive change through Civic participation.

My guest, Jonathan Friebert leads External Affairs for Microsoft's US Government Affairs Department and works with Microsoft partners to advocate for positive technology public policies through Microsoft's Voices for Innovation (VFI) initiative.

VFI is a community of more than 90,000 technology leaders in the U.S. who focus on public policy advocacy in the technology sector on issues such as STEM funding, online privacy, software piracy, cloud computing regulations, cybersecurity, IP protection and government procurement mandates.

The conversation focuses on computer science curriculum in schools, why the current technology legislation is outdated, online privacy and how government and the private sector can partner to deliver 21st century skills to US workers. Jonathan also points to some examples of partners that have engaged in the civic discourse to effect change.

As I do with each of my podcasts, Jonathan and I also discuss his personal journey, role models and recommended books. Jonathan's Book Recommendation is: Rising Strong

In our conversation on job and skills training, Jonathan talks about how "coding" could become the next trade taught in schools. Reference from the discussion are here - Wired The Next Big Blue-Collar Job Is Coding

WHEN I ASK people to picture a coder, they usually imagine someone like Mark Zuckerberg: a hoodied college dropout who builds an app in a feverish 72-hour programming jag—with the goal of getting insanely rich and, as they say, “changing the world.” But this Silicon Valley stereotype isn’t even geographically accurate. The Valley employs only 8 percent of the nation’s coders. All the other millions? They’re more like Devon, a programmer I met who helps maintain a ­security-software service in Portland, Oregon. He isn’t going to get fabulously rich, but his job is stable and rewarding: It’s 40 hours a week, well paid, and intellectually challenging. “My dad was a blue-­collar guy,” he tells me—and in many ways, Devon is too.

To learn more about Voices for Innovation, click here.  You can contact Jonathan directly at: [email protected]

For a broader view of the work of Microsoft's Government Affairs organization, see Microsoft President Brad Smith's Blog:

My guest for Episode 5 is William Lewallen, Senior Manager for National Cloud Partner sales in Microsoft North America's Partner Business.

Microsoft’s Cloud Solution Provider program (CSP) is the future of how Microsoft enables partners to service their customers while delivering on the mobile-first, cloud-first strategy set by CEO Satya Nadella.

In this role, William gets to marry his dual passions for working with partners and business model transformation to lead this initiative in the United States.

In this episode we discuss the opportunity for partners presented by Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider program, its growth over the last eighteen months and how partners can engage and transform their business through participating in the program. We take some time to deconstruct what makes a good CSP and how partners can evolve their business to drive greater Partner Profitability.

I also take some time with William to discuss his personal career journey, role models, thoughts on how he lives his life and ask him to name a favorite book, The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle.

As I've done with many of the guest thus far, I ask William about a favorite quote. We discussed a quote by James Mitchner.  William also shared another favorite quote after the interview was done  - “Mastering others is strength.  Mastering yourself is true power.”    – Lao Tzu

In the course of the discussion we discussed additional tools available to partners with their transformation, some of these are listed here:

* Azure MSP Playbook - A playbook for helping partners transform their business through creating a Cloud Managed Services business

* Cloud Enablement for Partners - a guide for helping partners develop cloud-based solutions.

William also references another great source of information to help partners gain insight to the direction of the Microsoft partner business: Redmond Channel Partner.

I hope you enjoy this episode and please “like” this Podcast on iTunes and Facebook .

To rate and review this podcast, this link shows you how to do it. LINK

 

 

Flashback three years to when a new CEO Satya Nadella is on stage making a commitment to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build out a "Government Cloud" – Amazon has a head start and Microsoft was playing catch up. Fast forward to today, "what progress has the organization made to catch up and surpass the competition and what specific opportunities exist for partners in Government Cloud?"

Michael Batt, Director of Government Partner Programs and a 21 year veteran of the company joined a recent episode of my podcast to discuss the important role partners play to growing Microsoft’s Government Cloud business.

In my interview we discussed what differentiates Microsoft’s Government Cloud versus AWS, the attributes of partners that “got it right” working in the Government business at Microsoft, the opportunity that is being created by emerging Alliance partnerships with companies like Adobe and Citrix, and use case scenarios for partners to leverage IoT and Advanced Analytics to create new applications in government.

Partners that are new to government procurement vehicles can best leverage other Microsoft partners that have opened up their contracts to allow other partners to sell a Microsoft cloud solution. Mike references a contracting vehicle that makes it easy for partners with little to no previous government contracting experience to engage. This contract US Communities Contract, is held by another Microsoft partner Insight.

Partners looking to connect and partner in Government Cloud can reach Mike Batt at: [email protected].

As in each of my interviews, I devote a portion of our time to discuss my guests professional journey and useful information they can share. Mike recommended a book that he likes with our listners: This Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, by Thomas Friedman.

If you have not listened to the podcast, now is your chance by going to iTunes , Google Play, Player FM, other Android podcast players or by going to my website “Ultimate Guide to Partnering“. You can also review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hit...

Flashback three years - a new CEO Satya Nadella is on stage making a commitment to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build out a Government Cloud - Amazon has a head start and Microsoft was playing catch up - FAST Forward today. What progress has the organization made to catch up and surpass the competition and what specific opportunities exist for partners in Government Cloud?

Michael Batt, Director of Government Partner Programs and a 21 year veteran of the company joins this episode to discuss the important role partners play to growing Microsoft's Government Cloud business.

We discuss what differentiates Microsoft's Government Cloud versus the competition, the attributes of partners that "got it right" working in Government, the opportunity created by emerging partnerships with companies like Adobe and Citrix, and the market opportunites for partners to leverage IoT and Advanced Analytics to create new applications in government.

Mike also referenced a contracting vehicle that made it easy for partners with little to no previous government contracting experience could engage to sell their solutions, the US Communities Contract.

Partners looking to connect and partner in Government Cloud can reach Mike Batt at: [email protected].

Mike's Recommended Book: This Used To Be Us: How America Fell Behind in the World It Invented and How We Can Come Back, by Thomas Friedman.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Tony Safoian CEO and president of SADA Systems for my Ultimate Guide to Partnering podcast about his journey to premier partnership status with Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

Tony has transformed a small, family owned business into one of the top IT consultancy and cloud services brokerage firms in the US, maintaining premier partnerships with two competing industry giants - Google and Microsoft.

Tony speaks to the journey from small and locally focused IT shop to premier national partnerships with both Google and Microsoft. In addition, SADA recently launched a new partnership with Facebook. I asked Tony how he runs competing practices and the steps he takes to minimize business conflict, while attaining and maintaining premier status.

Tony also shares his thoughts on the evolution and opportunity in the cloud and toward the end of the Podcast shares his thoughts on leadership, diversity, role models and values.

If you have not listened to the podcast, now is your chance by going to iTunes , Google Play, Player FM, other Android podcast players or by going to my website “Ultimate Guide to Partnering“. You can also review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hitting the ratings tab. This helps others find the podcast.

You can also follow and like on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Thank you for following and listening.

Vince Menzione

In this episode, I interview Tony Safoian CEO and president of SADA Systems.

Tony has transformed a small, family owned business into one of the top IT consultancy and cloud services brokerage firms in the US, maintaining premier partnerships with two competing industry giants - Google and Microsoft.

Tony speaks to the journey from small and locally focused IT shop to premier national partnerships with both Google and Microsoft. In addition, SADA recently launched a new partnership with Facebook. I asked Tony how he runs competing practices and the steps he takes to minimize business conflict, while attaining and maintaining premier status.

Tony also shares his thoughts on the evolution and opportunity in the cloud and toward the end of the Podcast shares his thoughts on leadership, diversity, role models and values.

Please "like" this Podcast on iTunes and Facebook .

I was excited to host this first interview episode today, joined by former colleague Eric Loper, Microsoft's National Solution Provider - NSP Leader.

From Venture Investing to Enterprise Sales, Eric is a 16-year industry veteran focused on delivering people centered innovation.  In his time at Microsoft Eric envisioned and built a $39M customer offer engine, consulted senior leadership on competitive strategy and pioneered Microsoft’s managed partner marketing model.  Today Eric leads the National Solution Provider Sales Business at Microsoft focused on driving revenue with the most strategic US partners.

Eric shared his perspective on the evolution of the business, how partners have evolved their model and the new business opportunities emerging from the intersection of technologies such as: Big Data, Azure and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Eric speaks to the attributes of some of the best Microsoft partners and how to best engage his organization to drive growth and success engaging with Microsoft.

Towards the end of the episode, we dove into Eric's personal and professional journey, his leadership philosophy, role models, core principles and advice he would give to others.

Eric's life statement is to : "Focus on living each day intentionally, without fear, with a spirit of power, love and self-control to leave a legacy in the lives of others." A great aspiration!

Eric recommended two books on professional development - links are here:

-Turn This Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by L. David Marquet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFPVP0Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

-Living Forward:A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, by Michael Hyatt  https://www.amazon.com/Living-Forward-Proven-Plan-Drifting-ebook/dp/B012H10GBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489616679&sr=8-1&keywords=living+forward+book

If you have not listened to the podcast, now is your chance by going to iTunes , Google Play, Player FM, other Android podcast players or by going to my website “Ultimate Guide to Partnering“. You can also review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hitting the ratings tab. This helps others find the podcast.

You can also follow and like on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Thank you for following and listening.

Vince Menzione

I was excited to host this first interview episode today, joined by former colleague Eric Loper, Microsoft's National Solution Provider - NSP Leader.

From Venture Investing to Enterprise Sales, Eric is a 16-year industry veteran focused on delivering people centered innovation.  In his time at Microsoft Eric envisioned and built a $39M customer offer engine, consulted senior leadership on competitive strategy and pioneered Microsoft’s managed partner marketing model.  Today Eric leads the National Solution Provider Sales Business at Microsoft focused on driving revenue with the most strategic US partners.

Eric shared his perspective on the evolution of the business, how partners have evolved their model and the new business opportunities emerging from the intersection of technologies such as: Big Data, Azure and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Eric speaks to the attributes of some of the best Microsoft partners and how to best engage his organization to drive growth and success engaging with Microsoft.

Towards the end of the episode, we dove into Eric's personal and professional journey, his leadership philosophy, role models, core principles and advice he would give to others.

Eric's life statement is to : "Focus on living each day intentionally, without fear, with a spirit of power, love and self-control to leave a legacy in the lives of others." A great aspiration!

Eric recommended two books on professional development - links are here:

-Turn This Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders, by L. David Marquet https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AFPVP0Y/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

-Living Forward:A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want, by Michael Hyatt  https://www.amazon.com/Living-Forward-Proven-Plan-Drifting-ebook/dp/B012H10GBW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489616679&sr=8-1&keywords=living+forward+book

Please "like" this Podcast on iTunes and Facebook .

In this first episode your host Vince Menzione a sales and partner veteran explains why a podcast focused on the IT Partner Ecosystem and why now.

I've had the good fortune to connect with many friends in the technology industry. In my discussions on the future of technology, leaders from Microsoft and other technology companies tell me they struggle to scale  "broadly" to a growing set of partners in this time of rapid transformation. And companies that "partner" with them tell me it is more important than ever to stay aligned and in lock step with these technology leaders.

What invariably is needed is a strong persistent dialogue, commitment and collaboration on both sides. The old models of industry newsletters, blogs, partner conferences serve a valuable purpose for building community and delivering readiness, but many people tell me there is a need for more rapid, persistent and easily consumable information.

I've become a big fan of the Podcast format and love the way it allows me to quickly consume information on a variety of topics like health, personal growth or finance. I listen when I want and where I want.

I thought, "why not a podcast format for partnering, a place where I could connect leaders to help raise the bar on the art and science of partnering, helping both sides achieve more faster. And bring an independent perspective and behind the scenes view of what it takes to create success?"

I created the "Ultimate Guide to Partnering" as both a destination and community of collaboration between contributors and listeners. I'm opening this up to both sides to contribute. Partners can come and hear from industry leaders like Microsoft to align technologies, strategies, best practices and connections. And also hear from organizations that have thrived in this age of digital transformation and where we will deconstruct the success formulas and strategies they used to win.

I'm hoping to make this fun and my goal is to add value to listeners and grow interest in this destination and community. Feedback and listener support will be keys to success.

If you have not listened to the podcast, now is your chance by going to iTunes , Google Play, Player FM, other Android podcast players or by going to my website “Ultimate Guide to Partnering“. You can also review this podcast by going to iTunes and searching “Ultimate Guide to Partnering” and clicking on the album art and hitting the ratings tab. This helps others find the podcast.

You can also follow and like on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Thank you for following and listening.

Vince Menzione