Good news for small business and Microsoft small business specialists

Some days ago I have posted a message regarding the Microsoft PAL denomination. Since then many things are going on and the PAL community. I must say that I am one of the PALS and that is why I feel the need to share more information about it with you.

If you are the owner of a small business

1. There is a group of qualified companies, all of them are Microsoft partners, ready to help you finding solutions to your business challenges regarding information technologies.
2. The group of small business specialists (SBS) are not necessary small businesses. There is a great range of SBS and most of them with very interesting expertise.
3. You can find solutions and partners visiting the Microsoft Solution Finder. Click here. First you will see a page like the first image, after selecting the country and typing in the search space "small business specialist" you will be able to select partners or solutions. In the section of partners you will see the complete list.
   

Above: Picture 1

Above: Picture 2

If you are a Microsoft Small Business Specialist

The PALS are actually for helping you. They are very active community leaders and actually they have the responsibility of taking your feedback to Microsoft.
Actually Microsoft is very concerned about improving the capacity of SBS for making better business and attending each time better the requirements of their customers. If you have suggestions you just need to contact the PAL in charge of your area or region and that's it! Find your local PAL here.
You can also listen to a really good interview from Vlad... it is actually a "Vladcast". There you will listen 2 Microsoft Partner Area Leads Vijay Riyait and Dean Calvert talking about the PAL program goals and objectives.

Some good news on my side

Some days ago I had the chance to know the city of Denver. It was an amazing experience and in the following lines I will try to explain the reason why.

Some weeks before the trip I received a new denomination from Microsoft and it means some responsibilities I must fulfill. That denomination is named : PAL or Partner Area Lead. Thanks to it I received the opportunity to go to the Worldwide Partner Conference and the Small Business Symposium, both of them took place in Denver.

So now I am officially a PAL and that is the first good new because it means that I should help Microsoft partners that are certified like small business specialists to get more success. Part of my role is to improve communication between them and Microsoft and of course to generate a community that will be able to improve our knowledge, increase our opportunities and for instance make better business.

I am not the only PAL in the World, there are something like 20 or 30 (PALs please confirm me the number). Each one leads one special area or region. And I'm for the moment the only one in Slovenia. Here you can read a press release in Slovenian language about it.

I'm very proud because it means that B4Contact is doing a good job for the small business sector and that makes stronger my wish to be even better and achieve better results.

Other good news come from the experience itself of being in the symposium and the conference. I never saw so many people from each different part of the planet so motivated to know people and make business. But... good people! great professionals some of them with long experience and successful careers. That means that to get in touch with great people and open great possibilities is not so hard. What could be hard is to be consistent between what we wish to offer and what we can offer to them.

I have a really good feeling about some of the persons I have met from South Africa, Canada, Uk, Australia, Germany, Serbia, US, New Zealand, Colombia and Chile. And it happens the same with some of the Slovenian persons that I had the chance to meet because of the conference. Microsoft's guys were also great! and I'm specially thankful for the Slovenian team involved in the event.

My enthusiasm became bigger on my first day of "work" after the trip when B4Contact's team showed me the progress in their tasks and the results from their activities. Now we are ready to make our best in this second half of the year.

This world is becoming smaller and smaller. The possibilities are increasing and the chances for our children are improving. We need to empower the small company like the engine for creativity and progress, no matter where. If you think that small companies will change the world please write me some message and lets talk more about the topic.