I’m blogging to you about an important tech policy issue—and to ask you to take a quick action to show your support because you are an important partner to Microsoft.

About 34 million Americans lack access to affordable, reliable broadband. This especially hurts rural businesses and communities. It also limits opportunities for our own businesses—and the growth of the tech sector overall.

Innovative technology now exists that can carry broadband on

by Shari Parsons Miller

An open-plan office space layout has pros and cons both for a firm’s personnel and its bottom line. In an open-plan work environment, there are no distinct rooms or fully enclosed spaces. Instead, workstations are positioned together -- sometimes separated by short screens or panels -- within one exposed floor plan. The openness may improve communication and collaboration among your workers, but it also may reduce concentration and productivity.

Sales training is one of the most important investments most companies make, because it allows them to close the gap between current performance and potential performance. Nevertheless, around 80 percent of respondents to a recent study by the Rain Group Center rated their own training as being between average and poor.

You've heard about all the amazing benefits of content marketing. You want to jump in. But . . . how? Here's how.

Jayson DeMers

Founder and CEO, AusienceBloom

By now, you've heard about all the amazing benefits of content marketing. You know that with the right strategy, you can earn more traffic, build a better reputation and see compound growth in both areas over time without greatly increasing your budget.

Readers will recall the popular Microsoft Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) partner program last decade. Beatrice Mulzer and I did a couple books on the topic, in particular focused on passing  the MCP certification exams. One of the players in that motion was Microsoft executive Francois Daumard (who worked with the SBSC program 2007-2011 and still admires the SBSC partner loyalty). This piece is about where is Francois now?!?!?

Ready to level up your working knowledge of business? Here’s what to read now — and next.

Business 101, with Nilofer Merchant

First, read these 2 foundational books…

1. The Change Masters
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
Free Press, 1985

By: Gloria Kopp

 If you're often finding that projects are being delivered late, rushed to be completed or just not up to the standard you're expecting, you and your team could benefit greatly from the creation of a clear, organized workflow. Your workflow defines the patterns and processes by which you bring a project from conception to completion, and helps ensure that you don't experience these setbacks that exist when there's no organization behind the production process. Follow these steps to start putting together a workflow that is tailored to your team and the projects you're working on, and watch the levels of quality and speed in your work soar.

Five years ago this month, Microsoft announced the end of the popular Microsoft Small Business Server (SBS) product family. A minor announcement made over the slow July 4th holiday weekend in 2012 was rapidly picked up by the community and everyone had an opinion. SBSers were given an 18-month runway to retire/migrate or otherwise mitigate the drop dead date of SBS (December 31, 2013). 

 It’s the mean season at Microsoft with targeted SMB-related treams caught in the reorg wave and then the “how does it play out” conversations at the annual partner conference underway in Washington DC (now called Inspire; formerly Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)). Here’s my take on it: shelter in place until the next quarter starting October 1, 2017. 

Heads Up!

If you are a Microsoft partner at the "Network" level then it's highly likely, especially in the U.S., that you must renew your Microsoft Action Pack subscription by the end of today, June 30th for your Office 365 and Azure instances to continue working, etc. It's also possible you will need to also renew your overall Microsoft Partner Network membership as well - that will likely vary on a case-by-case basis. I'm aware of Danny in Toronto, ON Canada who can't renew until tomorrow, July 1st. 

By:  Lisa Shorr, Certified Image Consultant & Brand Building Specialist

You all know them, THAT employee in the office or colleague that just doesn’t get it.  That person who rolls their eyes or always responds to your questions in an exasperated, angry tone.  Are you picturing “that” co-worker in your mind?  I knew you were!  Every office has one or maybe two.  I call them the “Culture Crusher.”   

by Oliver Schabenberger

To prepare for IoT, companies need to take advantage of big data and advanced analytics, and adapt their culture, so they are ready for the transformation.

In the early 1990s, the general public made its earliest forays into using the Internet. At the time, no one could have imagined where the technology would lead. Social media, e-commerce, mobile apps, cloud computing, software as a service -- the list is endless.