Join us at Worldwide Partner Conference 2011

Learn how ISV partners are capturing new business opportunities, including expanded revenue streams, global reach, dramatic improvement in business agility, operational efficiencies, and cost savings. Join Kim Akers, General Manager for Global ISV Partners at Microsoft, along with guest ISV partner speakers and hear about the future for ISVs.

Microsoft's Corporate Strategy team is responsible for the research and thinking that underlie our own cloud strategy. Rolf Harms, director of Corporate Strategy, will share much of the models and thinking that guide Microsoft -- in a context that can help you as you decide how to move your company to the cloud.

This session is for ISV business decision makers that need to evaluate how SQL server, codenamed "Denali," can help their companies improve the quality, reach and capabilities of their solutions. We will demonstrate why choosing Denali as the database and business intelligence platform will reduce development costs and time to market. We will compare Denali to the competition and explain why Denali is the safest choice to build cloud-ready applications.

With more than 350,000 companies using Microsoft Dynamics products around the world, the opportunity for ISVs to capitalize on packaged offerings that embed and extend the value of CRM and ERP is significant. During this session, we’ll cover the opportunity for ISVs in the business applications space, the programs available to help them get started and the fundamental technical requirements for developing on the Dynamics platforms.

Join the Windows Azure team in a session dedicated to ISV partners. In this session, we will explore what cloud computing means for ISVs and how you can start to build not only applications but an entire growth business around the Windows Azure platform. Our platform can help ISVs expand into new business opportunities on a global scale as well make your existing business more efficient and cost-effective. You will learn the specifics around an ISV business model and how cloud computing makes sense for you through real- life partners that have started using the Windows Azure platform.

A number of forces are making consumer-related technologies more relevant to business ISVs. From the consumerization of IT to the efforts of businesses and enterprises to better engage with their consumer customers, the technologies used matter. This session will explore Microsoft's consumer offerings, from Windows to Windows Phone, HTML5 and Microsoft's consumer cloud offerings. We'll demonstrate how these consumer technologies and solutions can help you offer better and more compelling solutions to your business customers.

Startups are by definition a source of tremendous innovation in our industry. Come hear what the hottest startups are up to, and the lessons we can learn and apply to our own businesses for growth and success.

CRM customer service contact center continues to be one of the most profitable and fast growing technology segments within the CRM domain. Join us in this interactive discussion to discuss ways in which you can leverage the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and the new Customer Care Accelerator to build a customer care business and to hear about techniques for partnering for success in complex customer care opportunities.

ISV early adopters are out there in our market. They've made bold moves to the cloud and are succeeding. Come discuss with a select group of ISV business leaders how they executed on their vision for the cloud, the lessons learned along the way and what's helped them succeed.

This session describes a program designed to reward managed partners for identifying, developing and closing new opportunities for Microsoft solutions. It creates opportunities for partners to build new, sustainable revenue streams from Microsoft’s emerging and high-growth products. This program is an important new investment by Microsoft to work with partners to successfully sell to our mutual customers.

Deciding how to monetize cloud services can be one of the more challenging decisions for an ISV moving to the cloud. Mark Dudman, general manager for Metanga, is an expert on the choices that ISVs face and how to navigate the monetization question. Attend this session to learn the ins and outs of everything from subscriptions to "freemiums" and everything in between.

Attend this session to learn how the Microsoft channel ecosystem is evolving to offer leading-edge channel development services for cloud solutions. Existing partner types, such as distributors and VARs, are adapting their service offerings to add value to new solutions. New distribution models, such as marketplaces, are emerging to accelerate the revenue growth for ISVs that are moving to the cloud.

Business Productivity will remain a major go-to-market theme for Microsoft, and more and more customers will deploy SharePoint, Exchange and Lync all together. Join us for this session to learn about expanding your SharePoint business with Lync and Exchange functionality. Learn how partners have successfully added new lines of revenue to their business, leveraging the whole Business Productivity platform, both on-prem as well as Online, and find out how you can capitalize on new programs designed to help you go to market quickly.

What is a cloud platform anyway? What’s the real difference between Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS)? And how does the Windows Azure platform stack up against alternatives such as Amazon Web Services, Google AppEngine and the rest? In this presentation, David Chappell will examine these questions and then lead a discussion on these important topics, with the goal of providing a useful and accurate perspective on cloud platforms today.

Microsoft is launching a new solution in Public Sector! Are you interested in learning about the NEW public sector industry capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 to address the challenges and needs of government, education, health, public safety and national security and not-for-profit organizations? Get a peek of new system features for fund accounting, budgetary control, commitment and encumbrance accounting, and projects and grants management. Discover how these capabilities support the Microsoft EPG solution areas and how Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 can benefit Public Sector organizations to address complex regulatory, budgetary and grant compliance requirements.

Learn how customers in the manufacturing industry are taking their business to the next level by leveraging different components of Microsoft solutions and technologies. This session emphasises the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, specifically built for the manufacturing industry, and the exciting roadmap of innovation and integration with other Microsoft technologies. We'll also showcase how these solutions are redefining user experiences across the industry.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is a powerful, agile and simple solution that delivers purpose-built capabilities designed to address the project-oriented needs of firms in Service Industries. These include: Professional Services (IT Services, Management Consulting, Accounting, Legal, and more), Architecture / Engineering / Construction (AEC), and Media & Entertainment (Advertising, Marketing and more). Microsoft Dynamics AX helps multi-site and multinational enterprises achieve better results in running their widely distributed operations, driving down TCO and increasing time-to-value through integrated-by-design processes that leverage familiar Microsoft applications and technologies. Learn how Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 can help you grow wallet share with customers and build a foundation for annuity service revenues. Hear about customer and partner experiences. Map a course to accelerate your revenue growth with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012.

Microsoft's company-wide investments in Retail offer partners the chance to build and grow their business as part of Microsoft's fastest growing industry. The launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail with customers now in over 26 countries; the launch of Microsoft Stores making Microsoft a Retailer; the launch of exciting new devices for retail - slate, surface; and innovation for cross-channel and the cloud have created the perfect storm for partners to take their business to the next level with Microsoft Retail. In this session we will talk unique value; roadmap; product; customer evidence; and partner opportunity, while also covering the complementary offer of Microsoft Dynamics AX in Distribution.

Join this session to learn about how Microsoft and its partners are enabling the communications industry to grow their business and provide world-class customer experiences. This session will address how and why to partner with Microsoft in helping communications companies innovate via strategic solutions for service providers plus media and entertainment segments. We will discuss industry trends, our FY12 solution area priorities, success stories over the past 12 months and how to grow your business with the Microsoft platform. This will be an interactive, dynamic, fast-paced session hosted by Microsoft’s Communications Industry leadership team.

Learn more about Microsoft’s strategy and solutions that partners can use to help companies grow their business in Discrete Manufacturing, Process Manufacturing, Oil & Gas and Power & Utilities industries. This session will address how to best partner with Microsoft to help organizations innovate via strategic solutions and technologies, and will present key opportunities for partners that focus on these industries to grow their business through engagement with Microsoft.

This session will provide more detail on the Microsoft FY12 strategy for the Consumer Goods & Distribution industry. This will be an interactive session where you, together with the Microsoft industry team, explore the opportunities to better serve our customers, providing them with a more connected experience focused on meeting their objectives for growth, profitability and agility.

Professional Service firms thrive and grow through innovation -- delivering value against client-changing business needs through service offerings and innovation of offerings to stay ahead of the competition and exceed client expectations. Microsoft partners helps Professional Service firms innovate by offering the latest platform and tools to connect people with projects and proactively solve business problems. The latest technology requirements translate into opportunities to extend your product offerings with Microsoft by helping firms deliver new capabilities ,including:

• Turning information and expertise into saleable knowledge.
• Sourcing business opportunities for more profitable client interactions.
• Producing quality deliverables more quickly and profitably as a team.
• Applying timely insights to decisions that drive practice results.
• Lowering costs while enhancing business value.

Join an interactive discussion, and share and learn how software providers are accelerating business growth with Microsoft technologies and product offerings, including: Dynamics CRM, Office365, Project Server, SharePoint Server, SQL Azure, Windows Azure, Windows Phone7 and more to deliver industry solutions -- Client Experience, Knowledge Management, Professional Service Delivery and Practice Performance.

Over the last year, the insurance industry has shown signs of recovery from the financial crisis.
Improved underwriting performance and portfolio returns in some areas has helped many carriers position themselves for product expansion and growth.
Institutions that are executing strategic technology initiatives are set to vault ahead of those who waited for more certainty to develop.
Cloud computing is transforming the technology landscape, consumerization of IT is driving new customer and employee expectations, and new customer relationship and collaborative tools are bringing together the value chain of employees, customers and partners to drive organic growth, serve customers more effectively, and identify opportunities for new products and services.
Join this interactive session to discuss the opportunities ahead with Microsoft and other partners.

The banking and capital markets industries are at an inflection point.
A changing industry landscape is unlocking new opportunities, and financial institutions are looking beyond the near-term to drive profitability and growth through sustainable innovation. Game changing technologies are enabling this wave of innovation to meet new customer expectations, improve transparency, and stay competitive against non-traditional industry entrants.

This session will provide more detail on the Microsoft FY12 strategy for Digital Marketing & Experiences, with a strong emphasis on web, mobile and TV/gaming solutions powered by Windows Azure. This will be an interactive session where you and the Microsoft industry team explore the opportunities to better serve our customers, providing them with a more connected experiences focused on meeting their objectives for growth, profitability and agility.

Learn more about Microsoft’s strategy for FY’12, our priorities, how we work with partners, and how key technologies can help Retail & Hospitality, Consumer Goods and Professional Services companies to overcome their business and IT challenges. Finally, in this session learn why current Microsoft technologies and future innovation, together with your expertise, can help you grow your business.

Takeaways from this session are:

• How to leverage Microsoft strategy for the retail & hospitality, consumer goods and professional services industries.
• Understand why Microsoft technologies such as: Azure, Dynamics CRM and Application platform are helping you grow your business.

Join this session to learn about how Microsoft and its partners are enabling financial institutions to grow their business and provide world-class customer experiences. This session will address how and why to partner with Microsoft in helping financial institutions innovate via strategic solutions for banking, insurance and capital markets. We will discuss industry trends, our FY12 solution area priorities, success stories over the past 12 months and how to grow your business with the Microsoft platform. This will be an interactive, dynamic, fast-paced session hosted by Microsoft’s Worldwide Financial Services leadership team.

If your organization engages with Microsoft in selling to the chemical, pharmaceutical, pulp and paper or metals industries, this session is for you. We'll provide an update on Microsoft’s solution areas of focus for FY12. In addition, we will discuss our FY12 plans around releasing a reference framework for Process Manufacturing, tentatively called “ChemRA,” and how partners can participate in its industry adoption.

This session will discuss Microsoft’s go-to-market strategy in FY12 for Power & Utilities. Included will be an overview of the latest efforts with the Smart Energy Reference Architecture (SERA) initiative and a discussion of how partners can leverage the Microsoft Power & Utilities momentum to increase their market share.

This session will discuss Microsoft´s FY12 strategy in Oil & Gas and Mining. In particular, you will hear about the strong momentum of the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (“MURA”) initiative, with 29 partners and Microsoft working jointly together to drive more interoperability into Oil & Gas Upstream.

This session will discuss Microsoft’s go-to-market strategy in FY12 for Discrete Manufacturing. It also will provide an update on Microsoft’s Discrete Manufacturing Industry Reference architecture (DIRA) and cover opportunities for partners to engage with Microsoft to drive the next level of business value to customers.

Telco Business Intelligence: Microsoft has become an industry standard for business intelligence solutions. We tap into some of the largest data warehouses in the world and we unlock the full potential of those investments with "managed self-service" BI for everyone in the enterprise. With the widest range of business intelligence solutions in the industry, Microsoft is giving service providers the tools and insights to meet and exceed customer expectations.

Digital Marketing and Experiences: Duringthe session we’ll provide more detail on the Microsoft FY12 strategy for Digital Marketing & Experiences, with a strong emphasis on web, mobile, & TV/gaming solutions powered by Windows Azure. This will be an interactive session where you, together with the Microsoft industry team, explore the opportunities to better serve our customers, providing them with a more connected experience focused on meeting their objectives for growth, profitability and agility.
Additionally we’ll cover what marketing and sales tools and resources are available for you to leverage today, best practices and learnings for driving joint sales engagement with Microsoft, and the Microsoft team’s perspective on successful partner engagement, and get your feedback on what we need to deliver to you in the future!

In the race to win subscribers, successful communications service providers are developing innovative and exciting revenue-generating services and integrating those services to differentiate themselves. Meeting market and consumer demands requires understanding and segmenting subscribers; quickly delivering to market products, bundles and offers; responding rapidly to a competitor’s new packages or campaigns; and consistently creating meaningful customer touch points and seamless experiences. In this session, learn how to understand and delight customers with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which enables communications service providers to better understand, segment and market to their subscriber base by using real-time transaction capabilities and customer usage data. Knowing the customers enables improved customer satisfaction to drive reduced customer churn. Additionally we’ll cover what marketing and sales tools and resources are available for you to leverage today, best practices and learnings for driving joint sales engagement with Microsoft, and the Microsoft team’s perspective on successful partner engagement, and get your feedback on what we need to deliver to you in the future!

This session will give an overview of the Media & Entertainment industry and how Microsoft and its partners are positioned to be competitive in the changing market landscape. Topics covered will include industry trends and analysis, solutions and partner case examples, and cloud computing. We'll also address how Microsoft is positioning its SaaS offering, including CRM Online and Office 365, to M&E partners, and cover Windows Azure and our priority scenarios relative to M&E.

The first part of the session will be a panel of media customers discussing trends and changes in their industry and how cloud computing is changing the way they think about IT. The second part of the session will be a partner-led roundtable discussion around cloud and how they see changes in the industry and technology affecting their business.

This session will cover our Digital Content Management solutions portfolio, partners and solution frameworks for digital media workflows and for editorial collaboration and mobile journalism for news media organizations. We will also review existing solutions from partners and customer success stories.

This session will cover our Media Business Management solutions portfolio, focusing on how partners can leverage the Microsoft Media XRM and Media Business Intelligence solution frameworks and Dynamics AX for Services Industries to create media industry solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Business Intelligence, and Microsoft Dynamics AX. We will also review existing solutions from partners and customer success stories.

This session will cover our Digital Marketing solutions focusing on technologies, partners and customer wins and how Digital Marketing solutions will leverage Windows Azure in the future.