The MS migration campaign is still continuing and has no difficulty in stirring up trouble. You know when there is spin because the dialogue and controversy just goes nuts. One could perceive it all as a war and MS started it. The app analyzer looks a lot like “the tail that wags the dog”. Shouldn’t software be developed and supported by PR and marketing ? Not, software is developed to support PR and marketing. I say this because, what is the app analyzer’s purpose? It’s trying to tell you what you can migrate and de-commission, and it really is not terribly good at it.

Once you get software that is promoted as a guide to migration and it’s no more factual than the FUDFear Uncertainty and Doubt, things start to get nasty.

Well, if the tactics and ethics are taking a turn for the worse, then may be we can take note from our old mate Sun Tzu who says, “Know your enemy and know yourself” but in our case “know your enemy, know yourself and know your clients”. Let’s take a strategic look at this type of BP problem. If we follow this basic philosophy then….

Know Yourself

So lets think about it, what do we know about “ourselves” as BP’s. We have a relationship with our clients already. What condition is it in ? Are you a trusted BP ? Is it hostile ? Do you know their existing infrastructure for mail and other applications ? Do you know what their pain points are ? What is your approach to consulting ? How do you liaise with your clients ? If you know how you operate and your strengths and weaknesses, you can move onto the next aspect.

Know Your opposition

What do we know about the opposition ? Consider the MS “Business Solutions manager”, hopefully heIt could be a "she" too, but for brevity I am using he. Sorry to all the female BP's out there. hasn’t been to an MS conference with Steve “Developers, Developers, Developer” Ballmer. Consider what sort of potential clients an MS BP will go for.

Do you think the MS BP is going to spend effort and money on sites that have really good notes setup and investment ? No way, because those clients read the blogs and have competent, motivated teams. If the management see that everything runs smoothly, why would they want to change ? There is no pain for them so the MS dude will just pass them by and move on.

The MS dude though is thinking acquisition. So he is looking for the biggest or most influential site he can find (or even any decent site that can pay). He is not yet looking at maintaining a TCO just yet. You are in an established phase of "value adding" where as he is in a different mode. He will come up to your clients and show the client charts on TCO, but they are not yet proven on-site. Hopefully you have demonstrated your value. I am sure the MS BP wants to add value too, but right now he is going to be thinking initial acquisition.

Know your client

Understand this landscape because it’s basically your battlefield. This is where MS will engage you by pitting their skills in consulting and salesmanship against yours. What sort of client sites would MS consider as candidates for migration ? I can only think of 4 types.

1/ Poorly managed sites. Sites that have very poorly managed notes infrastructure and/or have jaded perception of the technology and blame it for the mess they’re in. They probably have incompetent admin/management or an operational person, for whatever reason, doesn’t have the skills to do the job.

2/ C-Level/Internal interference. Sites that tend to have a lot interference from ill-informed C-level board members. Most likely this C-level board member came from another MS Shop and/or may not have the enterprise analysis skills to assess the current environment and operate impartially in the best interests of the company.

3/ Partial migration sites. Already have Outlook/Exchange implemented and want to remove existing notes apps. These are good candidates to win back because they already had a go at migration and it has stalled maybe realizing the “inactive” notes apps aren’t inactive and actually had $200-300K investment in them.

4/ Recent acquisitions/mergers. The bigger fish runs a big MS Shop and so someone is gonna lose, and the guy paying for the music aint gonna change the tempo for everyone else on your account.

I suppose a Darwinian analogy is appropriate here. MS will attack the "herd" by picking off the weakest.

MS are looking for opportunities, so look for weaknesses in your clients and address them. Consider strategies for clients that look like an MS candidate and take it from there. Is it training for the troops, new support arrangements, TCO analysis, or (forgive me) a migration strategy you could assist with. And above all don't allow your behaviour (in the blog-osphere or anywhere else) be influenced by things which have little substance. Now everyone say Ohmmmmm.