I was a bit startled during the Boston  launch of Windows Server 2008 last week to walk into the partner pavilion and find it buzzing with 2,000 customers and partners talking one to one and in groups.  The primary topic, of course, was the latest innovative technology that Microsoft partners are building on our platforms.  But businesses enjoy cool-technology demos and conversations at just about every Microsoft conference; what was it that drew this customer crowd to meet face to face with partners in such numbers?

I think I found the answer a couple days later at our regional launch of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.  There, CRM consulting expert Don Peppers talked about the importance of customer trust.  In times like these, all of us appreciate the importance of associating with a person or organization that we can trust, because all of us sense we may be in a much more precarious position than we have been in recent years.  Just a few months ago, the Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth (MassINC), reported that, in job growth, the Commonwealth trails every other state except Michigan, with its ravaged auto industry.  According to the Boston Globe,we still are far from bouncing back from the recession that started in 2001—down something like 100,000 jobs—and the Globe reports that a recent forecast by the New England Economic Partnership projects the state won’t recover those jobs until 2012.

With jobs—especially tech jobs—sliding away, coupled with a nationwide credit crunch, New England companies have become much more cautious in their decision-making regarding new technology.  For example, some businesses are beginning to pilot solutions before deploying them company wide, at least until the nation’s economic and political uncertainties are resolved.   The need for technology, however, has not diminished; and companies know it’s important that they keep their competitive edge.  The worst thing they can do is fail to invest in their future and find themselves bumped out of the marketplace mainstream by advancing competitors.

So, collectively, businesses have concluded that they must find technology partners they can trust, providers who really understand their businesses and can make smart, sound recommendations to keep them moving forward prudently and innovatively.  Thus, the mass of business executives who poured into the partner pavilion at that launch event.

In looking for a provider they know they can trust, businesses are turning consistently to certified Microsoft partners.  These partners tend the fertile soil of the Microsoft ecosystem, growing solutions based on the needs of the businesses they serve.  The region’s certified Microsoft partners are trusted sources for a deep understanding of specific solutions to local businesses.  They understand all aspects of their customers’ businesses, especially in the toughest of times, and know how to apply Microsoft solutions to keep those companies successful.

Any sort of business transaction involves two sides, and trust is what makes the transaction work.  While trust may reside in the background during good times, when the chips are down, it becomes the focal point for strengthening a business and its future.

By the time I returned from the Convergence conference a couple weeks ago, my entire perspective on the importance of a product launch had changed.   We at Microsoft tend to concentrate on how valuable our new products are to improving productivity for our customers, but I began to realize an even greater significance to our developing and introducing a new product.

During Convergence, I spoke with many of the 150 or so Northeast Area customers who attended the Orlando conference, where the latest cool developments in our Microsoft Dynamics line of products were revealed.

I came away from those conversations with an appreciation of the impact that our products have on the broader New England community, an impression strongly reinforced by our launch this past week of Microsoft Windows Server 2008. 

More than 2,000 people, from the Greater Northeast, participated in that event.  Why did it attract so much interest?  I’m convinced it was because everyone there realized the broad opportunities that this new technology will create.  In Massachusetts alone, analysts tell us, for every dollar spent on operating-system software, $18 more enters our economy here in the Commonwealth.  New dollars begin circulating as a result of increased employment among our Microsoft partners as well as companies that, with our new technology, can afford to expand their base of knowledge workers, producing new payroll taxes.

The creation and deployment of new technology also helps us keep our best talent here in New England.  While we may not be able to do much about the cost of living in the area, we certainly can expand job opportunities here; and new-product launches are the foundation for new jobs.  Product releases are more than upgrades; they create opportunities for customers, employers and other citizens.

 Of course, product launches should not be our only focal point for improving the employment landscape in our area.  That’s why we support efforts like Year Up, a 12-month program that serves low-income, inner-city young adults in Boston, Providence, New York City, Washington, D.C., and soon San Francisco and Atlanta. During the first six months at Year Up, students learn the full range of business skills, from how to dress and shake hands to how to build a PC and work a help desk. In the latter half of the year, these young adults apply their learned skills in apprenticeships at major corporations, like Putnam Investments and Fidelity.  In fact, the Microsoft Technology Center in Waltham is hosting the first-ever Microsoft apprentice from the Year Up program.  And these apprentices earn good wages—around $32,000 annually on their first job out of the program.