An Interview with Howard Walovitch, Microsoft Dynamics US SMB Channel Manager

Howard Walovitch is Microsoft's US SMB sales director, and his role is less than a year old.  Howard brings a renewed focus on the success of Dynamics GP, NAV, and SL reselling partners in the US, and the changes he is overseeing could very well revive the channel.  I sat down with Howard to learn about his role and how it will impact channel sales for Dynamics ERP.

Gloria: What's different about the way you'll work in the Small and Medium Business (SMB) Market from how Microsoft U.S. has worked in the past?

Howard: In the past the regions had a mixed business model with AX and CRM, along with the SMB products GP, NAV, and SL. And there was a lot of focus by Partner Account Managers (PAMs) to drive prospects to AX. So now, the regions will only sell AX and CRM, while my team sells GP, NAV, and SL. I've got pre-sales, sales, and PSEs (SMB Equivalent to PAMs) with a total change in focus. We wake up every morning to focus on sales into the SMB market. And we have two strategy goals, so we're just catering to what our SMB partners need. It's been very well received, and it's very exciting.

Can you go into the details of what you're doing differently?

Howard: I'm very big into community. I meet with the SMB partners regularly and manage to what's important in their business.

Will Microsoft need to assert more control over setting preferences for which Value Added Resellers (VARs) pursue specific opportunities?

Howard: The way we go about determining which VARs get which opportunities is based on their Intellectual Property and vertical industry; then what ...