Interviews with Microsoft Employees and Partners hosted by Gui Carvalhal
“Microsoft Copilot and Copilot stack are orchestrating a new era of AI transformation, driving better business outcomes across every role and industry", said Satya Nadella, chairman and chief executive officer of Microsoft. Listen to the entire pitch of Satya, talking not only about earnings and how Microsoft is winning share, but also key areas where Customers are thriving with AI and the adoption of Copilot.
Redington is Microsoft's CEMA largest CSP Partner and the most successful Distributor to become a Services Aggregator focused on growing Cloud with value added at the forefront. In this interview Dev talks about the company's transformation and how Cloud, AI and Copilot are the current and next frontier to empower Partners and Customers.
Crayon is one of the largest Microsoft Partners in the CEMA region, bringing Digital Transformation to many Customers across the area. In this interview Alex talks about Crayon's own transformation from Licensing Provider to becoming a Sales & Services Partner.
Crayon is one of the largest Microsoft Partners in the CEMA region, bringing Digital Transformation to many Customers across the area. In this interview Alex talks about Crayon's own transformation from Licensing Provider to becoming a Sales & Services Partner.
In this Ted Talk I share one of the most impactful experiences I had in my career, from the day I had to take a call to hear about my "romantic" vision to "Win Hearts & Minds", "Sell It Right", and "Build & Enable" our Partner ecosystem, to the day when I was successfully running the Microsoft channel and we evolved this romantic vision to be centered on "People". https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/transforming-channel-romantic-possible-true-story-gui-carvalhal
FreshBooks is a Canadian ISV helping businesses to get paid quickly, now leveraging integration with Microsoft products and available at Microsoft Azure Marketplace. Come learn more about it with James Nicholson, Channel Strategy for FreshBooks, and Rani Pendse, Microsoft Partner Development Manager for ISVs. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 23, 2021 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“Expect what I call 'PDM as a Service for unmanaged Partners'. This is what Pax8 is providing." - Nick Heddy - Chief Revenue Officer, Pax8 In this interview Nick talks about Pax8 as an innovative Indirect Provider in USA and Canada, offering a robust marketplace fully integrated with other technologies complementing Microsoft, while also providing valuable Customer insights to help Partners drive powerful Digital Transformation. Full episode on YouTube and Podcast. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - March 10, 2021 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
This video was showcased on Citytv Breakfast Television a few times, giving the audience a real life experience how Microsoft Teams integrates seamless on the background with other technologies used during the show everyday, powered by Rogers for Business. Full version available on YouTube and Podcast: Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Gui Carvalhal - Caught by Surprise February 11, 2021 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
In this interview, Stephen and Gui share the stage to talk about CDW super powers and what they have for Sales and Services practices to represent Microsoft for Customers of any size across Canada. From Surface, Modern Workplace, Azure, Security and much more!
"Sherweb is coming from being a Managed Services Provider. We are good on serving End Customers through our Partner ecosystem." - Marc-André Fontaine - VP Sales & Marketing, Sherweb In this interview, Marc-André talks about Sherweb value proposition to its MSP Partner community in 4 different pillars and how this help them to get better in Marketing and Sales. He also invites all MSPs in Canada to join Sherweb Accelerate Virtual Event happening now in October 21 and 22. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - October 7, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We leverage the Microsoft Partner ecosystem to provide a complete set of solution to our Customers, providing value across the Microsoft portfolio.” - Jean-Philippe Couture - VP Innovation, Informatique ProContact (now ITI) In this interview, JP talks about how Informatique ProContact, a reference in IT in the Quebec region, became ITI. He explains about the impact of his people in a 300 employees organization, how cloud solutions can become tangible when embedded into Surface devices, and how the Microsoft Partner ecosystem helps ITI to bring the right business solution to their Customers. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - September 9, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“A big Thank You to all Scale Partners. I could not be more proud to this channel. This Channel is showing how we can be impactful in Enterprise, Corporate Accounts and SMB.” - Gui Carvalhal - Scale Partners Director, Microsoft Canada In this episode I talk about the amazing Scale Partners we have in Canada and the deserved recognition they received for their performance in the Microsoft fiscal year 2020. Softchoice, Ingram Micro, Insight were the big winners, alongside Compugen Inc, Long View Systems, CDW, Sherweb that made to the finals. Official blog post: https://lnkd.in/guybS6t Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - July 23, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“With Microsoft Inspire going digital and free, in one week of registration we already have twice of those attending last year.” - Heather Stephenson - Partner Program Manager, Microsoft Canada In this interview, Heather talks about Microsoft Inspire for Canadian Partners. From IMPACT Awards, to the Canadian General Session, Heather works day and night to bring us the best content and the best experience for this 2 days event. Canada Keynote & Awards Celebration will happen on July 22 at 1:15PM EST, which is part of the first ever Microsoft Inspire Digital Event! During this session you will hear about Microsoft's direction for FY21. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - July 7, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“There is no reason to ask someone else to explain their culture to you. You should try to immerse yourself in that culture and come up to them and talk about it.” - Gaelan Love (he/him) - Product Marketing Lead, Microsoft Canada In this #diversityandinclusion interview, Gaelan talks about PRIDE. Nobody better than him to give us some advice on how to become a better ally and kick off this conversation with the LGBTQ community. At Microsoft, Gaelan founded GLEAM (Gay and Lesbian Employees at Microsoft), which expanded to embrace Bisexual, Transgenders and the entire LGBTQ+ community. One of his recommendations was to watch RuPaul's Drag Race: Battle of the Seasons. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 30, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“40% of our clients were still in the midst of making the transition to Cloud. We are upwards now to about 83%.” - Tony Colucci - Founding Partner, Kilobytes Data Solutions Inc. In this interview, hosted by Ken McKenzie, Tony talks about Kilobytes, a long standing Microsoft Partner in Canada working as System Integrator and Managed Services Provider. For decades they have been helping Enterprise and Midsize customers to take the best of Microsoft solutions. Like everyone else, they are seeing a big spike on demands to move infrastructure and business solutions into Azure, as well as adopting Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 23, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“People forget about the Inclusion part, which is actually creating a space for people to be comfortable.” - Jenica Mckenzie - Co-Chair, Blacks at Microsoft In this interview, hosted by Rekha Rao-Mayya, she talks about #diversityandinclusion with Jenica and how BAM – Blacks at Microsoft – is transforming and shaping our internal culture to make everyone part of it, and how we could all become an Ally. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 16, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We moved away from GSuite, Slack, Zoom and AWS into Microsoft Cloud… We wanted to align our environment to what our Customers use” - Jay Goldman - CEO, Sensei Labs In this interview, Jay talks about his decision, 18 months ago, to migrate its internal environment from GSuite, Apple, Slack, Zoom to everything Microsoft. Sensei Labs also migrated its main application, called Conductor, from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to Microsoft Azure ™. Jay shares the main reasons that made him take this decision and how his business is facing new opportunities with Microsoft technology and Microsoft partnership. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 9, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“IAMCP is a non for-profit organization, we are here to make the Microsoft Partner community better.” - John Zarei - President, IAMCP Canada IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners) is a non for profit organization helping Microsoft Partners to get together as a community to support each other and gain strength to raise their ideas and feedbacks to Microsoft executives in Canada and worldwide. In this interview, John talks about IAMCP “chapters” across the entire country and invites everyone to join this group, virtually or in person. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - June 2, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We wanna be the IT Department of our Partners… Our Partners know they can rely on our technical staff.” - David Latulippe - Executive VP, ITCloud.ca ITCloud.ca is a Microsoft Indirect Provider in Canada. In this interview, David explains about ITCloud.ca simplicity and its differentiations, the 3 main offers available to complement Microsoft Cloud, the famous ITCloud.ca onboarding process, and the technical staff plus executives always ready to talk to their Partners. The video interview is just 5 minutes, but you will find much more information in the 8 minutes audio Podcast version and, of course, in their website at www.itcloud.ca Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - May 26, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“John [Insight's General Manager] was very clear from the beginning that an eight hours day doesn't have to be consecutive hours“ - Trish O'Keeffe - Sr. Cloud Director, Insight In this interview, Trish, a 21 years veteran from Insight Canada, talks about herself as an Ironman and how she is keeping herself, her family and her team active. This empowerment and motivation to stay active is actually one of Insight's culture value, no surprising why Trish became an Ironman. She got support from the top executive level when she went for her first ironman competition (this part is only available on podcast version). Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - May 19, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“When we talk to our customers we rate them as Survive mode, Stabilize mode, or Strive mode. That gives us a very specific dialogue with them.” - Michael Contento - CEO, My Blue Umbrella In this interview, hosted by Andre Faria, Michael talks about WORKanyPLACE, a solution changing how customers can work from anywhere, even before COVID-19 situation. He brings to us insights and guidance about moving your on-premises environment and company culture to “work from home”. The 3 stages to your company's long-term success and why they are so critical for security and control in the cloud. This interview is available as 5 minutes video and 9 minutes audio podcast. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - May 12, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“Forbes recently released an article where they listed LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the essential tools during social distance.” - Darrell Angai - Account Strategist, LinkedIn Canada In this interview Darrell gives a full perspective about LinkedIn tools available to all type of customers. Darrell explored the concept of Social Selling and how this is becoming even more critical for SMB customers today during COVID-19. Darrell is a former Microsoft employee, today working at LinkedIn, helping Customers and Partners to better explore and adopt the B2B tools available and fully integrated with Microsoft solutions, such as Microsoft 365, PowerApps, Dynamics 365 and many others. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - May 5, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We are going to see a lot of employees asking their employer whether they can work from home two or three days a week.” - Kevin Belyea – Owner, Spartan Systems In this interview hosted by Ammar Bacha – Microsoft PDM – we will meet Spartan Systems, a Microsoft Partner from the Atlantic region that is helping customers moving their on-prem environments to Microsoft Cloud, from Modern Workplace to Windows Virtual Desktop. On Kevin's perspectives, people will change their behavior for after COVID and companies have the opportunity today to be adapted for that upcoming future. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 28, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“Right now it is a real three hours, three days, three months kind of mindset. A real compact component and then the relentless prioritization within that of what needs to be executed.” - Kevin Peesker – President, Microsoft Canada Kevin was caught by surprise at his home office, where he is due to COVID-19 situation instead of usual airport lounges and in person meetings. With his energy, Kevin talked about his own experience working from home, what's happening with Microsoft WW Senior Leadership team, and how we can all learn from this moment. “My best experience in my life was going from growing up in Saskatoon (Saskatchewan), and then landing in Harare (Zimbabwe), where I was initially hosted by the University of Zimbabwe.” - Kevin Peesker – President, Microsoft Canada There is no way to talk to Kevin and not have a little bit of fun, if not a lot of it. Because of that, the second part of this interview is all about it. Kevin shared some amazing personal stories from his past experiences living in all continents and had fun when challenged on his knowledge about Canada. Full 20 minutes interview, including Part 1 and Part 2, is available only on Podcast. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 20, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“End user adoption really starts from understanding individuals and how they like to work.” - Jason Thompson, CPA – SMB Modern Workplace Director, Microsoft Canada In this interview, Jason, one of top experts and most respected person about Microsoft Modern Workplace at Microsoft Canada, with experience on both hardware side of the business (Surface) and cloud (Microsoft 365), brings an unique perspective of the art of the possible for SMB Customers. Come get to know more about Jason and his vision about our current situation of “working from home” every day. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 14, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We started our own Digital Transformation internally from a Marketing perspective in order to identify the best way to help our Partners.” - Kimberly Godon – BDM, SYNNEX Canada In this interview Kimberly, a Senior Business Development Manager at SYNNEX, where she works for 29 years and counting, went deep into key programs, offers and services available at SYNNEX Canada to help Partners across the country to grow their Cloud practices. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 10, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
"Don't sit in the silence, because usually when we sit in the office there is always the background noise with people talking.” - Diana Hakki – Modern Workplace Specialist, Microsoft Canada In this interview Diana Hakki and Mo Wahab joined for a quick chat to talk about challenges, opportunities and what is available for Partners across Canada to embrace the #WorkFromHome mindset and help their Customers during this unique situation. Microsoft Virtual Training Days (https://lnkd.in/g5wsKfd) is a powerful source of content to get yourself and your team ready to use Microsoft Teams and other Microsoft Cloud technologies. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 7, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“We are the number one Azure CSP reseller in the US, soon to be Canada… We are Azure Go-Fast Partner in Canada, which gives us access to more funding and acceleration to help Customers migrate into Azure faster.” - Greg Henson – President & CEO, Henson Group In this interview Greg and Kacper talked about the uniqueness of Henson Group and its free offers for pretty much everything Microsoft Cloud. As #AzureMSP certified, Henson Group offers a lot of services such as “Azure cost assessment”, “Microsoft Teams deployment and training”, “Windows Virtual Desktop deployment and training”, “Azure Reserved Instance financing”, “Financing support”, and more! Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - April 2, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“Microsoft Teams is so much more than a chat platform, you have video conferencing, document editing, sharing and collaboration capabilities, phone systems, and more!” - Jared Bernatt - Microsoft 365 Product Manager, Microsoft Canada In this interview Jared talked about special offers launched by Microsoft to help new customers jumping into Microsoft Teams now that we all need it more than ever. Jared also gave some tips about enablement and how to get yourself and your team trained to be even more productive while working from home. Our Commitment to Customers During COVID-19 - https://lnkd.in/dTvwUNQ Working Remotely Without Feeling Remote: https://lnkd.in/gh8PRGx Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - March 31, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
“Flight Academy is designed to enable ISVs to leverage Azure to build their products and also help them grow their business.” - Arash Heidari - ISV Lead, Ingram Micro Canada In this interview Arash talks about Ingram Micro offers and model, helping ISVs to move/build and run their applications on Azure. Programs, investments, services offers, global expertise and a dedicated team in Canada to engage with local ISVs and make them successful on Azure, not just running their solution in the best public cloud available today, but also tapping into Ingram Micro channel with thousands of Partners ready to resell SaaS applications. Watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/g95JcGg Watch on Instagram: https://lnkd.in/ggmaURW Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gx_gjze Listen on Apple Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gvTY5at Listen on Google Podcast: https://lnkd.in/gGDr2j6 Caught by Surprise - March 28, 2020 - www.caughtbysurprise.ca
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