With Microsoft’s Big Easy partner conference extravaganza set to kick off in New Orleans next week, we wanted to get a discussion going on what changes the company should make to help spur sales growth.

One big impediment to growth for Acropolis Technology Group, a St. Louis Miss. Microsoft partner is the software giant’s Service Provider Licensing Agreement (SPLA) for  hosting partners. That agreement does not address secondary Microsoft Office use on laptops that are temporarily not connected to the hosting data center as in the case of a business traveler on an airplane or if the client is experiencing an internet outage.

Many businesses look at the additional Office client licenses for such a scenario as a deal killer, said Butler. “It takes a lot of the financial benefit out of the hosting model,” said Butler. The strict SPLA looks for all practical purposes as a technical catch 22 since it covers users while they are in effect connected to the data center. But that data center connection is broken when a user is traveling on an airplane and needs to get work done or in the case of an internet connectivity outage.

Butler says taking away this limitation would give a big boost to his Microsoft hosting business. What he is looking for is a provision in the licensing agreement that effectively covers an unusual secondary usage scenario when not connected to the data center. That would make for a shorter sales cycle and an all out more “compelling” proposition for businesses looking to move to the hosting model. And let’s face it hosting and software as a service (SaaS) is the future for Microsoft partners.

So just how much does the legal restriction end up costing a business that wants to move to a hosting model. Consider a 25 user business that needs to buy 10 additional Microsoft Office licenses to cover the secondary local usage scenario? That amounts to at minimum an additional $4,000 to $6,000 bill depending on the Microsoft Office license.

Butler says some partners are using Microsoft’s own SoftGrid Application Virtualization product to get around the restriction. That works, he says, but it technically violates the Microsoft SPLA.

Butler, for his part, has moved lock, stock and barrel to a hosting and a managed services business model, and is having his best year ever.  The big reason for his success is his company’s sharp focus on services which now account for 90 percent of his sales. Acropolis drives 75 percent of total sales from recurring managed services revenue. Not bad for a $3.8 million business with 27 employees. Check out Butler’s web site, acropolistech.com, for a primer on how to be successful in managed services. The website clearly lays out the compelling Acropolis Technology Group value proposition.

What is your value proposition? And What changes do you think Microsoft should make to help you drive sales? Come on give us a real channel view!