Editor’s note: As we continue our annual Year in Review series with a look back on 2010, you’ll notice a number of new faces among the participants this year.  Our goal with this year’s offering was to offer the most holistic glimpse into the “year in Bamboo” to date … and what a year it was, including the release of SharePoint 2010 as well as the continued growth of Bamboo, as evidenced by the double-digit increases in our product line, revenue, and staff. 

Bamboo dramatically increased the depth and breadth of professional services offered in 2010.  How did this come about?

Two factors came into play as having contributed to the genesis of Bamboo Services and the growth of our professional services offering.  The first one came with the release of Project Management Central (PM Central).   Our customers will typically deploy in a more traditional implementation model for applications that require particular attention to design, process, training, and governance.  Customers frequently requested professional services from Bamboo to assist them in each area, and we were happy to comply.  The other factor is that the use of SharePoint has expanded and now seems to permeate across all users in organizations that have chosen to use it as a platform.  With an expanding user base, organizations lean towards a more planned approach to implementation and look to a trusted source to provide them with expert advice and resources.

What is the typical profile of a Services customer at Bamboo?

Services customers do not fall into a specific size or sector and have one thing in common – they have either purchased or are planning to purchase one of our Suites or PM Central.  In short, these are customers who have made a commitment to Bamboo.

How does Bamboo deliver training services?  What are the options available?

Training Services are delivered via Web sessions and are targeted at two audiences: Application Administrators and End Users.  The curriculum is flexible enough to allow us to gear it to the customers’ needs, and we have received excellent feedback from customers who have availed themselves of our training.  In fact, the highest demand for services is for training.

Other options for training are a customized course and, of course, onsite training, which is available on an as-requested basis.

Which Bamboo products are Services currently offered for?  Are there plans to expand those offerings in the year ahead?

We offer a complete end-to-end offering for PM Central, beginning with Deployment Planning, for which we have partnered with Innovative-e, a leading consulting firm in Project Management and SharePoint, to guide our customers through the steps their organization needs to utilize PM Central effectively. Using an organizational PM maturity self-assessment, we evaluate the customers’ current system against the knowledge areas of the PMBOK Guide and deliver a deployment plan that outlines how to improve the SharePoint project management efforts in their organization.  We also offer: Installation Support, where we assign one of Bamboo’s experienced technical consultants to conduct an assisted install of PM Central; Design & Configuration services, where a Bamboo PM Central consultant leads the customer team through the configuration and customization of the tool; Administrative Training, targeted at administrators who are responsible for PM Central’s deployment, the training gives you a deep-dive into the capabilities of PMC, the configuration best practices, and how to maintain the application;  and End User Training, geared to get the Project Managers and Team Members started on the right foot and help them learn the basics and avoid rookie mistakes.

Beginning this year, we are also offering Installation Support and Designer Training for Workflow Conductors. We will keep expanding similar offerings to the newly released Toolkits in the first part of 2011.

How do the product Webinar offerings relate to the Services offerings?  What is your role in the Webinars?

Our weekly Webinars are designed to provide an overview of our Products from an introductory perspective. They are meant to be used by our customers in their pre-purchase decision process.  We encourage our customers to view the webinars, move on to an evaluation of the product using the free trials or sandbox, and engage with us for additional requirements as part of their pre-sales due diligence.  Training is a post-sales engagement with a flexible curriculum frequently modified to match the customers’ requirements and offers a different value proposition to the customer.  My role with Webinars had changed from when I initially helped design and deliver PM Central webinars when we launched them in 2009; I continue to play an active role in assisting with the content of the webinars.

What kinds of projects are the most fun to administer?

The most fun projects are the end-to-end engagements, which allow us to fully engage in the complete implementation lifecycle and see our products configured to match the customer’s requirements. The true reward is participating in observing the positive impact of using Bamboo products to their full potential.

You’ve spoken at and attended/blogged SharePoint conferences in the past year.  Do you anticipate doing more of the same in the year ahead?

This is one of my favorite parts of working at Bamboo.  I may be speaking for all of Bamboo when I say that the pleasure of hearing conference attendees tell us how much they love our products gives us the fuel to work even harder to keep creating value for Bamboo customers.  Speaking engagements are equally fun for me as they allow me to have that direct conversation with an audience that has gathered to hear more about Bamboo or SharePoint in a functional area.

What is your primary goal for Bamboo’s Services offerings in 2011?

I look forward to expanding the offerings in keeping with what the customers are asking for and engaging with more of our customers as they opt for the services.

Read the entire 2010 Year in Review series:

• The Year in Review with Bamboo COO Lam Le
• Bamboo Product Strategy’s Year in Review with Wes Bryan
• Bamboo Web Parts & Components’ Year in Review with Jeff Kozloff
• Bamboo Applications & Accelerators’ Year in Review with ‘Bamboo PM Girl’
• Bamboo Tools & Technologies’ Year in Review with Jeff Tubb
• Bamboo Support’s Year in Review with Mike O’Brien
• Bamboo Marketing & Online Operations’ Year in Review with Steve Gaitten
• Bamboo Nation’s Year in Review with John Anderson
• Bamboo Partner Program’s Year in Review with Jill Kunkel
• Bamboo Enterprise’s Year in Review with Rob Manfredi
• Bamboo Services’ Year in Review with Daisy Anand