Moving From Metalogix to GTconsult

I just wrapped up my last session at SPTechCon Boston, and with it my time as Chief Evangelist with Metalogix has also come to a close. When I left Microsoft in mid-2009, my intention was to get back into the SharePoint space (I had taken a 2 year detour into Online Services) and build and sell products to improve the SharePoint experience. My passion has always been around building teams and products, and at echoTechnology, I got to do both. Of course, it was a short 8 months until Axceler acquired us, and three years later, after helping Axceler reach "governance juggernaut" status, we were acquired by Metalogix. As I approached my 1-year anniversary, I knew I wanted to get back into business-building mode, and to have a service delivery component to my role.

Per the press release that went out this morning, beginning Monday I will be taking on a new role as Managing Director, Americas for GTconsult, a South Africa-based Microsoft Gold partner that provides consulting and managed services for "Everything SharePoint." I've known the team at GT for several years, partnering with them at Axceler and Metalogix, and supporting their community efforts in South Africa as they have been one of the primary driving forces behind the SharePoint Saturday events in Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban, as well as spending many days on the road at shared customer visits. So, to some extent, I am not going too far, as I will continue to work closely with the Metalogix sales, partner, and product teams — and already have some joint marketing activities in the works. GT also has a strong relationship with Nintex, so I am excited to continue working with them, as well.

What happens next? In true form, I am going right back out on the road, flying to Perth on Sunday for a week to meet with a client there, and then its right back home to finish preparing for SharePoint Saturday Bend on October 4th (register here), with SharePoint Saturday Redmond on its heels on the 11th (register here). GTconsult co-founders Bradley Geldenhuys (@bradgcoza) and Craig Tarr (@craigtarr) will join me for both events. In fact, Brad and I are keynoting the Bend event, and both of us will be speaking in Redmond. GTconsult is the Platinum sponsor for #SPSRedmond, so if you're planning to attend, please stop by and say hello to the guys.

I'll also be building a team, establishing partnerships, and opening a physical office in the Redmond area. In particular, I'll be working with my new org to expand our Umlindi platform and services to help automate management of SharePoint Online and to work closely with Microsoft to speed up the Office 365 adoption cycle. You can learn more about the Umlindi offering here. I'm looking for good SharePoint people, if you know of any 🙂

What this means for my various writing and speaking engagements: not much change there. My goal is to continue publishing through this blog, the GTconsult blog, AIIM.org, CMSWire, Wired, LinkedIn, ITUnity, and various other online and offline media, and to continue presenting at regional, national, and international events. I have some webinars planned in October, and I'll be attending the MVP Summit and then will be keynoting SharePoint Connect 2014 in Amsterdam, both in November.

Going forward, you can reach me at cbuck@gtconsult.com. There's lots more coming, and I am excited to take on this new adventure!