FAQs about the Assess and Win promotion, including “Is Microsoft collecting my customer’s sensitive and personally identifiable information that maybe included in these assessments?”
There have been several questions about the “Assess & Win” promotion that I have seen out there, including questions around the information submitted through the process. For those of you not familiar with the Assess & Win promotion, here is a quick overview:
For a limited time, you can get a free, for-resale copy of Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard Edition (ERP US$599) for your organization by submitting five business assessments.* In addition, you can receive up to 20 Partner Points to help you qualify for higher levels in the Microsoft Partner Program.
We have also posted an entire FAQ upon the Assess & Win page which I would recommend people take a look at for more information about the promotion if you haven’t already. Also, since I saw specific questions around the information being collected, I thought I would highlight the answer to that question here to help dispel some of the rumors out there:
Q: Is Microsoft collecting my customer’s sensitive and personally identifiable information that maybe included in these assessments? |
A: Contact or any other personal information for the partner's customer will not be collected by Microsoft during the assessment submission process. While assessments are being uploaded, each field that may contain customers' personally identifiable information or sensitive data will be stripped and discarded. Additionally, partners will have the opportunity to review and revise the assessments before they are finally submitted to Microsoft. |
Here is a screen shot of the submission page itself, which clearly reminds you that personal information is removed from the form and for you to double check that any you have added into the text portion of your submission is removed as well:
(Click for full-size image)
Thank you and have a wonderful day,
Eric Ligman
Microsoft US Senior Manager
Small Business Community Engagement
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights