Changing Channels

Episode 69: Riverbed’s Cindy Herndon on Creating Virtual P&Ls for Channels

Channel chiefs and organizations create and maintain all kinds of metrics to measure channel performance and identify challenges. While metrics are endemic to channel operations and all facets of business, channel organizations often find themselves at a disadvantage to their peer lines of business. Other parts of the vendor have profit and loss (P&L) statements through which they measure performance and contributions. Many channel metrics are easily dismissed because they’re not correlated to P&Ls. Riverbed Technology has come up with a novel solution to this problem – a virtual P&L for channels. The virtual financial statement draws a direct line to the actual P&Ls of the company and its divisions, showing how channels play in the grand scheme of a vendor’s success. Riverbed’s Cindy Herndon joins Pod2112 to talk about the development, utilization, and benefits of a virtual channel P&L.

Episode 68: Check Point’s Frank Rauch on the Channel Investment Imperative

Channel programs exist to extend the reach and capacity of a company’s go-to-market strategy. Channel partners are complements to a direct or inside sales force, providing vendors with reliable representatives in the field and customers with local points of sale. And through channel programs, vendors contain the cost of sales, as selling through and with partners is almost always less expensive than selling direct. Unfortunately, some companies see channel programs and partners as overlays and cost centers. They either don’t invest enough in channel programs or, in some cases, make it difficult for partners to succeed by giving support and resources short shrift. Investing in channels is not a guarantee of success, but starving channel programs of funding and resources will surely bring disappointment. Channel veteran Frank Rauch joins Pod2112 to discuss the need for vendors to invest in their channel programs and partners. As the new head of worldwide channels at Check Point charged with rebuilding the security powerhouse’s partner program, Rauch offers tried-and-true methodologies for defining and justifying channel investments.

 

Episode 67: Ingersoll Rand’s Liz Cope on Automation to Humanize

Technology enables businesses to automate everything from processes to sales transactions, marketing messages to partner communications, and data generation to analytics. While many people feel like technology is trapping them into an endless cycle of always-on work lives, others see automation as a means of freeing people from the drudgeries of time-consuming tasks. Liz Cope, director of marketing technology and operations at Ingersoll Rand, joins Pod2112 to discuss her perspectives on how automation can give people the time they for human, personal interactions that make a difference in partner and customer relationships.

Episode 66: Commvault’s Carmen Sorice on Building Better Backup Channels

Cloud-based data backup and recovery is among the most popular services in the channel. Partners consistently see backup as a growth opportunity as demand continues to expand with the rising volume of data generated. Commvault is looking to better leverage channel partners to grow its business, and it’s brought on industry veteran Carmen Sorice to realign internal teams and enable channel partners to achieve higher levels of success. Sorice joins Pod2112 to talk about his mission and plans at Commvault, and to share some of the lessons he’s learned through his years of working in the channel.

Episode 65: Zoho’s Vijay Sundaram on Artificial Intelligence in Sales Management

Zoho’s Vijay Sundaram on Artificial Intelligence in Sales Management

Data – or at least, information – is the fuel of business. Executives and managers want data and intelligence to make better sense of the world around them, understand business opportunities and potential sales, and ensure they miss no potential chance to excel. Zoho, a company that’s pioneered cloud-based business applications, recently released a new platform, Zoho CRM Plus, which provides users with greater integration of related applications for managing sales, marketing, customer support and operations. An underlying component is Zia, Zoho’s artificial intelligence assistant that can analyze and report on trends and events uncovered in the interlinked data. Vijay Sundaram, Chief Strategy Officer at Zoho, joins Pod2112 to shed more light on how artificial intelligence and automation will improve the way businesses manage sales and customer relationships.

Episode 64: Chorus Communications’ Rob Molinaro on Enabling Partners for the IoT World

The Internet of Things is booming. Over the next decade, as many as 75 billion IP-enabled devices will connect to the Internet, enabling everything from automated home heating systems to automated factories. People talk about the big IOT opportunities in the channel, but often in the abstract. Master agent Chorus Communications isn’t waiting for the IoT haze to clear. It recently launched a new initiative to enable its resellers, managed service providers and telecom agents with skills, resources and insights into IoT market opportunities. It invested in developing new connection options to carry IoT traffic. And it’s launched into the market with an IoT health care offering that monitors and manages prescription drug consumption. Chorus Communications’ Rob Molinaro joins Pod2112 to discuss his company’s IoT initiative, the resources it’s providing partners, and its expectations for getting ahead of the IoT market curve.

Episode 63: Infoblox’s Lori Cornmesser on Producing Great Channel Events

Channel events and conferences are common, but not always great. Vendors want to build enthusiasm and momentum by bringing partners together to hear about products, programs, and objectives. Achieving that goal takes more than just setting dates and bringing partners to a hotel ballroom. It requires vision and thoughtful planning and execution. And what happens before and after channel events is just as important as what happens at the conference itself, if not more so. Lori Cornmesser, Infoblox’s vice president of worldwide partner and alliance sales, joins Pod2112 to talk about her first partner summit at Infoblox and what it takes to pull off a great partner event.

Episode 62: Ciena’s Sandra Glaser Cheek on Building New Channel Programs

The job of a channel chief is to build and manage relationships with partners to generate sales that contribute to their company’s goals. They curate those relationships through channel programs designed to reward partners based on their investments and performance. Channel chiefs frequently look to improve their programs, but often within or additive to their existing program structures. Rarely does a channel chief get the opportunity to build a whole new channel program from the ground up in an organization that has a channel. That’s the opportunity Sandra Glaser Cheek had at Ciena. She and her team spent the last year building a new, innovative channel program in parallel to their existing program. Building the channel program took much planning, coordination and investment. Cheek joins Pod2112 to talk about her new program, the Ciena Partner Network, and what it took to build a channel that’s different from the standard model.

Episode 61: Atrion Communications’ Pat Grillo on the Consequences of Channel Conflict

Channel conflict is an unavoidable fact. Despite the controls and efforts of channel leaders, vendors and partners invariably come into conflict by competing for the same business in the field. Partners generally accept that channel conflict will happen periodically and that they’ll sometimes find themselves on the losing side of the conflict-resolution equation. What matters more to partners is how vendors try to mitigate conflict and adjudicate incidents. Failure to curb channel conflict can cost vendors and partners alike – and dearly. Atrion Communications is learning about the severe effects of channel conflict as its grapples with the aftereffects of one of its primary vendors taking a deal direct. Atrion lost $9.5 million on the deal, and a whole lot more. Atrion CEO Pat Grillo joins Pod2112 to share his story and discuss what vendors need to know about the consequences of channel conflict from a partner’s perspective.

Episode 60: GE Ventures’ Mike Dolbec on What Makes a Fledgling IoT Company Worth Watching

The IoT space consists of billions of devices, touches a variety of vertical markets, and presents an extraordinarily large total addressable market. For innovative entrepreneurs, the key to success today is developing IoT solutions that are highly scalable, repeatable, and reliable. Investors seek entrepreneurs who can create widely consumable enterprise solutions to solve real-world problems; achieve efficiencies with data; make intelligent observations; and match the right solutions to the right customers. Michael Dolbec, senior managing director of venture capital and corporate business development at GE Ventures, talks to Pod2112 about the future of IoT and what makes a digital start-up investment-worthy in today’s competitive climate.