Changing Channels

Vendors and solution providers love services for their predictable revenue and high profitability. Services are so popular that the industry is racing to make every product a service. So how do traditional hardware vendors keep their partners engaged and excited about selling legacy and commoditized hardware products? How do hardware vendors attach their PCs, servers and appliances to next-generation services? Sammy Kinlaw, vice president of Lenovo North America Channel and U.S. SMB market segment, is working on just that challenge. Kinlaw joins Pod2112 to discuss how services are enhancing and opening opportunities for partners that sell and support traditional hardware products.

No one thinks a crisis will befall their business until a CNN van rolls into their parking lot. When that happens, it's outright chaos. Colorado-based solution provider Platte River Networks had that very thing happen to it in 2016 when news broke that it was the administrator of the controversial email server of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Overnight, Platte River was thrust into the national spotlight, intensely scrutinized by the press, investigators, politicians and customers. Platte River's vice president of sales and marketing, David DeCamillis, joins Pod2112 to talk about lessons learned from that experience and why it's imperative that every company have a crisis management contingency plan.

No vendor can provide for all the market’s technology needs, which is why many partner to build greater value by making their products interoperable and combining their go-to-market sales resources. However, partnership doesn’t mean frictionless. In many cases, partnering vendors are also competing with overlapping products and services. Microsoft’s Gavriella Schuster says accepting that you’re sometimes a partner and sometimes a competitor is necessary for finding success in the complex technology market.

The mobile workforce makes wireless networks imperative. Many managed service providers are incorporating managed wireless networking as part of their offerings. But a few industrious MSPs are making a leap forward by helping end users leverage data gleaned from WiFi networks into actionable business intelligence. Turning WiFi into BI is no simple matter, but has great potential for generating higher value engagements for MSPs and their vendors. Wireless networking vendor Aerohive’s Michael O’Brien joins Pod2112 to discuss how MSPs are tapping into the business intelligence opportunities with managed WiFi.

Vendors often talk about the importance of “ease of doing business” with partners. Many partners, though, are moving away from the reseller model in favor of their own services. The reason: Vendors are anything but easy when it comes to enabling partners to resell product. Former VAR turned service provider Andrew Plato of security specialist Anitian joins Pod2112 to discuss everything that’s wrong with the conventional vendor-partner reseller model and why reselling product is increasingly less advantageous. Every vendor needs to hear this.

Women make up more than half the population, but remain underrepresented the technology industry. That’s changing thanks to the advocacy and support efforts of several enablement groups, which help aspiring women establish and cultivate technology careers. Michelle Ragusa-McBain, a customer and partner experience manager at Cisco and chairperson of the CompTIA Advancing Women in Technology community, joins Pod2112 to discuss the need for supporting women’s technology careers and the resources available to aspiring and establish technology-career minded women.

As much as cloud computing is transforming the way technology is consumed and opening new opportunities for vendors and channel partners, it is not immune to the forces of commoditization. Many cloud-based services have already shed their original value, resulting in a loss of their profitability. Avoiding commoditization requires continual innovation and the addition of value-added services. Mike Gold, CEO of Intermedia, joins Pod2112 to discuss what it takes to beat back commoditization and maintain profitability for vendors and partners alike.

The Internet of Things trend is exploding. Billions of IP-enabled devices are flooding the market, and soon we’ll have multiple more connected devices than we have people on the planet. IoT is opening massive new opportunities in new and legacy technology, but these opportunities require new thinking about infrastructure, business models, and go-to-market strategies. The 451 Group’s Christian Renaud joins Pod2112 to break down the Internet of Things trends and opportunity.

 

The adage “necessity is the mother of invention” is the reason behind many technical innovations that become leading vendors. For some ambitious partners, necessity is the starting point for developing products and becoming vendors. A person who’s undergone that metamorphosis is Colin Knox, founder and CEO of Passportal, who converted his managed services’ challenges into an opportunity that is now a fast-growing software company. Knox joins Pod2112 to talk about his transformation journey – from idea to risk to success.

Everyone agrees that effective communication is paramount to maintaining organizational cohesiveness and focus. Words have the power to change the course of companies and nations. Yet, many executive find stringing words together a daunting challenge. Worse, too many executives and organizations rely on PowerPoint as their primary communication medium. Writing expert and chief troublemaker of WOBS, Josh Bernoff, joins Pod2112 to explain how executives can better get their messages across more effectively.