Changing Channels

The channel is often referred to as a community, largely because it’s a close-knit network of people specialized in working with partners as a route to market. Community fits because few people ever leave the channel. The running joke is there are only a couple of hundred channel people; they just change companies every few years. Graduating from the channel is the aspiration of many people. Just how do channel pros – known for their ability to drive partner revenue – achieve cross-over success? Julie Parrish, a well-known channel veteran and current chief marketing officer of security vendor RedSeal, joins Pod2112 to talk about how channel pros can curate their careers to crossover into non-channel jobs.

Analysts’ reports disagree on the exact value of the emerging Internet of Things market, but huge is a common statement on the potential value. Vendors are racing to figure out their IoT strategies and push products into the field. Progress Software, a company better known for its developer and interoperability tools, refocused on enabling IoT. Channel chief Kim King joins Pod2112 to talk about the IoT pivot and the lessons learned in creating an IoT-centric organization, culture, and channel.

Managed services veteran and evangelist Rob Rae, vice president of business development at Datto, joins Pod2112 to talk about the gaining popularity of managed services among vendors and solution providers, the importance of building strong services businesses and the mistakes large vendors make in transitioning to managed services and recurring revenue models. As Rae says, smaller companies have an advantage in adopting and capitalizing on the recurring revenue model.

Gary Fish, the serial entrepreneur who founded FishNet Security and FireMon, is at it again. His latest venture, FishTech Group, aims to reshape the definition of channel partnerships. Rather than pushing product sales, Fish and his team are focusing on innovating on emerging technologies such as advanced security, artificial intelligence and robotics. The product is a better, more valuable user experience. Fish joins Pod2112 to share his vision for what he calls, “building the Anti-VAR.”

Cloud computing is dynamic and end customers want the ability to manage and amend their cloud services on demand. CloudPlus CEO Tony Francisco shares with Pod2112 how his company is giving more control over the cloud to its partners and customers and enabling more SMB and midmarket organizations to capture the benefit of cloud services.

A misconception of technology engineers is their products are so great, they should sell themselves. That rarely happens. Sales generate revenue, but marketing is the storytelling and packaging that generates sales opportunities. In this episode of Pod2112, marketing guru Jennifer Anaya, vice president of marketing at Ingram Micro and head of Agency Ingram Micro, joins me to share how the most successful companies deliver superior marketing that attracts, informs and retains customers.

A decade ago, managed services swept through the IT channel at precisely the right time to replace the profitability of commoditized hardware and expensive break/fix services. Today, managed services is crossing into the realm of cloud computing. No longer are resellers just monitoring and managing servers, they are facilitating and orchestrating cloud platforms, complex data migrations, hosted applications and security systems. The level of complexity is enormous, but so too is the market opportunity. Cloud computing is the next-generation of managed services. Justin Crotty, Senior Vice President Channel Sales and Marketing at NetEnrich, joins Pod2112 to discuss the evolution of managed services in the cloud computing era.

It seems as though we can’t start or finish a sentence in the channel nowadays without saying “cloud computing.” Just 10 years ago, cloud computing was a nascent concept that seemed somewhat fantastical. Today, cloud computing is the imperative. Vendors are looking to either migrate their offerings to a cloud-based service or transform their sales model to a cloud-like recurring revenue model. Ingram Micro Cloud's Renee Bergeron joins Pod2112 to talk about the evolution of cloud computing, cloud marketplaces and how IT vendors and solution providers can chart their cloud strategies.

Cloud services, Internet of Things, mobility and ubiquitous, data-generating applications are changing the technology consumption and vendor and channel business models. Pod2112’s Larry Walsh sits with Ixia’s Lori Cornmesser to discuss how network visibility and security helps partners and enterprises ensure networks deliver the performance needed in the next-generation, cloud-based era.