Changing Channels

Joe Sykora joins Channelnomics’ Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to talk about strategies and tactics for instilling in partners the imperative of selling persistently and consistently. The IT channel is, by definition, a route to market for selling and delivering technology goods and services to end customers. Partners are the conduit through which products flow. They influence and direct custo...

Mary Beth Walker joins Channelnomics’ Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss how HP’s new Amplify program is leveraging data shared by partners to improve channel sales and productivity. As many say, data in the digital age is the fuel of business. By gathering, organizing, and analyzing data, businesses of all sizes – from large enterprises to small Main Street shops – are making more info...

Frank Rauch joins Channelnomics’ Changing Channels host Larry Walsh to discuss best practices for gaining top-down support from corporate executive leadership for channel strategies and programs.  Executives from the CEO to sales leadership at technology companies often talk about the value of their channel partners in their success equation. Many corporate executives say that they couldn’t achiev...

In this episode of Channelnomics’ Changing Channels, Chad Cardenas of TSG joins host Larry Walsh to discuss his model for getting partners to put skin in the game with start-up technology companies through investments and channel commitments. The lore of Silicon Valley was written with venture capital money. The start-up engine that brought iconic brands such as Google, Palo Alto Networks, and Cro...

Channel Chief Meaghan Sullivan of SAP joins host Larry Walsh to recount the marketing lessons learned during the pandemic and how those learnings will shape digital go-to-market strategies for years to come! COVID-19 changed everything in the way vendors and partners generate demand, curate sales, and cultivate productive customer relationships. At the beginning of the pandemic, SAP’s Meaghan Sull...

Technology is making the world move faster through analytics and automation. Businesses and individuals leverage the power of cloud computing and collaboration tools to interact without meeting face to face. In recent months, the value of these resources came to the fore as the COVID-19 pandemic forced businesses to shut down, send their staffs home, and initiate crash courses in socially separate...

If we learned anything during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that cloud computing is the resilient resource it was always billed. Businesses leaned heavily on cloud-based resources and services to maintain operations as their staff shifted to work from home postures. At the same time, businesses – particularly SMBs – leaned on managed service providers to help them adopt, setup, and support their clo...

Over the past several years, vendors and solution providers have come under pressure to change their sales strategies and processes to meet evolving customer expectations. The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic downturn are forcing a crash transformation as sales teams find themselves disconnected from partners and customers absent the usual communication venues such as events and face-to-f...

No business is immune to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having long-term and recurring contracts, managed service providers (MSPs) are feeling the pinch of the downturn as customers curtail or shut down operations. Many MSPs are reporting customers canceling contracts, downgrading services, or simply not paying. Fred Voccola, CEO of managed services tools provider Kaseya, sa...

COVID-19 displaced tens of millions of office workers around the world. Overnight, companies went from cubicles teeming with activity to distributed workforces operating from makeshift desks, dining room tables, and couches. The displacement took many companies by surprise, forcing them to hastily equip their work-from-home employees or allow staff to use personal devices. The situation created a...

Customer experience is the metric that an increasing number of technology companies are using to define success. Customers are less interested in ROI and technical features, and more interested in the sum of their experiences with technology and the outcome of their technology investments. SAP has been reorienting its go-to-market philosophy and strategy around becoming “customer centric” – puttin...

The COVID-19 pandemic made managed service providers front-line responders to the crisis. As businesses scrambled to shift their workforces from office to remote, MSPs raced to get clients set up and running quickly with stable endpoints, platforms, and support. While MSPs are built to deliver services remotely, not all are equipped to meet the volume and variety of IT needs of their clients in th...

SAP's Meaghan Sullivan joins POD2112 to share how the coronavirus outbreak could reshape marketing strategies in the long run. 

As technology continues to evolve and the market adopts service-based models, many vendors question the value distribution is contributing, and will contribute, to the go-to-market equation. Traditionally, distribution is the layer that provides logistics, contract manufacturing, customization services, financing, and technical support on behalf of vendors to their partners. Some people believe th...

Internet of Things (IoT) is a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity. Connecting legacy systems to autonomous sensors and controllers are opening new vistas for creating smart enterprises, manufacturing, cities and homes. Vendors – old and new – are creating IoT components and systems to bring the smart world vision into reality. IoT architectures are popping up all over the channel. The expectations a...

Device and everything as a service is not a new concept. Since the early days of managed services, channel pros and practitioners foresaw a day in which the tech industry sold and supported all devices, applications and resources as a service. With cloud computing and ubiquitous connectivity, everything as a service is a real and growing trend. Nevertheless, the channel – particularly in the SMB s...

Channel chiefs change jobs all the time, but few get the opportunity to build a channel program from the ground up. Channel veteran Bill Lipsin not only designed Cohesity’s recently launched channel program, but he did so as an outside consultant that grew into the job. Lipson, a widely regarded channel leader, joins POD2112 to discuss returning to the channel chief’s chair and the experience of b...

Generating growth is a challenge for all technology companies. Few can create lightning in a bottle on their own. In many cases, vendors can catch a ride on the growth train by attaching themselves to another growing technology that they complement. In the case of Barracuda MSP, a division of Barracuda Networks that provides managed services for security and backup, that opportunity came with Micr...

The indirect sales model was never intended to ensure or provide partner profitability. The profit of partner activities was and remains a product of what they provide to customers in value-added goods and services. Some technology vendors are making that principle the cornerstone of their channel profit model. By giving partners the breathing room, tools, and enablement to deliver more managed an...

HP has a storied history of innovation and propelling change in its partners and customers’ organizations. HP is now undergoing a sweeping change in its leadership, organization, go-to-market strategy, and culture with the appointment of a new CEO, the creation of its first chief commercial officer, and the restructuring of its global framework. HP is aiming to meet future partner and market needs...

As the technology industry evolves with new and innovative products and services, partners face the challenge of acquiring new skills or losing business. The shortcut to satisfying customers, even when the products and skills are lacking, is referrals. Through referrals, partners can direct customers to trusted, qualified vendors and solution providers that can meet their technology needs. Referra...

In the race to dominate the cloud computing era, Google Cloud is playing catchup to rival market leaders Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. The difference maker, says Google Cloud’s management, is partners that are innovating with the cloud company and on behalf of their customers to building better, value-add solutions that produce better outcomes and return on investment. The strategy is a...

The Internet of Things trend is creating massive product and service sales opportunities. Businesses are spending billions of dollars acquiring new sensors, infrastructure, and applications to leverage IoT devices and systems to improve operations, create new experiences, and capitalize on emerging models. In the channel, IoT is still an emerging opportunity. Vendors are developing channel program...

Once upon a time, when cell phones did little more than voice services, the go-to mobile device for business executives was the trusted Blackberry. These communications devices with their monochrome display, roller-ball controller, and physical keypad untethered busy executives from their personal computers by giving them mobile emails, text messages, and voice services.   The days of Blackberry t...

Strategy is something often talked about and considered a necessity in business yet is largely misunderstood and misapplied. An effective strategy is the combination of vision, objectives and direction that set the course and tempo of business. Through strategy, businesses have focus that drives their day-to-day operations and clarifies decision-making. Creating effective business strategy isn’t e...