InsideIngramMicroBlog
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Why A VAR Was Unexpectedly Forced To Become An MSP
9/19/2018
Back when Channel Executive was named Business Solutions and VARinsights.com was BSMinfo.com, those publications used to host Channel Transitions conferences. The name of those events was quite literal – they were designed to help VARs in the IT channel transition to a managed services business model. Our brand names have changed, but we are still providing content to help break/fix VARs transition to the wonderful world of recurring revenue. I distinctly remember several panelists at Channel Transitions conferences advising audience members to tackle the VAR-to-MSP transition gradually: start with a small handful of customers, and only add more when your cash flow allows it.
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A Call For VAR Innovation
8/15/2018
There’s a repetitive scene that plays out each month as my team sits down to review and plan our varinsights.com and Channel Executive magazine editorial content. Our modus operandi, in a nutshell, is to feature executives who apply innovative solutions to often complex problems associated with being in the IT services business. With that M.O. in mind, we struggle to strike a balance between our coverage of traditional VARs and that of managed service providers.
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Sorensen Named RSPA W2W Leader Of The Year
8/8/2018
The work my friend and colleague Abby Sorensen put into the IT Channel is paying dividends even after she shifted her focus to the greater software business community. Last week at its RetailNOW event, the Retail Solutions Providers Association’s Women-to-Women (W2W) Committee named her its 2018 Leader Of The Year. Committee Chair and business owner Kelli Stewart, owner/operations manager at Advanced Data Systems, bestowed the honors from the mainstage.
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HTG Peer Groups Is Now IT Nation Evolve
8/6/2018
At the top of the New Year, ConnectWise and HTG Peer Groups collaboratively announced that the former was acquiring the latter. Among the HTG associate, member, and greater MSP communities, the news incited a lot of speculation about the future of the HTG empire led by Arlin Sorensen and family. This week, the speculation was put to rest. HTG is now IT Nation Evolve, a new brand that reflects the Arnie Bellini-inspired ConnectWise flavor of channel community building.
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Why Every POS VAR Should Read “Built To Last”
8/2/2018
The technologies VARs sell and the services VARs provide change drastically in short periods of time, and it takes persistence to evolve your business to keep up. That’s why Built To Last is a must-read for VARs.
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Men: Let’s Get Past The Discomfort Of Sexism In IT
7/13/2018
Men outnumber women in this industry by something on the order of 8 to 2, and the margin is even wider in the c-suite. By and large, we’re the ones approving salaries, greenlighting recruits, and setting the cultural tones of our companies. That requires us to be involved in solving the pay gap, recruiting more women into the field, and most importantly, driving cultures that demand equal respect across gender lines. None of that will happen if we’re not talking about it.
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Let’s Talk About The Channel’s Lack Of Diversity
7/3/2018
The lack of women and minorities in the channel is such a complex problem. We can’t keep forgetting about diversifying the channel – it has to be an ongoing conversation about how our industry can find better ways to recruit talented women and minorities and help them advance to leadership positions.
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New Podcast For POS VARs: The Challenger Sale
6/6/2018
My addiction to podcasts is why I jumped at the opportunity to join a POS industry-specific podcast venture with industry veterans Jim Roddy of Worldpay, Sean Buckley of Vend, and Jeremy Julianof CBS NorthStar We plan to read a book and discuss its applications to POS resellers and software companies on a regular basis. Our first episode is a discussion about The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson.
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Automation And The Fate Of The IT Professional
4/30/2018
There’s been no shortage of press about the IT labor situation in India. In case you haven’t been following, here’s a quick summation. The country’s outsourced IT shops are like our brick-and-mortar stores. There are too many of them. They’re occupied by too many employees for the times. They both face threats posed by automation and Amazon, respectively, nemeses whose names are nearly synonymous.
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Leaving User Experience To Vendors? Big Mistake.
4/17/2018
As VAR and MSP sales and marketing organizations catch the buyer persona buzz, are client personas and user experiences being overlooked?