The historic sites of Boston proved an inspirational backdrop for channel partners who converged on the city looking for opportunity in an industry characterized by change — evolution if not revolution.
More than 2,000 participants and nearly 120 exhibitors gathered at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center for the Fall 2008 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, held Aug. 18-20. For a gallery of event photos, click here.
“If you haven’t changed anything [in the last few years], you’re going to be right where you are today,” said Gartner Inc.’s research vice president of indirect channel programs and sales strategies, Tiffani Bova, in her industry address. If you subtly changed things, then you might be subtly different than what you are today. If you’re taking some risks, you could be way ahead of the curve, or you could be in trouble.”
And that’s the way of risk-taking — whether it’s building countries or businesses. Bova painted a compelling, but drastically different view of the future communications/IT environment — one that is characterized by a utility service delivery model. Much of premises-based technologies are moving into the network, changing the service delivery models to technology/software as a service (SaaS). This change, she said, gives telephony agents a leg up of VARs with break/fix models since they are used to the SLA-driven subscription model.
Several new opportunities were the subject of educational sessions at the conference. Kicking off the event, executives from Time Warner Cable, Cablevision, Cox Business, Charter Business and Comcast discussed their nascent partner programs in the opening roundtable. Together, the cablecos cover 92 percent of the country, presenting a facilities-based alternative to the traditional telco. Most also see the channel as a way to target the smaller players that are in search of a trusted, reliable triple-play provider.
Concurrent sessions also covered SaaS, colocation, satellite, multimedia conferencing and unified communications, which are new product offerings for many channel partners. And, a special workshop, the VoIP/SIP Boot Camp, was co-sponsored by FreedomVOICE and PHONE+ to help partners learn VoIP and SIP fundamentals, selling techniques and case studies.
Change wasn’t limited to new technology. There was a whole education track devoted to how partners need to change their sales, marketing and solutions offerings in light of a slowing economy. Speaker Zeus Kerravala, manager of infrastructure research and consulting for Yankee Group, said the economic downturn doesn’t mean channel partners should be down and out; they should just pick the right things to push. Case in point, Kerravala said, is large infrastructure upgrades with difficult ROI quantification are simply not getting funded right now. Instead services like telecom expense management, bandwidth optimization and collaboration tools are among the solutions that are resonating with resource-strapped buyers, according to panelists for the “Solutions that Sell in a Slowdown” session.
More practical advice for dealing with a changing environment was on top with the Leverage Web/Web 2.0 Marketing session. Speakers Janet Schijns, president of The JS Group, and Robert Weiss, director of sales for StructuredWeb Inc., helped partners understand the challenges of reaching prospects using new media and the risks of ignoring this emerging market.
Armed with new ideas, attendees crowded the aisles of the expo hall to see the new fare from exhibitors at the opening reception, sponsored by Encom Wireless Data Solutions. In all, more than eight hours of expo hall time over the three-day event gave partners ample time to meet with prospective new vendors about their products and programs. In addition, many vendors like Level 3 Communications, NETXUSA, ACC Business, TNCI and others found Boston a willing and entertaining host for many invitation-only functions.
Boston, the home of many grassroots organizations, also hosted the coming out party for the Technology Channel Association, a new group for indirect sales channel and its suppliers. The opportunity for change was not lost on these partners, who have banded together in hopes of bringing a new level of professionalism to the industry . TCA held recruiting meetings during the event.
