Agents, VARs To Define Partnering Best Practices

IT industry association CompTIA and Channel Partners are continuing their initiative to seek out best practices for partnerships between the telecom and IT channels during a workshop, 1:30-2:50, Thursday, Aug. 25, at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Chicago at the Hyatt McCormick Place.

Part II of the Agent-VAR Partnering Workshop builds on the initial work conducted in the spring, including a first-ever study of agent-VAR partnering trends and a workshop wherein agents and VARs identified challenges and opportunities in current and future partnerships. In general, some of the top factors driving success, include:

1. Effective Communication – No. 1 for both VARs and Agents
2. Understanding of Business Model – No. 2 for VARs and No. 3 for Agents
3. Emerging technologies – No. 3 for VARs and No. 2 for agents
4. Compensation Models – No. 5 for VARs and No. 4 for Agents

Based on the study results and guidance from the previous workshop attendees, agents and VARs participating in the fall 2011 meeting will begin work on best practices by:

1. Modeling agent and VAR business models for their respective partners
2. Outlining expectations for partnerships, such as account protection, engagement, quota, etc.
3. Modeling compensation for partnerships as well as internal sales compensation driving sales of non-core products

CompTIA and Channel Partners expect this work to be foundational for creating best practices guidelines and identifying next steps in this one-of-a-kind initiative. Interested agents/master agents and VARs are invited to attend the meeting.