Populating the Field – Designer Agents Needed?

By Cara Sievers

On more than one occasion, I’ve heard channel partners express concern about finding good talent to employ. What I want to know is whether you think there is a shortage of IT sales professionals out there – or if there’s just a shortage of good ones.

Industry organizations definitely recognize a shortage of skilled workers in the tech arena. CompTIA created an educational foundation back in 1998 to churn out entry-level IT employees to help eliminate such shortages. The foundation recently awarded its IT Student Merit Awards to recognize outstanding accomplishments by students and adult learners who have trained for and received CompTIA certification. The winners get cash awards of $250 for use toward their continuing education.

“Forecasts of shortages of qualified IT workers are predicted for the near future,” said John Venator, president and CEO, CompTIA. “Without a ready supply of trained, certified IT professionals to install, operate and maintain technology systems, we’re risking a slowdown in growth and innovation.”

According to a CompTIA survey released earlier this year, security topped the list of the technology skills that are most important to organizations today – but the survey also revealed that the area of security presented the widest skill shortage and the most disparate knowledge gap.

As an answer to the need for qualified labor in the security industry, the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) and the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) have joined forces to launch the Security Industry Recruiting Center, providing an online source for matching qualified job seekers with security industry employers.

“The security industry is rapidly changing and needs employees who are interested in being a part of this new, high-tech world,” said NBFAA president Mike Miller.

So, as the career recruiting becomes more and more targeted, I ask of you, channel partners – what kinds of people does the channel need? Does the channel need charismatic salespeople or educated technicians? Does the channel need people who can cross-train to sell 10 or 20 technologies fairly well, or does it need people who can sell two or three technologies really, really well? Or maybe the newly-formed Technology Channel Association will be the answer, by honing best practices and raising the standards for agents? Or maybe you think the indirect channel is fine as it is?

You’ve heard of designer babies – so let’s talk about designer agents. What chromosomes do you think are needed in the channel partner DNA of tomorrow? Drop me a line and let me know what you think!

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CompTIA Educational Foundation Presents IT Merit Awards