Technology Predictions for 2016

It could be said that 2015 has been the year of the Cloud. Of course there have been other significant technologies that have impacted businesses in 2015, but the Cloud has certainly dominated. Organisations transitioning to subscription based business models to service their customers changing requirements has been a huge focus for the IT Channel … Continued

Brainstorming and How Innovation Really Works

Vendors, Distributors and Partners love to talk about being disruptors and innovators. They cite examples of how Uber disrupted the taxi industry, Airbnb the hotel industry, and Netflix the television industry. But how many of the organisations in our industry truly understand what it means to be so innovative that you can completely disrupt your … Continued

Solution Selling Is Dead

‘Solution Selling’ is a term we have all heard a million times before. Anyone who has worked in a sales or marketing related position in the channel has been exposed to either training or at the very least marketing material that is based on solution selling. It has been around for quite some time now … Continued

Secrets Of A Perfect MSP Partner Program

We are all aware of the amount of change that the arrival of the cloud has brought to the channel and to our industry. We have spoken at length about the changes required for partner businesses as they transition to Managed Service based business models, what happens with their infrastructure and what this means for … Continued

5 Questions You Should Ask to Maximise Training ROI

It is often easier for other people to see what is not working in an organisation when they are looking from the outside in. When looking introspectively our thinking is often clouded as we are too close to everything within the business to view things with an objective or alternative perspective. This is why an … Continued

The Financial Case For Moving To The Cloud

While there is so much talk about partners moving their businesses to subscription based models and becoming Managed Service Providers, it would seem there are still many end users who are yet to make the leap to the Cloud. Why is this the case when it seems that at every turn partners are changing their … Continued

Channel Conflict Is Here To Stay Get Used To It

The channel supply chain is not as simple as it used to be. The arrival of the Cloud has seen many changes in how businesses go to market, how they are positioned in the market, who they partner with and who they compete with. Last month we explored this concept in the article “This Channel … Continued

What Really Makes Teams Work?

The importance and relevance of team work cannot be understated. The majority of us work in teams on a daily basis and/or participate in teams of some description in our own time, for pleasure. This article states that in the current age, teamwork on a professional level has never been more important, and it is … Continued

Is Channel First Just Lip Service?

Channel Partners deal with vendors all day long. The relationships that channel partners have with vendors are very important, in fact they are critical to their mutual success. The issue is that not all vendors are the same when it comes to how they engage with the channel. Part of what successful channel partners do, … Continued