CompTIA Unveils New Name for IT Channel’s Premier Event: Welcome to CompTIA ChannelCon

Conference will build on Breakaway legacy with more education, training and networking opportunities

Downers Grove, Ill., March 6, 2013 – CompTIA, the non-profit association for the information technology (IT) industry, today unveiled CompTIA ChannelCon as the new name and identity for its premier annual event.

The inaugural CompTIA ChannelCon is scheduled for July 29-31 at the Peabody Orlando Hotel in Orlando, Fla.

“Our premier event, known for many years as Breakaway, now has a name that truly reflects its scope,” said Kelly Ricker, senior vice president, events and education, CompTIA. “The quality of the meetings, partnership opportunities, hot topic sessions and channel-neutral training make ChannelCon an unparalleled experience in the IT industry.”

The format and content of CompTIA’s Breakaway conference has changed significantly over the last several years, shifting from an event that emphasized lead generation to a conference centered on business education and networking opportunities.

In 2010, CompTIA shifted Breakaway from a hosted industry event to an un-hosted model, where attendees chose to make their own investments to participate. The following year, a vendor-neutral channel training and education platform was added to the conference.

The introduction of CompTIA’s member communities also raised the activity and engagement levels at the event, allowing vendors, distributors and solution providers to sit at the same table to discuss best practices, address issues facing their businesses and develop initiatives to grow the IT industry.

“We embrace our role as the gathering place where industry opportunities and challenges are addressed collaboratively by all channel professionals, regardless of company or category,” Ricker said. “CompTIA ChannelCon brings together the best cross section of the industry: solution providers, vendors, distributors, analysts, media, tech associations and other channel organizations.”

ChannelCon attendees can expect great education and training opportunities, a lively vendor fair and the unparalleled access to key channel executives.

Other planned activities include:

• Workshops on CompTIA trustmarks, the business-level credentials for IT businesses that adheres to the industry's best practices.
• CompTIA Executive Certificate programs, which provide busy IT professionals the opportunity to expand their knowledge and skill sets in areas such as cloud computing and mobile technologies.
• E-learning Capstone Sessions, the final piece to completing an e-learning Executive Certificate.
• Keynotes speeches and panel discussions featuring top leaders in the business and IT arenas.
• The “Unconference Lunch”, an opportunity for attendees to drive the conference agenda.
• Private events for exhibitors.
• Best of CompTIA ChannelCon Awards.

Registration for CompTIA ChannelCon will open in mid-March. Visit CompTIA Events for the latest information and updates.

About CompTIA

CompTIA is the voice of the world’s information technology (IT) industry. Its members are the companies at the forefront of innovation; and the professionals responsible for maximizing the benefits organizations receive from their investments in technology. CompTIA is dedicated to advancing industry growth through its educational programs, market research, networking events, professional certifications, and public policy advocacy. For more information, visit www.comptia.org, http://www.facebook.com/CompTIA and http://twitter.com/comptia.
Contact:
Steven Ostrowski
Director, Corporate Communications
CompTIA
630-678-8468
smostrowski@comptia.org

Is It Workflow? Or Is It Just a Tool?

Tool: “something (as an instrument or apparatus) used in performing an operation or necessary in the practice of a vocation or profession.” – Merriam-Webster.

Back in the good ol’ days, before MpS, a few smart folks started referring to scanning as the on-ramp to document management. Not a bad way to look at it, and not a bad way to turn an ancillary tool into more than what it is – that's called marketing. It’s akin to selling copiers as “document management engines,” when all they really do is put marks on paper. It’s selling an idea, not the machine.

Today the new dimension in managed print services – workflow – is undergoing the same marketing treatment. As the rush toward this niche intensifies, intrepid voyagers be aware: There is a difference between workflow tools and workflow.

Read the rest, here.

013: Wall Street Lets Up on HP: But Why?

From the Wall Street Journal,

"H-P’s numbers buy CEO Whitman some breathing room. Hewlett-Packard Co.‘s first-quarter earnings declined 16% as the technology giant continued to see weaker sales across all its divisions, including its core personal computer business, reports the WSJ’s Ben Worthen. Shares nevertheless soared in after-hours trading as H-P’s numbers beat Wall Street estimates..."

We listened to HP's earnings call (Feb. 21st) our 4th, and for the life of me, I can't find the 'silver-lining everyone else sees - but there is one.

HP is following the tried and true public formula for companies on the mend - 

1. Admit problems...
2. Clean house...
3. Blame economic headwinds, past leadership and bad deals of the past...
4. Make the future seem as though it is going to be very bad...
5. Report numbers that are "less bad" than the original thought/projected...
6. Get the street off your back..

There's a concept in military science called, "shaping the battlefield".  In HP's case this means setting expectations so incredibly low, feeding detractors fog and allowing media-allies, 'privileged access'.

When you hear, "...HP beats Wall Street analysts projections..." question what data these analysts utilized establishing their forecast.

For the rest of us, here are the numbers that hold relevance.  The largest technology company in the world, the company that grew from humble beginnings into the corporation we all work for, the entity that rode the output wave, encouraging over printing along the way, is fighting for her life:

See the rest here.

What if Nobody Buys MFD's ?

The day MemJet rolled out their program over at the MPSA was a good day. It seemed many years since there was something new and exciting to talk about that had anything to do with hardware.

Sure, all the standard OEMs have released new models and refreshed their offerings - but they are all more of the same - well, I guess in the case of A4 to A3, LESS of the same thing. Xerography has been around for a hundred years, melting plastic on paper is mundane and even a really cool technology like melting wax onto paper has lost its novelty.

I know, I know, MemJet is simply a fast inkjet.

 They're fresh and for now, their machine is smoking fast and like no other. One more thing about MemJet - they are opening a channel specifically for and exclusively of, managed print services providers. The good folks at Memjet feel they can negate the lack of brand recognition by pairing with more sophisticated and relationship based, MpS selling professionals; dare I say, 'trusted advisors'. Resellers who have honed their skill beyond the box, earned client trust and are comfortable presenting on value, not brand.

Genius.

A few days later, we listened to Xerox earnings call.

The rest here...

Why Don't You Pay Reps Residuals on Service Contracts?

"It is time to pay sales people commission on copier service agreements.  It is time to combine all volume under one agreement, on a single invoice and pay the sales person residuals for the life of the engagement."

January, 2013

One of the first rules of managed print services is consolidating the decision making process for printers with the process for copiers, bringing IT and Purchasing(or facilities) together.  This usually meant getting the copier decision out of the hands of purchasing or facilities and into the realm of IT.

It was a big deal at the time and a qualification of a real managed print services opportunity - if we can't speak to the person in charge of both copiers and printers, we did not move forward.  On the other hand, once we befriend an IT director, one of our guiding principles was to shift the copier decision process into IT.  If the device was connected to the network, it should fall under management of the IT department.

It was a good idea and contributed to most every successful managed print services engagement.

But a funny thing happened on the way to managed print services nirvana - in an effort to fully understand managed print services, we, on the provider side,  chopped up all the elements of the ecosystem. We saw managed network services as separate from managed services(?).  We decided to propose MpS for printers and continue writing separate service agreements for copiers.

We dumbed down managed print services offering "advanced toner delivery services" in its stead. The printer & toner guys laid claim to MpS defining it as "printer service and supplies on a cost per image billing" sliding right into their existing model.

And the copier folks were just fine with this approach, they didn't want to change either. They didn't need to adjust the way they leased and serviced copiers, or tamper with decades old billing and invoicing policies.  No need to upset the apple cart here - service departments have been running just fine - fueled by 36 to 72 months of predictable and untouchable service revenue.

It doesn't stop here.

Read the rest...

Managed print Services: Choking on Our Own Words...

Unknown source: "I'm glad this happened..."

January 2013, edited 2016

Think about it - in terms of the imaging, printing, and copying industry...and now throw in the Information Technology (IT) industry...

How many technology webinars...are you invited to?  Do 1900 dealers need 500 webinars?

How many managed print services training classes...even come close to connecting with your reality in the field?

How many managed print services programs...teach their views, contradicting or repeating what you already know and may even do already? 

How many conferences, shows...Blah, blah to the blah....does the industry need?  Check out the VAR Guys' top 100 shows for 2013:  Technology Event Calendar: Top 100 Channel Partner Conferences

Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses.  - Plato

Leaders are able to discern what's sustainable and valuable from the past and what's not.  It is the will of leaders to align, focus, and build cadence while releasing expectations, and tendencies to copy, compare and compete with others.  Those behaviors are survival, reptilian and short-term ways of the past; weak and unsustainable in an increasingly innovative world.

True story.  There is a guy in the industry that serves as a leader by copying others.  He copies ideas, conversations, presentations, websites, and even locations for training with hopes of being more than he is.  We'd like to thank him for being so ostentatious in his copying.  He's helped us in some sort of backward way.

Have you ever seen a copy come out better than the original?  No.

It's time for the death of copiers all around.  Not just the machines, but how we behave, lead, act, and do.  We're tasting a bit of our own medicine, and becoming uncomfortable.  It's time to kill and experience the death of the...mundane.  No more webinars, training classes, programs, conferences, and shows pushed out to the masses.  We'll work one to one or one to a few.

Intimate.  Creative.  Productive.

Here's the rub -

If you are a company that hosts trade shows, your revenue streams may include charging attendees and presenters - all fine and dandy.  But how transparent, let alone honest, are you if you sell tickets to an 'educational' session, that ends up being nothing more than a paid 90-minute commercial?

 "That's the way it's always been done..." is not your core value, is it?

If you're a research company, one would think you would make a living conducting research and presenting findings.  Then why host trade shows and train salespeople?  Aren't you selling content and hosting symposiums?

Associations should derive revenue in an effort to support the improvement of their members, not chase big OEM "sponsorship".

If you're an industry publication, should you pay for content, charge for the opportunity to submit content, or take all the content you can, for free, and charge for advertising?

There's nothing unusual about any of these models, but they've become mundane; tedious, and fatiguing.

Think deeply -  trades shows,  white papers, copier training, MpS Seminars, and buzz are examples of us talking to ourselves.

Focus.

I've been working with end-users, and IT departments in various industries, helping them reign in costs, evaluate vendors and enhance the productivity of their IT services.

This gives us a great view of ourselves through the eyes of your customers.  We've reviewed proposals from large MpS/MDS providers as well as some of the best-known IT/VARs.

We're not only listening to the presentations, but we're also hearing the "backstory".  And they're not pretty.  It's embarrassing.

Our industry is in a "turnaround" period, reversing, backpedaling, and on a downward turn - if anyone tells you differently, they're lying not only to you but to themselves as well.

People made this niche great.

You do know teaching people how to increase a 'share of wallet' is not sustainable, right?

Join us.