ChannelTrends: Tapping into Peer Distribution Communities

I often wonder if the old spring phrase should be amended to “April tradeshows bring May flowers.” That one word substitution makes the adage quite true, as this month typically signals the kickoff to the IT channel events season. After attending an industry conference, solution providers typically come home charged and ready to make changes in their business, from new technology and service offerings to training and business development programs.

Going back to the old phrase, attendance at April events typically does lead to growth opportunities in May. The end result may not be a crop of flowers, but most VARs and MSPs would be happy with the green they receive after making business improvements.

When you factor in the networking and collaboration that occur at many events, the value opportunities are significant. Last week’s CompTIA Annual Member Meeting was a great example of this type of conference, with a few attendees already discussing what they learned in workshops and education sessions— and how they’ll  apply that knowledge in their business.

Community Value Escalates

The excitement from AMM continued this week with the kick-off of competing distributor community events: Ingram Micro’s Venture Tech Network (VTN) Invitational in Chicago and the SYNNEX Varnex conference in Boston. The third collaborative distribution community, TechSelect typically meets a few times each—although the dates and activities are not well publicized. While the long-standing Tech Data group may keep their publicity a little closer to the vest, members are quick to tout the value of the discussions and relationships they’ve developed from their meetings.

The IT channel is a unique community itself; a collection of individuals, vendors, distributors, associations and other thought leaders who, in general, want to raise the value of the industry. These three distribution-related groups illustrate that commitment to raise the level of professionalism and service for end-users and, based on member feedback, they will likely grow and get stronger in the future.    

VTN is the other long-standing collaborative community, but these groups aren’t so silent – inviting  press into the discussions, sharing details of presentations in social media, and organizing a number of activities to increase awareness and build value. Ingram Micro helps facilitate the events and provides a framework for the VAR leadership to develop agendas and discussions. News at this week’s conference included a push for greater collaboration, a new line-up of cloud offerings, and encouragement of charitable giving.

While the collective group conferences (typically in spring and fall) are valuable to establish a greater sense of community and receive a wider variety of education sessions and vendor presentations, VTN members meet more frequently in regional work teams. Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of sitting in on several sessions with the VTN Heartland Chapter and it truly is a “family” environment with best practice and past experience sharing. With rapid changes in the channel, such as managed services and cloud computing, these providers work together to assess and tackle the challenges and opportunities these developments bring.       

Varnex could be called the new kid on the block as far as distributor supported communities. SYNNEX brought in industry veteran Bob Stegner just three years ago to develop its peer-to-peer SMB solution provider group, and the community has been building ever since. While its longevity is not as deep as the other distributor-supported communities, Varnex is gathering steam quickly. The collective community events serve as the launch platform for SYNNEX latest initiatives, including this week’s announcements of its Windows Phone 7 Mobile application development program, a comprehensive managed services suite, and CLOUDSolv UC, a private-branded unified communications cloud solution.

Despite the buzz and technology discussions, none of it really matters if solution providers can’t sell, implement and support it. The real value to these events is still the collaboration and business education, allowing members to develop and refine plans to improve their operations and financial plans – what better way to learn than from peers who have “walked in their shoes” and understand the pain points members of the group share.

Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and industry alliances director with Autotask. Contact Brian at [email protected].