The Channel Transitions VAR/MSP Executive Conference, powered by Business Solutions Magazine (BSM), announces eight speakers will share their expertise at the event on June 4 at the DoubleTree Newark Airport Hotel. These experts have more than 120 years of experience in the IT channel and are eager to help fellow VARs, MSPs, and ISVs learn more about the as-a-Service business model.
The morning and afternoon sessions will each be highlighted by a VAR/MSP panel:
- Hunter Allen, CEO of Inc. 500 company Cervion Systems, has more than 20+ years of experience in the channel. He is recognized as the pre-eminent Retail-as-a-Service (RaaS) VAR in the U.S. Allen was a featured panelist at the July 2014 Channel Transitions conference in Boston.
- Jason Brunt is the CEO of e3 Technical Solutions, an MSP with back-to-back years of triple-digit growth. More than 70% of his customers are on a managed services contract, and he specializes in the SMB, real estate, financial, legal, and manufacturing verticals. He gave advice about his managed services transition in BSM’s December 2014 cover story, “Merging Break-Fix And Managed Services.”
- Tom Clancy, Co-Founder of Valiant Technology, has been selling managed services since 2007 and experienced 30% sales growth. In addition to being featured on the cover story of BSM in September 2013 (“Enlist Your Company In MSP Boot Camp”), he was also a panelist at the Channel Transitions East conferencein July 2014.
- Steve Rutkovitz, CEO of Choice Technologies, has 50% of his customers on a fixed-price program and earned 15%+ annual revenue growth. He was featured in a July 2014 BSM webinar for security and compliance solution expertise, and was also a panelist at the 2013 Channel Transitions conference in Philadelphia.
- Dale Walls is the president and owner of Corsica Technologies, which relies on managed services for more than 40 percent of its annual business. Read more about his advice on quickly identifying managed service prospects in BSM’s feature story, “Sell Managed Services Without Making Break-Fix Exceptions.”
- Marshall Wright, the CEO of DeckerWright, has more than 25 years of experience in the channel and is anticipating growing his managed services offerings significantly in 2015. He is also an adjunct information systems professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Business. Wright was featured in the BSM June 2014 article, “Break Out Of Your Managed Services Sales Rut.”
The morning session will also feature two Q&A sessions. Business Solutions chief editor Mike Monocello will interview a channel vendor and a solution provider about programs available to help resellers transition to the recurring revenue model, best practices, and a forecast for the future of the channel. Speakers for these Q&As include:
- Jessica Schroder, Community Manager at MAXfocus, is a member of CompTIA’s IT Security executive committee. She is responsible for leading all vendor alliances within the MAX community, and is the former marketing director for The ASCII Group. Schroder will be sharing the stage with Jason Brunt.
- Walker Thompson, Director of Alliance Management at Mercury, has 10+ years of experience in the channel positioning a variety of offerings including Software-as-a-Service (Saas), Payment-as-a-Service (PaaS), and payment solutions. He is a former VP of Sales & Marketing at a restaurant software development company, and will be sharing the stage with Hunter Allen during a morning session Q&A.
The education at Channel Transitions will address real-world issues such as cash flow, funding the as-a-Service transition, hiring and training sales reps, compensation models, pricing and bundling services, marketing, automation tools and choosing partners, service level agreements, and overcoming objections. Attendees are encouraged to bring their questions to the conference and network with these speakers and other solutions providers.
The panels and Q&A sessions will be moderated by Business Solutions magazine editor-in-chief Mike Monocello, a former IT reseller, who has 14 years of channel experience interacting with hundreds of VARs, MSPs, and ISVs, and Business Solutions president Jim Roddy who has 16 years of channel experience.
There will also be two product breakout sessions in the afternoon, along with a networking lunch with product demos and a networking reception.
For more information on the Channel Transitions VAR/MSP Executive Conference, visit www.ChannelTransitions.comor email Events@BSMinfo.com. Other Channel Transitions events will also be held on September 24 in Chicago and November 5 in Orlando.
Active VARs, MSPs, and ISVs can redeem a complimentary registration online by using the promo code BSM01 by May 29, 2015.
Channel Transitions is sponsored by MAXfocus and Mercury with industry association partners CompTIA, The ASCII Group, and the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA).
Business Solutions is the channel leader in educating VARs, MSPs, and ISVs on the transition to the as-a-Service business model and establishing a recurring revenue stream. Business Solutions has published several feature stories, case studies, opinion columns, and special guides on this important topic. BSM subscribers said they wanted even more information — including the opportunity to network with other channel partners who are focused on this transition and services-oriented vendors. From that, the Channel Transitions VAR/MSP Executive Conferences were born.