(3 votes, average: 7.67 out of 10)
Loading ...It’s time for channel payback by Hurd and HP
By Paolo Del Nibletto
The last time I was in the same room with Hewlett-Packard Co. chairman and CEO Mark Hurd he basically put the channel on notice, telling them, “there is a new sheriff in town.”
That was just under two years ago. At Monday’s brief keynote address at HP’s Americas Partner Conference in Las Vegas, Hurd’s message to the channel was in sharp contrast to his statement of 24 months ago.
Times have changed certainly for Hurd and HP. Back then, the company was an US$80 billion player and today its revenues have surpassed US$104 billion.
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(3 votes, average: 5 out of 10) Loading ...Tech Data Canada’s great year
The news that Tech Data Canada had its best year ever in the Rick Reid era is surprising considering the NexInnovations meltdown.
The Mississauga, Ont.-based distributor took a financial and public hit as a result of the high-profile reseller going out of business.
But, in the end, there wasn’t much of a dent made to its bottom line and you have to credit the executive team at Tech Data Canada for moving swiftly in the aftermath of the NexInnovations demise. Read the rest of this entry »
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(1 votes, average: 9 out of 10) Loading ...Dell’s channel boss has uphill battle
The results of CDN’s poll question: Would you listen to Dell’s channel pitch? have come in and 60 per cent of the respondents said they would.
This is the good news for Frank Fuser, Dell Canada’s first ever channel chief. The bad news is that he will be viewed by the channel as an insider.
Dell Canada needs channel partners in a big way. It only has 2,000, which make up a little over 10 per cent of its revenue. Dell has publicly made a commitment to the channel. They have developed a channel program for this effort and quite frankly have lost ground to HP and Acer. Both of those firms have locked up many great solution providers in Canada.
This will be an uphill battle for Fuser as the channel already distrusts the vendor. He has this job now, and what he should do is hire an experienced channel executive as a consultant. Read the rest of this entry »
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(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10) Loading ...Mitel should rethink exclusive approach to its UC channel program
Mitel’s new Exclusive Business Partner channel program for its unified communication (UC) products asks solution providers to be totally exclusive to the company.
This tactic is unnecessary and impractical in today’s channel, and Ottawa-based Mitel should remove it from its plan before an official Canadian launch on May 1. The EBP program was recently introduced at an Orlando, Fla., partner and customer conference and is currently only available in the U.S.
Carter Chapman, director of channel sales at Mitel, told CDN that partners must agree to only sell Mitel UC products to all new customers to be eligible for the EBP program. Read the rest of this entry »
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...CDN’s Top 100 Solution Providers: Be among the leaders
Canada’s leading IT channel publication, CDN, is once again looking to recognize the best that the channel has to offer.
CDN is taking the Top 100 Solution Provider program a step further this year with a survey that will identify channel specializations and expertise. Please visit: www.keysurvey.com/survey/181447/cad2/ or you can go to the Top 100 Solution Provider main page at: www.itbusiness.ca/top100 to fill out the survey or to get more information.
All survey information is kept confidential. Only revenue rankings will be published. All participants receive a copy of the Top 100 Solution Provider survey report. Read the rest of this entry »
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...An AMD/IBM merger would not be good for system builders
The Financial Times of London published a story yesterday citing sources that AMD and IBM would either merge or broaden its partnership.
A merger or take over of this magnitude would not be welcomed news and pose many challenges for the system builder community especially in this country.
For one, under IBM’s stewardship they may not be open to selling processors to system builders. They may want to keep it in house and advance it for better market opportunities than the system builder channel.
The system builder channel would be a relatively new channel for big blue. The acquisition cost could go up. IBM would have to pay for this billion dollar acquisition some way and to increase the price of the processors across the board would be an obvious move. System builders would not have the cache or the size to negotiate with an IBM. Read the rest of this entry »
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Can you run a business on Facebook?
Alan Lepofsky, a Canadian from Toronto, has the task of developing a money making strategy for social networking.
As a senior strategist for IBM Lotus, Lepofsky needs to figure out how IBM and the Lotus Software division, plus the company’s community of channel partners, can achieve a sustainable revenue stream through the use of Web 2.0 technologies and social networks.
It’s all in a day’s work for Lepofsky, whose job is to consider way-cool trends and figure out a practical business vision for these.
Lepofsky typically does not work on any specific products. He does not have a sales quota and, from what I can determine, he does not report directly to any one individual at the company. Unlike most of us, perhaps, he is absolutely free from the pressure of achieving immediate success. Read the rest of this entry »
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(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Digital document standards death match
The growing acceptance of digital documents around the globe has led to a skirmish that might make this movement a new challenge for the channel.
At the crux of the fight, from my interpretation of it, is a battle between proprietary versus open. In one corner there is Microsoft with its Office Open XML (OOXML). The Redmond, Wash, software giant created an Open XML translator that would enable users to convert documents between OOXML and open digital documents.
In the blue corner, as you will, is IBM, which supports Open Document Format or ODF. ODF is a file format for digital documents produced using the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, which unless you’ve lived under a rock for many years includes spreadsheets, powerpoint and word documents. ODF was created by a group called OASIS or Open Office XML technical committee. I don’t know how they get OASIS from that, but if you want more info on them check out the Web site.
Microsoft doesn’t appear to be behaving in a pro-proprietary way, but IBM isn’t taking any chances and is positioning ODF as an “open” alternative to proprietary formats such as DOC. I can understand if Microsoft has its back up, but as a 100 per cent channel friendly company they should consider the channel fallout in this fight. Read the rest of this entry »
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(2 votes, average: 7 out of 10) Loading ...Apple’s iPhone is too late to Canadian market
A source tells me that a Taiwanese company, HTC Corp., has recently introduced a smartphone product called Touch to Canada that looks and works pretty much like an Apple iPhone.
This may spell doom for Apple’s iPhone in Canada, assuming the product ever gets here.
One might wonder how can a small phonemaker such as HTC can make a product so similar to the iPhone and yet receive absolutely no fanfare for its features. It’s a mystery to me.
While would any prospective iPhone customers and channel partners wait for Apple to get its act in gear for a working Canadian iPhone model when a smart vendor has already forged ahead? Read the rest of this entry »
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(1 votes, average: 8 out of 10) Loading ...Apple coming up for Air
Steve Jobs and the team at Apple are really pushing users to go wireless with its MacBook Air. This isn’t just a new product release for Apple. What they want to do here is start a movement. The company has gone as far as to say it’s a lifestyle change around wireless work.
I am not sure if the market is really ready to change to the wireless lifestyle. I am not even sure if there is such as thing as a wireless lifestyle.
For Apple’s channel dealers, I’m also not sure if they want to sell this to their customers. Customers want choice. They want options. Instead, Apple is telling the market the future is wireless and the future is now.
Apple displayed the MacBook Air and showed everyone how razor thin it is. For me, I saw a notebook without an optical drive. To me. this will force users to become wireless. Read the rest of this entry »
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