The VAR Guy

PartnerPedia — a new social network for solutions providers and VARs — is set to launch in July, though an official launch date is yet to be announced. The VAR Guy got a preview on June 26. Here’s his take on the social networking site, with a few hints on who it compares to OnForce, LinkedIn and other options.

It’s always difficult to predict the success (or failure) of a social network. Basically, the networks thrive (or implode) based on viral invites. If initial members are happy, they pull in more members. If initial members aren’t impressed, social networks rarely get a “second chance” to energize those members again.

The other big challenge: Generally speaking, only 5 percent of social network members actively participate in forums and discussions, and only one percent of members actually lead and drive those discussions, The VAR Guy has observed through his own experience.

Now that you know the risks, lets zero in on PartnerPedia. The user interface seems rich, and the network’s ability to link VARs with one another seems compelling. Another big plus: PartnerPedia is built on open source various open source components (Linux, Ruby on Rails and the MySQL database, just to name a few). As a result, PartnerPedia should be able to rapidly expand its features and functions through easy-to-install plugins.

Will PartnerPedia compete with OnForce — the IT services marketplace where VARs can outsource projects to one another? The VAR Guy doubts it. While OnForce is an eBay of sorts for VARs, PartnerPedia seems more like a LinkedIn approach.

Generally speaking, The VAR Guy likes PartnerPedia’s concept and approach. The site is expected to have a soft launch around July 7, with a more official launch penciled in for around July 22.

After a slight delay, Dell has launched its channel blog. The company now has a Web 2.0 platform that will be both a blessing and a burden. The VAR Guy cautions most companies against launching corporate blogs. But in this case, Dell has made a smart move. Here’s why.

Most corporate blogs are nothing more than vendor hype and highly polished marketing jargon. Even worse, they don’t accept reader comments or constructive criticism.

Watch Your Mouth

Alas, corporate blogs often lack everything that’s GREAT about Web 2.0 technology — reader interaction, cross links, gossip, speculation, debate. Maybe even a little profanity sprinkled in here and there.

But let’s give Dell some credit. The company understands the point of Web 2.0 sites: Share your vision, solicit feedback, and adjust your strategy based on healthy debate. Dell does this all the time on its Direct2Dell site. And The VAR Guy expects that to continue on Dell’s new channel blog.

Of course, The VAR Guy is hoping for a little drama and sensationalism as well. Reading the Dell blog should be like watching a NASCAR race. He hopes to see fast-moving dialog, with the occasional horrific accident, where emergency workers have to save Dell from its own words as the company plows into a wall.

(Dude, that was a sharp turn…)

Kudos to Dell for having the guts to launch another corporate blog that actually accepts reader interaction from the most skeptical audience of all — the IT channel.

The PC giant is going to take some lumps from reader comments. But ultimately, that’s a good thing. And — surprise, surprise — we may actually see quite a few VARs stand up and cheer Dell for a change.

Even if you’re a small managed service provider or VAR, you still need effective PR strategies. At least, that’s the stance from PR expert Cheryl Snapp Conner. In the May 15, 2008 podcast on MSPmentor, Conner describes some simple ways to launch and measure your viral PR campaigns.

Memo to high-tech companies. Stop talking about innovation, and instead focus on sustainable innovation. What’s the difference? Glad you asked. Here’s The VAR Guy’s view.

Innovation is what happens every few years at Motorola. Sustainable innovation is what happens every day at Apple.

Still confused? The Motorola RAZR was an innovation. It came. It went. But Motorola didn’t have the appropriate corporate culture and key business processes in place to ensure something new — and something better — was in the pipeline.

Apple, in stark contrast, seems to thrive on sustainable innovation. Just when Microsoft launches Zune to counter the iPod, Apple has moved onto the iPhone. As PC makers continue to introduce lower and lower cost laptops, Apple charges a premium for the MacBook Air.

The VAR Guy isn’t sure what the secret to “sustainable innovation” is. Some researchers say you need business analytics to become a high-performance company that consistently out-paces the competition. Other experts say you need business process management (BPM) in place to free employees up from antiquated, manual tasks.

Ultimately, The VAR Guy thinks sustainable innovation comes from a never-ending quest for greatness. It takes a driven leader (Steve Jobs, Jack Welch,  etc.) who continually raises the bar and demands more from his or her people every year. Often, sustainable innovation isn’t fun. It requires thinking and rethinking your approach to everything. It’s exhausting. But boy, when you deliver the goods it can be satisfying.

Or so The VAR Guy has heard.

Either way, the next time someone hypes “innovation” to you, tell them that’s old news — and ask them how they deliver “sustainable innovation.”

On June 12, executives representing managed service providers will gather for a Webcast aptly named MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange. During the fast-moving online event, MSPs will be able to ask peers and experts their most pressing questions about pricing and service level agreement strategies.

Register now for this one-hour June 12 event, which starts at 2pm eastern. Hosted by The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, the event will show MSPs how to avoid some of the commodity pricing battles occurring in the managed services market right now.

Confirmed speakers include:

• Scott Goemmel, co-founder and partner, PMV Technologies (#15 on the MSPmentor 100)
• Nick Vossburg, CEO, TechAssist (#20 on the MSPmentor 100)
• Jim Alves, executive VP, Marketing, Kaseya
• Joe Panettieri, editorial director, MSPmentor

Registration is simple. And the event will truly be an interactive opportunity for you to ask MSPmentor’s guest speakers your most pressing questions.

You can tune in June 12 for MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange. And then tune back in on June 25, when MSPmentor Live: CEO Exchange returns with such featured guests as Autotask CEO Bob Godgart.

Within the next few weeks, Dell plans to launch a channel blog to help communicate the company’s partner strategy, and to interact more closely with solutions providers. Smart move. But The VAR Guy hopes Dell takes the following 5 steps with the blog.

Dell announced the forthcoming channel blog right here on TheVARguy.com (see comment #5 on this blog entry). The company, The VAR Guy concedes, has mastered Web 2.0 technologies to communicate more effectively with customers. Check out Dell IdeaStorm if you think otherwise.

But the forthcoming Dell Channel Blog (name pending?) moves Dell into potential hostile territory. Some VARs have long memories and short tempers with Dell. Here’s how Dell can potentially appease those critics with its channel blog.

1. Engage Managed Service Providers: Some rival MSP platform providers continue to slam Dell’s purchase of Silverback and Everdream. They are spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) about Dell in the MSP space. The VAR Guy is a bit more open minded, and thinks Dell may actually help MSPs to grow the market. Regardless, Dell’s blog needs to aggressively state — over and over again — where Dell will (and won’t) compete in the MSP space.

2. Stop Dwelling On HP: Privately, Dell insiders tell The VAR Guy that internal meetings are dominated by an obsession to destroy Hewlett-Packard. Vendor feuds are fun to follow. And promotions describing how a Dell server runs cooler than an HP server may help Dell to sell a few more boxes. But the real opportunity for Dell is to break way out of the box, evangelizing software as a service (Everdream), managed services (Silverback), etc.

3. Bring In ISVs: Independent software developers should be central to Dell’s partner and channel blog. The company needs to cross-pollinate opportunities between Dell servers, storage and ISVs like Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft, etc.

4. Exploit Niches: Dell has some interesting work under way with Fonality, a leader in Asterisk-based IP PBXes. It will be easy for Dell to blog about its latest partner-ready laptops, desktops, servers, etc. And those blog entries will generate tons of traffic. But Dell needs to get ahead of the crowd, and should plant seeds for its emerging relationships and emerging partner technologies.

5. Bring In Your Critics: Encourage Dell’s most vocal critics to post comments on the site, and answer those comments rapidly.

Actually, Dell is a master at item 5. The company seems to be jumping on third-party blogs to join Dell-centric discussions. And Dell’s own IdeaStorm Web site includes healthy debate every day.

I’ve watched SAS Institute quite a bit the past two years. First, as the company built a channel program for its business intelligence software. And more recently, during a road show on business analytics. Instead of pitching products, SAS has been evangelizing customer outcomes. It’s a strategy worth noting. Here’s why.

Road shows and technology events can quickly turn into lame product pitches or — even worse — death by PowerPoint. But take a look at how SAS is connecting thought leaders with prospective customers. During a recent stop in Atlanta:

Jeanne Harris, an executive research fellow at Accenture and co-author of Competing on Analytics, set the stage by describing how “high performance businesses” leverage analytics. (Here’s an excerpt of the book, published by ComputerWorld.)

In one funny but revealing anecdote, Harris described how an insurance company used analytics to find “cream of the crap” customers in a traditionally undesirable market segment: Motorcycle owners.

Not all motorcycle owners, she noted, are reckless. Many are doctors, lawyers and weekend riders who are lower-risk customers than their stereotypical counterparts. One insurer used analytics to find and profit from that niche. Other insurers have since caught on, but they’re still playing catch-up as they seek to brand themselves in the motorcycle insurance segment.

Required Reading

Meanwhile, Sharon Glave Frazee, VP of Health Informatics at CHD Meridian Healthcare, described how her organization constantly uses metrics and business analytics to improve productivity. The key to success with analytics, she noted, involves executive sponsorship. Get your boss to back your efforts, and you’ll gain momentum throughout an organization.

Frazee, for instance, gave the book Competing on Analytics to her company CEO. He read it in the hospital while recovering from a biking accident. Soon after, he made the book required reading for all CHD Meridian Healthcare employees.

But what if your boss ignores your IT vision? Frazee recommends putting your money where your mouth is. In one case, she bet her annual bonus that an analytics project would prove worthwhile. She one the bet, and wound up doubling her annual bonus that year.

Additional anecdotes were driven home by Mark Moorman, an advisor to SAS’s Office of the CTO. In particular, he helped attendees to understand how retailers use a range of metrics (weather forecasts, local traffic patterns, rival locations, etc.) to predict how specific stores will perform on the sales front.

You’d be amazed to hear how some retailers can predict competition from afar — and even from their own newly opened locations. But alas, some of the info Moorman shared was not meant for public consumption on the Web.

In another marketing and communications twist, SAS has also been using Web 2.0 technologies — including its own company blog — to recap the events for additional readers.

Full disclosure: As you consider your thoughts and evaluate the business analytics industry, please note that I’ve consulted on the SAS road show and moderated sessions in Atlanta and Washington, D.C. So I do have a potential conflict of interest when recapping these events.

How can you use a blog to generate new business opportunities and keep your clients informed? Here are four great tips to ensure your blog attracts the right clients to your business.

1. Understand your market – Before you can begin to use a blog to attract new business opportunities you need to understand the marketplace that you are in. What specific challenges do businesses in your region have with technology? Does technology affect different market segments differently? What are you an expert at? How can your company help the business segment that you serve? All of these questions need to be addressed before you can start to blog about the challenges your company sees in your area and how you can help them.

2. Keep it simple – Unless you are blogging to provide technical expertise or help, use your blog as a strategic marketing tool. When you are using a blog to attract new small business clients, you must ensure that it is kept very simple and to the point. Remember many people do not read in depth; they prefer to skim information. Make sure you use key phrases that someone in a small business may use to search out an IT service provider.

3. Call to action – Your blog must have a call to action that is easy to find. Like any marketing campaign, it is very important to have a clear call to action associated with your blog — and your postings must make the reader hungry for more information. Do not be afraid to put your email and telephone number on your blog to keep that dialog going.

4. Keep it fresh – Stale blogs do not attract readers. Active blogs are able to use search engine optimization tactics to attract new readers. Determine a blogging schedule and stick to it. If you are committed to adding new content weekly it is critical for you to pick a time to write. Many blog packages will also let you write an entry, and then schedule a time to post it to your blog. Keep your information fresh, as accurate as possible and utilize keywords whenever possible.

A great blog can be a wonderful addition to your marketing activities. When you take the time to make your blog look professional, the content is fresh and accurate, you are using keywords to hit the people that are looking for the information that you can help them with and you have a clear mechanism for people to engage with you, a blog can drive new client leads to your business.
Contributing blogger Stuart Crawford provides mentoring services to Microsoft Small Business Specialists across the world. His third book on Goal Setting is now released at http://www.goalsettingforitprofessionals.com. Join his free monthly IT Professional conference calls at http://www.freeitmarketingseminar.com.

So, you’re a Cisco Systems partner hunting for new revenue. Where should you look first: Unified communications? Maybe. Evangelizing 802.11n WiFi deployments? Perhaps. The wiser move, however, may involve a key handshake. Here are the details.

When searching for revenue, perhaps you should call another Cisco partner. According to a recent study commissioned by Cisco and conducted by Illuminas Research, Cisco partners generate 31 percent of their revenue from other partners. In fact, Cisco partners work with an average of eight other partners on a regular basis.The study involved roughly 1,300 customers and 500 partners across 12 countries.

To Cisco’s credit, the company also identified areas where partners are lagging in some technical areas. For instance, Cisco says:

Only 33 percent of Cisco partners use Web-conferencing tools, 20 percent use collaboration and document-management tools, 20 percent use project management software, and 15 percent use shared electronic calendars.

Revenue from partner collaboration sounds hot, but it isn’t red hot: Channel revenue generated by partner collaboration is growing 15 percent annually–good, but not great according to The VAR Guy.

In order to help accelerate such engagements, Cisco has launched Cisco Partner Exchange–an online system designed to help Cisco partners find, connect, and collaborate with the right group at the right partner. The collaboration network is now available to more than 8,500 Cisco Certified Partners, managed-services providers, distribution partners and application partners from all over the world.

Cisco Partner Exchange facilitates collaboration through three key features, the company claims:

• Promote and Be Found: In less than five minutes, group leaders can build a customized profile to promote their group’s unique capabilities, ensuring that other partner group leaders can easily find and do business with them.
• Find and Connect: Powerful search and networking capabilities allow partners to easily search, find, and start to develop trusted relationships with the right person at the right partner.
• Learn and Collaborate: All partners have access to best practices, online events, and discussion forums.

The VAR Guy has to admit: He’s a little skeptical about partners seeking out partners to win new revenue. But Cisco’s research and the new Partner Exchange system sound pretty compelling.

Want to tell the media about your company? You need an effective pitch letter that’s short, sweet and ready for email. Check out this recent pitch letter from JPR Communications, describing ProStor Systems’ growing channel program. Your PR efforts should follow JPR’s lead.

The entire pitch from JPR read as follows:

“ProStor Systems has signed up more than 30 VARs for its ProAlliance Partner Program in five months for its InfiniVault archive and compliance appliance, the only removable disk system on the market. The VARs are involved in finance, government, healthcare and legal, to name a few. If you would like to talk with Bill Lewis, ProStor vp of sales, or need additional information on the news release pasted below, just let me know.”

In three short sentences, JPR Communications managed to:

• Describe multiple facts, figures and milestones for ProStor’s channel program
• Describe why ProStor claims to be unique
• Indicate which markets ProStor serves
• Offer up an interview with a ProStor executive

Memo to PR folks across the tech landscape: Stop writing long pitch letters. You have four sentences or less to grab the media’s attention. Fill those sentences with facts, figures, a clear company description and a call to action. And make sure you understand the media platform’s target reader.

Full disclosure: The VAR Guy isn’t very familiar with ProStor — but at least he understands the company’s elevator pitch, thanks to good PR.