23 Reasons to Go All-Access at #CPExpo — Starting with Smart Investment Advice

Lorna Garey

It’s no coincidence that SADA Systems is Microsoft’s 2015 partner of the year for cloud packaged solutions, Google Cloud’s 2016 Americas partner award winner for GCP customer success, and one of the 100 fastest growing private companies in Los Angeles County.

SADA, an 18-year-old IT consultancy, called itself a “cloud solutions provider” well before cloud was fully embraced by channel partners, or end customers for that matter. The “why?” is what led to us invite SADA president and CEO Tony Safoian to be the first keynoter on stage at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo.

“If you don’t invest ahead of the curve, your competition will, capturing market share that could have been yours,” Safoian recently told my colleague Edward Gately. Safoian’s keynote, “Investing Ahead of Technology Demand: Seeing the Future and Making Bold Decisions,” kicks off three days packed with in-depth content, all crafted to help you not only future-proof your company but be that forward-thinking competition grabbing more than your fair share of business.

I won’t list all 23 Business Success Symposium precon, conference and VIP sessions that are included with an All-Access pass; our full agenda is available here. I do want to outline a session path that offers a typical agent looking to transition to a full-stack digital services provider the tools to expand.

After Safoian’s keynote and a networking lunch courtesy of Vonage, drop into Mark S.A. Smith’s session, “Profitably Pivoting to Embrace New Business Models.” Smith, an author and owner of consultancy Bija Company, will build on Safoin’s message. Smith asserts that enterprises aren’t the only ones being slayed by the “creative destruction” happening around us — two-thirds of C-suite executives believe that 40 percent of Fortune 500 companies will no longer exist in 10 years, and as many as 70 percent of MSPs will go under in half that time, Smith tells Tom Kaneshige. Agents, VARs and other partner types aren’t exempt. We believe digital services are the path to continued profitability, but selling them might require a shift in business model.

Well, we have advice for that. Our all-star panel of marketing experts will discuss how to navigate shrinking marketing and MDF funding coupled with ROI demands and the need to target your efforts at customers ready to consume IT as a service. We’ll suggest strategies and technologies tailored for marketing pros that can help. From this session, grab a drink and a snack and network with peers before heading off to our annual First-Time Attendee Reception or joining me at the Women in the Channel networking event (which sells out, so get your ticket now).

After a hot breakfast, opening keynotes and opportunities to give back, you can choose from three tracks: Business of the Channel, Cloud or Security.

For the first time, we’re holding a Channel Chief roundtable, featuring Terra Bastolich of track underwriter Get Wireless, Vonage’s Bob Crissman, Tina Gravel of Cyxtera and Datto’s Rob Rae. The 2112 Group’s Larry Walsh will moderate. It’s not a coincidence that the chiefs on the panel represent a mix of technologies, from IoT to security, that can and should be sold as services. These top channel chiefs will reveal what you can expect in terms of analytics support, ongoing training, consultation services after deals close, and more. Then we’ll drill down into how cloud transformation is impacting channel partners in a wide-ranging discussion led by Dave Hauser, VP of cloud services at PlumChoice; Hauser and his guests will illustrate ways DSPs can develop customer stickiness and a steady …