https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Business Models


Shutterstock/fizkas

Start slideshow

Faces of the Partner: 6 New Tech Advisors Entering the Channel

  • Written by James Anderson
  • May 26, 2023
A significant portion of the partner community is retiring. Who will replace them?

If the phrase “Faces of the Partner” sounds familiar to you, the chances are pretty good that you were in the audience at the Channel Partners Conference & Expo earlier this month when we kicked off this initiative.

Today’s communications and IT channel is no place for the faint of heart. But there’s no place these individuals would rather be. They are the heart and soul of the modern channel partner community. They are leading, selling, marketing, developing solutions and supporting customers. And we plan to introduce you to a good number of them — the new, the old, the innovative, the cool, the next generation — as they put into words what they do and why they do it.

If you were at CPLV23 and were introduced to our premiere group of faces, you were probably also in the audience for the session “Rethinking the Workforce of Tomorrow.” During that panel discussion, Ron Lovern, executive vice president of Triton Networks, noted that this the first time ever that five different generations are in the workplace. So let’s use that as the stepping stone to our next group of faces, the aforementioned “new.”

Faces of the Partner: New Tech Advisors

As the traditional technology agent channel enters a generational shift, new tech advisors are stepping up to the plate.

Channel Futures is highlighting six channel partners who founded a technology advisory firm in the last two years. This article commences a three-part series on the shifting technology advisor population. The second installment will include partners who have retired or semi-retired, and the third will include partners who are running established businesses.

The technology advisor ecosystem has grown significantly from its humble beginnings decades ago. The industry has evolved from brokering a small handful of long-distance telephone carriers to consulting business customers on sophisticated IT and communications projects. Historically, most tech advisors left jobs as sales leaders at carriers, leaving cushy base salaries to pursue the dream of running their own firm. They wanted to better serve their customers with a more vendor-neutral approach, and they idealized the independence that came from leaving the corporate environment.

But the path to establishing a growing base of residual commission hasn’t been easy. Some partners describe the first few years of running an agency as a harrowing “walk through the desert.” Despite the immense financial upside of the tech advisor model, many firms don’t make it.

Nevertheless, many partners have flourished. Agents’ success has led more and more suppliers to sign with technology services brokers that intermediate their relationships, and more recently their success has brought institutional investors into the space. Private equity firms in particular have courted partners to sell their books of business. Many partners have seized that opportunity as a financial option to retire.

As some of the industry’s most successful partners leave the business, eyes are turning to the people who will replace them.

“Those partners used to be great generators of new logos and new customers, but if they’re all walking away with a lot of money, who’s going to sell the net-new for them?” Comcast Business senior vice president of indirect channels Craig Schlagbaum said to Channel Futures earlier this year.

Different Talent Sources

But if more partners are going to enter the space, they may come from a different source. The rich pool of talent that came out of carriers like Cbeyond, Cable & Wireless and MCI. Although agents have historically been associated with telecom, the new generation doesn’t seem tied to telecom. Some are leaving UCaaS, CCaaS and SD-WAN providers. Others are leaving established agencies to start their own ventures. Others come from a TSD. Still, others are entering from entirely outside the world of technology.

Channel Futures got in contact with six of these new partners to learn about why they started their firms, their biggest opportunities and their biggest challenges.

Scroll through the six slides above to read a Q&A with six new partners.

Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email James Anderson or connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

Tags: Agents Business Models Galleries Intelligence Sales & Marketing Strategy

Most Recent


  • Making Waves
    7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at AWS, Cisco, Snyk, CrowdStrike, More
    Earlier this year, ServiceNow made a $25 million strategic investment in Snyk. This followed Snyk closing a $196.5 million funding round.
  • AppDirect-TBI, latest channel M&A
    Latest Channel M&A: ReliaQuest, IBM, Broadcom, Amplix, More
    Absolute Software, Procure IT and Qlik were among other companies wheeling and dealing in May.
  • CwCJ with Palo Alto Networks
    Coffee with Craig and James Episode 124: Palo Alto Networks
    Cybersecurity is on the agenda, as we talk threats, channel program and more.
  • CP Expo Best in Show 2023
    Images: Channel Partners Conference & Expo Best in Show Awards
    Vonage, T-Mobile, OpenText and 8x8 were among the winners. See who else took home honors.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • call for speakers
    Channel Futures Leadership Summit Call for Speakers Open
  • Zane Rowe
    VMware CFO Zane Rowe Taking New Role with Workday
  • Zoom Partners with Anthropic
    SADA Systems Partners with Google Cloud to Advance Generative-AI Powered Features
  • McAfee vet
    Sectigo Chooses Symantec, McAfee Vet to Lead Partner, eCommerce Sales

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Europe

June 13, 2023 - June 14, 2023

Channel Futures Leadership Summit

October 30, 2023 - November 2, 2023

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

March 11, 2024 - March 14, 2024

Galleries

View all

7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at AWS, Cisco, Snyk, CrowdStrike, More

June 9, 2023

Latest Channel M&A: ReliaQuest, IBM, Broadcom, Amplix, More

June 9, 2023

Images: Channel Partners Conference & Expo Best in Show Awards

June 9, 2023

Industry Perspectives

View all

Identity Is Increasingly Valuable – and Targeted

May 18, 2023

Gaining a Competitive Advantage through AV Managed Services

May 10, 2023

How to Build an Organization That Attracts and Retains Talent

May 1, 2023

Webinars

View all

From Problem to Profit: Mastering the Science of Selling Using Business Outcomes

May 9, 2023

Meet the 2023 Channel Futures Channel Influencers

April 13, 2023

DE&I Dialogue: How the Right DE&I Initiatives Can Propel Your Business

April 5, 2023

White Papers

View all

6 UCaaS Reseller Challenges and How Real World Businesses Solved Them

February 1, 2023

Frost Radar: North American UCaaS Market, 2022

February 1, 2023

The Complete Guide to White-Label UCaaS for Reseller Success

February 1, 2023

Channel Futures TV

View all

Coffee with Craig and James Episode 124: Palo Alto Networks

Motus: Partners Grasping Mobile Workforce Management Opportunity

June 9, 2023

Coffee with Craig and James Episode No. 123: MartinWolf M&A Advisors, CP Expo Preview

April 24, 2023

UScellular Takes On Rivals with Partner Program Simplicity

April 21, 2023

Twitter

ChannelFutures

Channel people making waves include @mnair1, @George_Kurtz, @mike_at_vulcan, @jzoblin, @jpatel41 and more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

.@motusdotcom wraps its #CPExpo experience, talks mobile workforce management opportunity in the channel.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

Find out why #companyculture is significant when planning a merger or #acquisition. dlvr.it/SqR4ks https://t.co/gAUxiEW4yE

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

Great conversation with @Tom_D_Evans of @PaloAltoNtwks talking #cybersecurity, channel, more.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

The latest channel M&A includes @ReliaQuest, @IBM, @Broadcom, @AmpliXIT and more. dlvr.it/SqQntD https://t.co/DektC1Xmz9

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

Find out why everyone is talking about generative AI and cloud in this exciting new article >>… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

In just 4 days, #ChannelPartners will come together in #London for #ChannelEurope. Professionals from the IT & Tele… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 9, 2023
ChannelFutures

Kicking off a multi-part series, get the inside scoop on what changes are taking pace in the channel. In this galle… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

June 8, 2023

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X