HTG Partner Summit: A Recap – And Ingram Relationship

During an HTG Partner Summit in Irving, Texas, this week, dozens of VARs and MSPs discussed a range of well-defined goals for the organization and member companies. And as expected, HTG entered a relationship with Ingram Micro’s VTN organization. Here are the details.

First, a little background. HTG Peer Groups allow MSPs and VARs to compare strategies and financial metrics behind closed doors. I’ve been tied up at Cisco Partner Summit (San Francisco) and HP Americas Partner Conference (Las Vegas) this week. As a result, I wasn’t able to attend the HTG Partner Summit. So, I reached out to founder Arlin Sorensen and well-known channel veteran Stuart Crawford for recaps. Sorensen’s thoughts are summarized below. Crawford’s perspectives will hit TheVARguy.com later today.

Key Goals and Milestones

According to Sorensen, HTG announced a 1-4-250-10,000-1,000,000 strategy this week. That may look like a botched social security number, but here’s what each figure means:

• One Focus: Members should focus on business and personal growth driven by execution.
• Four Plans: Members need to develop plans for business, leadership, life and legacy.
• 250 Companies: The 250 HTG member companies will be trained to be the “special forces” IT companies in the industry — delivering executional and operational mastery.
• 10,000 HTG Teammates: As a whole, HTG member companies are striving to employ 10,000 people. I’m not sure how many employees HTG currently represents but I’ll check on that figure.
• 1 Million Touches: Sorensen says this means reaching out with the HTG culture of “go-giving, intentional caring, and life changing interaction with those around us” (only a bit over 10 touches per company per day which translates to one touch per person per day in our average sized member today).

The HTG team also laid out four strategies (Practice, Performance, Process, People) to help achieve the goals above. Sorensen sent along more details about the four strategies; I’ll be sure to share them after a few more sessions here at Cisco Partner Summit.

The HTG-Ingram Relationship

At the recent Ingram Micro VTN conference in Miami, MSPmentor heard chatter about a possible Ingram-HTG relationship. Sorensen has now confirmed that chatter.

On the Ingram front, Sorensen says:

“I have had the privilege of working with John Fago for a dozen years since his early days at Ingram when he drew the unlucky straw and was assigned to SCCI/HTS as our rep.  Over those years, we have worked closely as both he and I have grown and had many changes happen in our careers.  A few years ago John helped orchestrate our Ingram relationship bringing SMBAlliance to HTG in a win-win partnership. As we continued working together, he took over the reins of VTN and now it is my turn to help bring value to his community.”

Specifically, Sorensen says he will serve as a consultant to the VTN Connect program, as VTN builds out their peer group model. “It will not be HTG with an Ingram VTN label on it,” said Sorensen. “It will be a unique offering that will take some of the learning’s of the past 10 years from HTG, and put those things alongside other features and benefits that are appropriate for the VTN community.  John and I have lived as go-givers to each other for many years, and this is just another one of those opportunities.”

Sorensen is quick to note that the Ingram effort is “not a competitor to HTG.  It is a chance to work closely with a complimentary peer group organization that serves a different set of partners with different needs.  VTN Connect membership will only be available to VTN community members.  That is not the target for HTG.  I am excited to be involved as a long time VTN member.”

Sorensen knows some skeptics may question his work with Ingram. “We preach being go-givers as our HTG culture.  Some will shake their head and say we are crazy to work with any other organization this closely.  But we aren’t nuts, go-giving works, and we will both lead thriving communities that will work hand in hand to change the world for those we serve.  We are simply walking the talk we preach day after day and know from experience that everyone wins when we live that way.”

Updated April 30, 2010: Here are additional HTG thoughts from Stuart Crawford.

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