Penton Technology to Offer Online Learning for VARs

Across the industry value-added resellers are transforming and growing their businesses. The VAR Guy focuses on keeping you informed every day with the latest news, industry trends and insights from experts. Now we’re adding a new offering to help VARs drive their business success: online learning.

The first class debuts April 29. Jim Lippie, chief advisor, Clarity Channel Advisors in Boston, is teaching a class developed specifically for MSPs titled, The Guide to a Successful Cloud Strategy. He’ll focus on How to build a comprehensive cloud business strategy and the right cloud service and pricing to meet client needs.

Lippie is the former president of IndependenceIT (iIT), one of the fastest growing cloud desktop companies. In that role, Lippie was responsible for helping the MSP community identify opportunities to grow recurring revenue and add value to end users. His passion to help sustain the channel is what led Lippie to form Clarity Channel Advisors. Lippie was previously the president and CEO of Thrive Networks, a Staples Company. Prior to joining Thrive Networks, Lippie was a partner at Client First Associates, a management and organizational development consulting firm. He is the author of “Five Management Principles in One CREAD: A Management Guide to Live By.” You can register here for his class.

On May 19, Heather Margolis, founder of Channel Maven Consulting in Boulder, Colorado, will teach a new class titled, Driving Demand through Online Engagement. She’ll focus on helping you develop a social marketing and selling plan that ensures prospective customers and clients find you when they’re looking for a solution. Margolis founded Channel Maven Consulting in early 2009 and is passionate about enabling manufacturers and their channel partners to drive more business through their channel programs. Having led channel programs for companies including EMC, EqualLogic and Dell, the Channel Maven team helps channel organizations of all sizes build smarter channel programs, manage channel relationships to find added value, and engage their communities through social and traditional media. Heather regularly speaks to manufacturer and channel partner audiences about getting the most from social and traditional media. She also speaks to a variety of audiences about entrepreneurship, building a service business, and B2B strategy. You can register here for her class.

Terry Hedden’s Secrets to Creating a Sales Machine class on June 2 is designed for sales and business leaders who want to learn proven marketing and sales methodology they can implement right away to build an effective marketing and sales machine for their cloud business.

Hedden is the founder and CEO of Cloud Guru and Marketopia. He started his professional career working in sales for AT&T and as a consultant with EDS. After graduation from UF with his bachelor’s degree, he joined the Management Consulting practice of Ernst & Young LLP, now Cap Gemini, leading projects in IT Project Management, Post Merger Integration and ERP Implementations worldwide. He then moved to E.piphany, now Infor, as an executive in their Consulting organization leading CRM implementations for Fortune 100 firms before joining Lectra Systems as the CIO and director of its North America and Caribbean Consulting Organization. In 2003, he left Lectra to start Infinity Business Systems, later renamed Infinity Technology Solutions, a leading IT service provider with operations throughout Florida and Georgia.

If you have ideas for classes you’d like to take or teach, email me at Marcia.Parker@penton.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Another opportunity to learn and share business strategies is set for the fall—Penton Technology’s first Channel event, Channel Directions LIVE, a three-day experience where leaders from across the channel will come together to tackle the tough challenges of today and map out the future direction of the industry. You can register here. The agenda of Channel Direction Live, which will be held Sept. 28-30 at the Grand Hyatt in Tampa, Florida, will address:

Market forces affecting the IT channel that require whole new strategies

Business model implications for vendors, distributors and solution providers

Emerging business opportunities in new solutions: cloud, mobile, big data and many more

Networking—and working—with peers and partners to build valuable new relationships