Community Content

How IBM is Using AI to Speed Partner Lead Sharing

May 2, 2019 | Written by: Mike Fino

Categorized: AI | IBM Watson

Passing quality sales leads from our salespeople to partners is crucial to bolstering a thriving partner ecosystem, and data shows that the faster we can pass these leads on, the greater the chance of closing the deal.

According to a 2017 study by IBM’s Chief Analytics Office (CAO), sales leads that are passed within a 48-hour IBM window close with 10 point higher win rates than leads passed within a longer time frame.

But making this happen in a 48-hour window in an ecosystem as large as ours is not as easy as it sounds. Business opportunities need to be vetted and matched with partners based on a myriad of pre-identified parameters, such as their performance, product expertise, customer experience, industry expertise, local proximity, and social network.

Industry-Leading Customer Conference, SolarWinds Empower MSP, Returns to Amsterdam

On April 5^th SolarWinds (NYSE:SWI), announced its customer conference is set to return to Amsterdam, Netherlands May 7^th and 8^th. Although the conference will focus on security, the agenda will include sought- Sokarwinds after keynote speakers, product updates, networking opportunities, and various educational content across business, technical, sales, and marketing topics.

SolarWinds Finds 75 Percent of Tech Pros Need to Develop Skills to Confidently Manage Environments by 2024; Over 80 Percent Lack Time or Budget to Train

SolarWinds IT Trends Report 2019: Skills for Tech Pros of Tomorrow examines confidence, current and future skillsets, career development, and barriers to career success
Tech pros still prioritize hybrid IT and security and look to develop deeper understanding in areas like AI and data science
According to more than 80 percent of tech pros, more training, time, and budget is needed to develop skills to manage environments in the next three to five years

MSP Tech Talk: Women in Technology Panel

March 20th 12:00 to 1:30 pst

Michelle McBain, Nancy Williams, Carrie Simpson, and Karl Palachuk

A first for the MSP Tech Talk series – a conversation with women leaders driving success in the SMB technology community. We hit the following topics: diversity, inclusiveness, product/program design input, harassment, youth and STEM/STEAM, management and much more. And we even have Karl Palachuk back as he sits on the Executive Committee for CompTIA's Advancing Women in IT Community for 2019.

MSP Tech Talk: Community Roundtable – 5G

March 6th 12:00 to 1:30 pst

Jeff Ponts and Douge Greene

Head for the hills! The 5G mobile standard is leaving the labs and headed out into the wild. And your traditional telco isn’t happy. Will it be the sad demise of bundle cable offerings because you can literally cut the cord and stream directly? Does this solve the rural broadband corundum? Can your car now drive you home from the bar late at night because it can maintain connectivity ala autonomous driving? It’s not if – the only question is WHEN. Hint: It’ll be in your lifetime. Attend this session to (a) learn what 5G is (b) what it means for you and (c) can you make money with it.

Webinar: MSP Consulting Best Practices – Rules of 12

SMB Nation Webinar Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM PST

Presented by: Harry Brelsford

After a decade of research, Harry has updated his Rules of 12 from the infamous "SMB Consulting Best Practices" to offer a refreshed set of guiding principles.

Axcient Announces David Bennett as CEO

Today, Axcient, a leader in business availability and cloud migration solutions for Managed Service Providers (MSPs), announced the appointment of David Bennett as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective March 4, 2019.

The ASCII Group Celebrates 35th Anniversary

Bethesda, Maryland – February 5, 2019 -- The ASCII Group is proud to announce it has reached an exciting milestone as the company celebrates 35 years of providing a membership-based community to North American MSPs, VARs and solution providers.

MSP Tech Talk: MSP Marketing: Social (YouTube, Instagram, Analytics, Magic)

February 20th 12:00 to 1:30 pst

Kevin Hunter, Karl Palachuk and Kat Zommers

No Tech Talk quarter is complete without a dive into MSP marketing. Love it or hate it – ya’ got to do it! The good news is that we’re providing under to hood tips and tricks to grow your brand and audience to drive customer awareness and, yes, conversions. Help us help you – please attend if it’s the ONE marketing lecture you sit through all year. LOL.

Webinar: Can You Make Money with Microsoft Teams

Teams has become a “THING” that we can no longer ignore. What started out as MSFT’s response to Slack has crossed the aisle to marry voice and data.

MSP Tech Talk Winter 2019

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Knowledge is power. We know that for each hour you invest in yourself as a technology professional, you get ten hours of productivity out of your useful life.

MSP Tech Talk: Cannabis 301 Solutions

MSP Tech Talk Wednesday, Dec 19, 2018 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM PST

Presented by: Harry Brelsford, Darrel Bowman and Jim Bauchard

Time to put the pedal to the metal. You’ve had exposure to the cannabis technology opportunity. You’ve had exposure to cannabis technology sales and marketing approaches. Now join us for a deep dive into specific cannabis solutions that you can master and deploy as an MSP: supply chain management, POS, compliance and reporting, and security. This webinar will present very specific reseller opportunities for you to capitalize on starting in early 2019.