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December 14, 2017

Happy Holidays! 

Letter From the CEO

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Heather K. Margolis

Founder and CEO

The end of the year is always a great time to reflect and of course plan for the future. Our goal has always been to listen to you, our clients and community, understand how your business is shifting and constantly innovate to bring you exactly what you need, when you need it.

To that end, we’ve introduced some very innovative solutions around recruitment, enablement, “to” Channel marketing, and Partner demand generation.

We’ve seen a lot of changes in 2017 with consolidation of organizations on not just the Vendor and Solution Provider side but the platform and consulting side as well. I’m sure that is not going to slow down in 2018. This consolidation is going to lead to stronger, more agile workforces. It also leads to the need to restructure programs, messaging, offerings and teams.

One of the more exciting things we saw in 2017 were several companies including Xerox and OfficeDepot reaffirming their commitment to innovation and The Channel. By having Channel industry veterans, Toni Clayton-Hine at Xerox and Janet Schijns at OfficeDepot in high profile, non-Channel posts, it is clear they need someone with a holistic view of the business at the helm.

Most importantly, I’d like to thank all of you. Channel Maven Consulting will turn 9 in March and for an entrepreneur who started out with nothing more than a passion and a laptop it is so humbling to see how far we’ve come, how many amazing people we’ve had the pleasure of meeting and working with, and how much our team has grown.

Here’s wishing you a very Happy Holiday Season and sweet New Year!

All my best,

 

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Channel Zone 

The shift to recurring revenue models versus large CapEx expenditures has been going on for years. In 2017, we saw that trickle down to significant restructuring within Channel programs and offerings.

While some Partners still appreciate the typical tiered model and Partner marketing support, the “born-in-the-cloud” Service Providers require something different and are finally driving the shift.

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Boulder, Colorado

2017 holiday lights

Alongside these changes, Vendor-Partner relationships have also shifted from Vendor driven and Partner loyalty-based to customer-centric and business outcome focused as more and more Partners sell multi-Vendor solutions and bolt on their value-add services.

In large part due to this, we’re talking to Vendors more often on PPO (Partner Program Optimization) and PX (Partner Experience) both of which have become increasingly important as Vendors assess, rebuild, and alter the way they drive revenue to and through their Channels.

While 3 - 5 years ago, we worked on a lot of co-branding and tiering Partners by revenue, now we’re talking about assessing Partners’ potential, recruiting based upon demand generation capabilities, building out programs and infrastructure that align to Partners needs, and communicating to your Channel in new and innovative ways including Inbound Partner Recruitment™.

Our team has been hard at work assessing, consulting, and creating assets for new and revamped Channel Programs, helping Vendors dial-in on important to-Channel marketing initiative such as Partner-facing blogs and communications plans created in synergy with how Partners want to receive their communications.

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If you’re interested in our findings for better Partner Program Optimization (PPO) and Partner Experience (PX), we’re happy to help!

Please reach out to Brad Rolfe, VP Client Strategy and set up time to chat.

Three of our most recent blogs on these topics:

Blog: Optimize Partner Programs for Today's Channel

Blog: Building Channel Infrastructure to Better Enable Your Channel

Blog: Secrets for Successfully Educating Your Channel


Resources

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The Boulder Star

2017 marks the 70th anniversary of the Boulder Star on Flagstaff Mountain! This beloved icon was first lit in December 1947 and has made its holiday appearance every year since thanks to stewardship of the star by Boulder's Chamber of Commerce.


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BlogHow to Empower Your IT Channel Partners to Adapt to the Rise of the Cloud


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BlogEmphasizing the Value Add of Partnership


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CMCtvEpisode 14: The Future of The Channel


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BlogSaaS putting channel in 'great state of flux'


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Blog: 3 is a magic number: Driving Higher Channel Performance Through Integration


Channel Maven Happenings

Thank you all for helping us make a difference for those in need!

2017 was a terrific year for Channel Maven charity initiatives! We raised money for the Boulder JCC, sponsored a clothing drive that brought over 400 articles of clothing and monetary donations to Dress for Success programs and through Heather’s Cloud Girls network we helped raise funds to support Girls who Code. This month we gathered toy donations for Share-A-Gift, an all-volunteer, annual holiday project that provides toys for less fortunate children and collected food for EFFA, Emergency Family Assistance Association of Boulder.

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We also took some time to have a little fun as a team by convening for team building at our annual Channel Maven Consulting Innovation Day, watching the eclipse, and dressing up for Halloween.


Channel Study Q1 2018 

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We're pleased to announce that our new study results will be released Q1 2018.

In conjunction with Marketstar, we surveyed Channel Partners and IPBMs to find synergies and challenges they face. 

Results will help Vendors better align Partner-facing teams to meet the needs of Partners in order to drive trust and growth to and through The Channel.

If you're interested in the results, sign-up below and the findings will be delivered via email early Q1.

Thank you!

 

Send Survey Results!