Channel Partners 2024 Day 3 Keynotes: AT&T, TSDs, More
The day at CP Expo was packed with information critical to technology advisor businesses.
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Left to right: Moderator David Wright of Disruptive Innovations, ScanSource's Mike Baur, AppDirect's Emanuel Bertolin, Telarus' Adam Edwards and Avant's Ian Kieninger.
The Channel Partners Conference & Expo affords us the opportunity to talk to some of the biggest influencers in the industry.
None was bigger this year than Chris Jones, AVP at AT&T Partner Solutions, who we named our Channel Influencer of the Year.
Jones shared with editorial director Craig Galbraith what makes him passionate about the channel and offered an update on how the carrier's partner program adjustments will benefit its partner community.
Few sectors of the industry are growing and evolving as quickly as the technology service distributor model. We've seen rapid consolidation over the past few years, with private-equity money making its presence felt.
We assembled a powerhouse panel of leaders from ScanSource/Intelisys, Telarus, Avant and AppDirect to talk about these changes and how they are impacting the partners these companies serve.
During the session, ScanSource CEO Mike Baur broke news about plans for Intelisys to launch an agent subsidiary that we expect to further shake up how partners do businesses with these companies.
Industry analysts aren't the only ones crunching numbers to advise the channel. Doing so is critical to running an effective business.
Matthew Toth, CEO at C3 Technology Advisors, took to the keynote stage as part of our "Hot Data" series to describe how to interpret data and convert it into actionable insights.
Partners aren't selling products, Toth noted, but time, resources and expertise.
"The true power of AI is all of you. It's human," said Ingram Micro chief digital officer Sanjib Sahoo, describing it less about the technology than those who apply it to solve business problems.
Sahoo offered advice on how partners can address artificial intelligence with their customers so they can be on the cutting edge and stay one step ahead of their competitors.
Just who are these aggregators?
As copper-line price hikes and shutoffs take customers off guard, some partners are offloading the blocking and tackling of delivering connectivity to aggregators such as those on our all-star panel.
These aggregators are also leaders in SASE, managed network services and mobility.
Top leaders from Nitel, Granite and MetTel hit our keynote stage to explain the important role they play as communications solution providers in today's channel.
We got a little more time with ScanSource CEO Mike Baur who joined Channel Futures senior news editor James Anderson on stage for a one-on-one conversation.
Baur exemplifies channel convergence, with his company being the premier point-of-sale and barcode distributor to buyng Intelisys several years ago and establishing a major presence in the technology advisor community.
He expanded on the news announced Wednesday that ScanSource/Intelisys will launch an agent subsidiary that can buy up agencies that want to exit the business.
"This should be complementary to our TSD business," Baur said. "This [new business] will be a channel business, not one selling direct to end users."
"We want to double or triple our piece of the pie," said Mark Tina, vice president of indirect partner sales at Verizon.
Tina was on the Channel Partners Conference & Expo stage as part of a Channel Futures Conversation with Informa Tech VP of content Robert DeMarzo.
Tina shared the latest news for Verizon partners, as well as the biggest challenges he sees partners facing today.
Distributors have a unique vantage point to see the opportunities and challenges of artificial intelligence.
Ed Morales, TD Synnex's global VP of security and high-growth business development, described to partners results of the company's second annual Direction of Technology report. It's based on a survey of more than 550 solution providers from around the world.
We assembled a powerhouse of communications and connectivity leaders from the biggest names in the business to chat about growth, security and creating a complete solution for partners to offer their customers.
A who's who of top channel leaders at T-Mobile for Business, Verizon, AT&T and Comcast Business addressed the partner audience.
Unified communications and collaboration seemingly have become ubiquitous, with Microsoft Teams leading the way; yet, there's still plenty of room for growth, particularly among SMBs.
We sat down with the software giant's Kevin Peters to discuss the ongoing partner opportunity.
We recognized the winners of the second annual Channel Futures Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101) awards during a special ceremony on the keynote stage Wednesday afternoon.
Lifetime Achievement Award winner Greg Praske of ARG accepted his honor and said a few words. Read our profile of Praske here.
Lifetime Achievement Award winner Greg Praske of ARG accepted his honor and said a few words. Read our profile of Praske here.
CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO — Day three of the Channel Partners Conference & Expo in Las Vegas kicked off with a conversation featuring Channel Futures' Channel Influencer of the Year, AT&T AVP Chris Jones. It then launched into a panel discussion about the evolving business models of technology service distributors.
Throughout the day we heard from industry experts about the value of aggregators, we featured a power panel of cable industry and carrier leaders, and had one-on-one discussions with ScanSource CEO Mike Baur and Verizon channel leader Mark Tina.
The power-packed keynote lineup concluded with a recognition of Channel Futures' TA 101 special award winners.
See the slideshow above for a full recap of the day in keynotes at CP Expo.
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