As much of the channel shifts to a recurring-revenue sales model, it changes the way solution providers sell.
And millennials – those born generally between the early 1980s and around 2000 -- who make up most of today's workforce, have a different approach toward the sales process – and work in general -- than that of their Generation X and baby boomer colleagues and predecessors.
Put millennials and recurring revenue together, and you might have a platform for sales success.
If you're looking ahead to doing business next year, a new study on technology spending suggests that you might want to build some flexibility into your plans.
(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Sept. 28.)
Managed service providers that want to strengthen their brands, cut costs and raise prices can do all that by improving the cusomer experience, an executive with Forrester Research says.
It takes a sales force to grow revenue, and a marketing team to build brand awareness and customer interest.
Today, both of those groups need to be working more in sync, experts say. That's especially true in B2B technology, with its seemingly constant state of change, as vendors keep coming out with the "next big thing" and their channel partners keep abreast of new releases.
(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Sept. 22.)
Partners of Cisco Systems are applauding the vendor's decision to combine Internet of Things and unified communications technologies with Salesforce in new joint offerings.
The partners believe the alliance will help drive channel sales in the emerging IoT and transitioning UC markets.
If you're a managed security service provider, are you seeing more opportunities in the midmarket? And how should you land business from a referral customer? These are just two new posts this week on IT Best Of Breed's LinkedIn page, and we invite you to weigh in.
(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Sept. 20.)
Managed security service providers can be key in helping resource-limited midmarket companies secure their data, a Gartner analyst told a group of corporate information technology leaders this week.
Brian Reed, research director of data security for Gartner, said Tuesday that midmarket firms should consider managed security service providers to handle some of their security functions.
Do your service offerings include security? If so, there are a dozen major markets in the United States that have a high demand for cybersecurity talent and where customers may have a tough time bringing it aboard.
How closely do your customers pay attention to all the marketing "noise" around cybersecurity? That's one of three new discussion threads on IT Best of Breed's LinkedIn page, and we invite you to comment.