ChannelPro-SMB, the premier source of business and technology insights for channel partners serving the small and midsize business market, kicked off The ChannelPro SMB Forum 2015: Channel Therapy Edition tour in Baltimore on March 3. The day-long event featured some of the top SMB resellers and managed service providers in the country who shared their insights on the hottest tech solutions in the SMB marketplace today.
The Channel Therapy Edition tour started with a cocktail reception on Monday evening, March 2, sponsored by MAXfocus.
On Tuesday, the event sessions included: Managed and Cloud Services Checkup, Managed and Cloud Services Operations Lab, Managed and Cloud Services Marketing Lab, Managed and Cloud Services Sales Lab, and Tech Trends: Hardware Lab (sponsored by ViewSonic). And at the sponsor showcase, attendees were able to browse the latest technologies and network with peers.
HP presented the Platinum sponsor keynote. Gold sponsor presentations were given by Datto Inc., Eaton Corp., F-Secure Corp., MAXfocus, StorageCraft Technology Corp., and ViewSonic Corp.
Taking a different approach than other channel events, event attendees interact with presenters at all the sessions. New this year, attendees can respond to questions from the presenters using their PC or smartphone, and take self-assessment questionnaires on the various disciplines discussed in the sessions.
The event concluded with these vendor sponsor awards:
- Most Innovative Solution – Datto Inc.
- Best Hardware Solution – HP
- Best Software Solution – StorageCraft Technology Corp.
- Best Partner Community – The ASCII Group
- Best Partner Program – MAXfocus
- Best Cloud Based Solution – CloudConnect
- Best New Solution – F-Secure Corp.
- Best in Show – MAXfocus
Silver sponsors for the event were as follows:†APC by Schneider Electric, ASCII Group Inc., ASI, Cargill Consulting Group Inc., ChannelEyes, ChannelPro, CloudConnect, CompTIA, Crexendo, Equilibrium Consulting LLC, ICN Group, Infrascale, Intel Corp., Lenovo, Net2Phone Office, OKI Data Americas Inc., SaasMax Corp., Small Biz Thoughts, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, SPC International, SYNNEX SMB Connect, Tigerpaw Software, Vertical Axion, and ZTE.†
Three additional ChannelPro SMB Forum events are planned for later this year: San Jose area in May, Chicago area in September, and New York City area in November. Interested attendees can preregister at www.ChannelProForum.com.
