Clam chowder and lobster rolls were on the menu in New England, where channel experts, top vendors, and IT solution providers gathered on September 5 and 6 in Newton, Mass., to discuss business strategies that they can implement immediately to get on the road to higher profits at the latest ChannelPro SMB Forum conference. It is the third of four events this calendar year presented by ChannelPro-SMB, the premier source of IT and business insights for SMB solution providers.
With a 2018 theme of “Roadmap to Profits Tour,” these live events deliver the service, sales, marketing, and operational insights to succeed in today’s fast-paced, competitive business environment.
The full-day program for channel resellers, integrators, consultants, and cloud and managed service providers offered interactive, in-depth conversations with channel pros and industry experts who have pioneered growth-oriented and highly profitable businesses. A showcase of SMB vendor solutions provided additional learning opportunities and enabled channel pros to get one-on-one advice on employing new technologies and services to better serve their clients and their own businesses.
Pre-day sponsor D&H Distributing Co. Inc. conducted a day-long free training seminar on Wednesday with sessions on Cisco cloud security and a Microsoft Cloud Business Builder Workshop.
In addition, new this year are pre-day Business Builder Workshops: Managed services expert Karl Palachuk’s SMB Roadshow Workshop – The Killer Combo: Cloud Services and Managed Services; and Marketopia’s 4u2Grow Roadshow Workshop, presented by Marketopia CEO Terry Hedden. Plus, Steve Rutkovitz, CEO of Choice CyberSecurity, and Mark Smith, business development, EH Media, presented a workshop on How To Build an MSSP Practice in 6 Weeks Even if You Are Not a Security Expert.
“We’re always looking for new ways to help our readers be even more successful,” says Michael Siggins, ChannelPro publisher and vice president. “Our Business Builder Workshops offer them an opportunity to get in-depth guidance on profitable new services and effective sales and marketing techniques from two of the industry’s top experts on those topics.”
In the evening, there was a cocktail reception for vendors, speakers, and attendees.
On Thursday, September 6, event sessions presented by well-known channel experts included:
- Peer to Peer: Moving Up the Value Stack, in which a panel of experienced channel pros offered advice on moving from IT basics to specialized offerings to pull in real money
- MSP Talk: Operational Efficiency Pro Tips, in which managed services consultants Karl and Manuel Palachuk provided battle-tested advice on selecting tools, hiring techs, managing tickets, and more
- Secrets to Pricing Success, in which Bering McKinley’s Josh Peterson offered an interactive workshop designed to take the mystery out of price setting
- Tech Trends TV Game Show, in which ChannelPro Technical Editor Matt Whitlock guided attendees through the latest hardware trends and profit opportunities, game show style
- Building a Lead-Generation Process, in which Marketopia’s Terry Hedden led a learn-by-doing workshop on creating a process that consistently produces fresh sales prospects
- ChannelPro Quick Hits Bonus Sessions, in which channel pros covered security tips and tricks, getting started with the Internet of Things, and revenue-boosting security services add-ons
“Our SMB Forum events focus on the issues channel pros care about, which is why we included hands-on workshops this year about setting optimal prices and generating sales leads, along with sessions on operational efficiency, cybersecurity, the Internet of Things, and more,” says Rich Freeman, ChannelPro‘s executive editor.
At the sponsor showcase, attendees discussed the latest solutions for their SMB clients with leading vendors, and networked with their peers.
Platinum sponsor The 20 delivered the morning keynote. Gold sponsor presentations were given by Avast Business, Continuum Managed Services, Cytracom LLC, D&H Distributing Co. Inc., Datto Inc., Eaton Corp., Ingram Micro Inc., Secure Now!, SherWeb, StorageCraft Technology Corp., SYNNEX Corp., TruGrid, and Webroot Inc.
Silver sponsors for the Boston event included ADT Cybersecurity, The ASCII Group Inc., ASI Corp., AXIS Communications, Buffalo Americas Inc., Choice CyberSecurity, Collabrance LLC, CompTIA Inc., ConnectBooster, eFolder, ELO Digital Office USA, Epson America Inc., ESET, GreenLink Networks, Manual Palachuk International, Marketopia, Mindmatrix, net2phone, Nfina Technologies Inc., NinjaRMM, Pulseway, RapidFire Tools Inc., SaaSMax Corp., Scale Computing, Small Biz Thoughts, SMB Nation, SMB TechFest, SolarWinds MSP, Tech Data Corp., Vijilan Security LLC, and VIPRE Security.
The event concluded with attendees honoring vendor sponsors with the following awards:
- Best in Show – The 20
- Best Hardware Solution – Datto
- Best Software Solution – Webroot
- Best New Solution – TruGrid
- Best Solution Presentation (Gold/Platinum) – Datto
- Best Solution Presentation (Silver) – ELO, Collabrance, GreenLink Networks (tie)
- Best Add-On Product – Cytracom
- Best Distributor – D&H Distributing
- Best Cloud Solution – Vijilan
- Most Innovative Solution – Vijilan
- Best Revenue Booster – RapidFire Tools
- Best Silver Selfie Video – Collabrance
- Best On-Stage Presentation – The 20
- Best Partner Community – D&H Distributing
Next up on the Roadmap to Profits Tour is Long Beach, Calif., on November 5 and 6.
Interested parties should register immediately here.
Interested sponsors should contact Joel Zaidspiner at 561-422-5119 or Lisa Sherman at 917-388-9531. More sponsorship info can be found here.
