The ChannelPro team is on location with Ingram Micro and 650 attendees at the Spring VTN Invitational event taking place April 21-24 in Hollywood, Fla.
The Ingram Micro team shared with us that VTN has a history of helping smaller, independent resellers become high-performing regional, national, and even international IT service providers. The community’s success has also made it a catalyst for the adoption of new technology solutions and influx of mergers and acquisitions taking place within the IT channel.
Today, the community is comprised of an exclusive group of more than 330 U.S. and Canadian IT solution providers. VTN has fostered peer-to-peer partnerships to help fuel business growth and raises the standards of excellence when it comes to business performance, corporate giving, service delivery and vendor engagement.
Last year, the community achieved an all-time high for business growth and revenues booked through Ingram Micro. VTN members also raised more than $100,000 in charitable contributions and donated countless hours to organizations in need – making 2012 the most successful year in VTN’s history.
Additionally, VTN’s Mastermind Groups, Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and local chapters continued to thrive and welcome new members. The new VTN Member Portal has become the online hub for the VTN community and is now integrated with Ingram Micro’s new IM Link professional services network, launched last week at the distributor’s annual Cloud Summit.
“The business value, service advantage, training, and meaningful partnerships we’ve gained through VTN are truly immeasurable,” says longtime VTN member Alan McDonald, president of AllConnected and co-president of VTN. “From multiple marketing campaigns to co-funded engineer trainings, strategic roadmaps and business planning, as well as many collaborative and productive peer group discussions on delivering managed and cloud services, VTN has given me and my team the ability to grow our business faster, smarter and more profitably then we could ever do alone. The VTN community is our trusted advisor and a major contributor to our ongoing success.”
This year, the theme of VTN is “Focus3: Partner, Prosper, Repeat.” The Fall VTN Invitational will be held Oct. 21-24 in Palm Springs, Calif.
“Ingram Micro’s VTN community has taken an active role in transforming the way business gets done over the past 15 years in the IT channel,” says Paul Bay, president, Ingram Micro North America. “VTN members and sponsors are the business elite within the IT channel and influence the IT purchasing decisions of thousands of small to mid-size organizations. They are leaders among their peers and I’ve challenged our executive team to find more ways to grow, strengthen and accelerate the success of our VTN members and the thousands of channel partners who have selected Ingram Micro as their go-to-market business partner.”
Throughout the four-day premier partner event in Florida this week, VTN members will meet face-to-face with peers and come together to hear from subject matter experts and leaders in their field about sales and marketing best practices, as well as business and technology trends. Additionally, VTN’s five Mastermind groups and special interest groups (SIGs) – including Marketing, Sales Managers Cloud, Operational Excellence, Women in Technology and Technical Certifications – will also hold high-impact member forums orchestrated to help channel partners profitably grow their business faster and smarter by learning from peers.
Headlining the event is Ingram Micro’s President Paul Bay and industry thought leader Robin Sharma, author and founder of Sharma Leadership International Inc. Also taking center stage will be Kristin M. Rogers, principal of KMR@work; VTN Council Presidents Alan McDonald and Rob Bracey, as well as renowned leadership expert and bestselling author of “The Multiplier Effect” Liz Wiseman.
For more information on VTN, solution providers and manufacturers should contact their Ingram Micro sales or marketing representative and visit www.im-vtn.com.
