http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel A look at the trials and tribulations of solution providers and vendor channel personnel. What works? What doesn't? And what do solution providers and vendors need to do to succeed. Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:38:23 GMT Clearspace 2.5.7 (http://jivesoftware.com/products/clearspace/) 2009-11-02T23:38:23Z http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/11/02/will-rod-adkins-take-on-the-tough-channel-issues It's not going too far to say that 2009 has been a watershed year for IBM hardware partners. More than a few of them have seen a significant drop in their sales and profits and have actively sought out IBM competitors. Not surprising given the 21 ibm bob_moffat rod_adkins ibm_ceo_sam_palmisano Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:38:23 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/11/02/will-rod-adkins-take-on-the-tough-channel-issues 2009-11-02T23:38:23Z 2 weeks, 5 days ago 1 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/will-rod-adkins-take-on-the-tough-channel-issues http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1792 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/10/30/has-microsoft-lost-its-doug-burgum-partner-mojo It's a question worth asking after Sage Vice President of Channel Management Tom Miller talked about Microsoft losing touch with its partners.   So who is Doug Burgum and why does he matter? Burgum spent 18 years as the chairman and CEO of microsoft sage great plains doug_burgum tom_miller Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:02:53 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/10/30/has-microsoft-lost-its-doug-burgum-partner-mojo 2009-10-30T18:02:53Z 3 weeks, 1 day ago 1 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/has-microsoft-lost-its-doug-burgum-partner-mojo http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1782 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/10/06/why-adrian-jones-had-the-toughest-job-in-the-channel Hewlett Packard Americas Channel Chief Adrian Jones' tight relationship with HP CEO Mark Hurd made him an outstanding advocate for solution provider partners.   It also meant he was under constant scrutiny being pushed and prodded by Hurd every hurd adrian hewlett hp packard ceo jones mark Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:32:05 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/10/06/why-adrian-jones-had-the-toughest-job-in-the-channel 2009-10-06T16:32:05Z 1 month, 2 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/why-adrian-jones-had-the-toughest-job-in-the-channel http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1557 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/02/googles-million-dollar-plus-gmail-malfunction Google's 100 minute Gmail outage this week is going to cost Google and every other vendor that is selling Software as a Service (SaaS) applications millions of dollars in sales.   The Gmail outage is the equivalent of a security software vendor software_as_a_service google gmail_outage bluetie Wed, 02 Sep 2009 22:34:07 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/02/googles-million-dollar-plus-gmail-malfunction 2009-09-02T22:34:07Z 2 months, 2 weeks ago 3 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/googles-million-dollar-plus-gmail-malfunction http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1455 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/02/are-you-taking-advantage-of-iroi-channel-programs If you are relying on just the same old tired channel programs then you are missing what is a seismic shift in the IT landscape. Customers are demanding Instant Return On Investment (IROI) on their technology purchases. That means they are looking for vmware vmworld salesforce.com cisco Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:58:13 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/02/are-you-taking-advantage-of-iroi-channel-programs 2009-09-02T19:58:13Z 2 months, 2 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/are-you-taking-advantage-of-iroi-channel-programs http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1452 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/01/why-dell-is-successful-with-social-media You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know why Dell has been so successful with social media. The computer maker views social media as a way to extend its direct model and drive new sales. And it has made a massive investment to make sure it is dell social_media youtube facebook @stefanie@dell twitter lionel_menchaca Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:19:27 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/09/01/why-dell-is-successful-with-social-media 2009-09-01T20:19:27Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/why-dell-is-successful-with-social-media http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1446 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/31/the-ballmer-chambers-survey-challenge Would Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Cisco CEO John Chambers be willing to take their valuable time to fill out a satisfaction survey from a company they buy products or services from?   It's a question that Daniel Duffy, the CEO of Valley steve john ballmer microsoft cisco chambers customer_satisfaction_surveys Mon, 31 Aug 2009 22:11:47 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/31/the-ballmer-chambers-survey-challenge 2009-08-31T22:11:47Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/the-ballmer-chambers-survey-challenge http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1438 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/31/your-biggest-competitor-delloutlet Dell has been one of the best of all the major computer and software makers at using social media to increase its sales.   The computer maker views social media as a way to extend its direct sales model and take it to new heights. Dell gets it. twitter @delloutlet @direct2dell dell facebook Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:46:36 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/31/your-biggest-competitor-delloutlet 2009-08-31T15:46:36Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago 1 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/your-biggest-competitor-delloutlet http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1436 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/28/welcome-to-the-era-of-instant-return-on-investment-iroi Instant Return on Investment, or IROI, is a major paradigm shift in technology purchasing that is rippling through every segment of the channel from the biggest and most respected solution providers in the world like Accenture to the local mom and pop instant_return_on saas software_as_a_service accenture investment cloud Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:45:25 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/28/welcome-to-the-era-of-instant-return-on-investment-iroi 2009-08-28T20:45:25Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago 2 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/welcome-to-the-era-of-instant-return-on-investment-iroi http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1429 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/28/is-ciscos-management-by-committee-costing-the-company-talent It's a question that should be looked at closely by Cisco's board of directors given the departure of two 10-year veterans this month and the controversy swirling around the company's management by committee initiative.   That controversy in no doug_dennerline alex_thurber cisco_ceo_john_chambers keith_goodwin cisco Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:16:16 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/28/is-ciscos-management-by-committee-costing-the-company-talent 2009-08-28T18:16:16Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago 1 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/is-ciscos-management-by-committee-costing-the-company-talent http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1427 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/27/you-too-can-profit-from-the-hp-cisco-cloud-war There's a lot of fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) being spread in the wake of the cloud computing battle between technology heavyweights HP and Cisco.   That FUD, by the way, is making solution providers acting as strategic advisors, cisco greenpages cloud vmware emc benchmark_hospitality Thu, 27 Aug 2009 22:08:06 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/27/you-too-can-profit-from-the-hp-cisco-cloud-war 2009-08-27T22:08:06Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/you-too-can-profit-from-the-hp-cisco-cloud-war http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1422 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/27/will-ciscos-legal-eagles-go-after-salesforcecom Cisco isn't the type of company that likes to wage war in the courtroom rather than the boardroom.   But given ten-year Cisco veteran Doug Dennerline's move to rival Salesforce.com you can bet Cisco's high priced lawyers are looking closely at cisco cloud salesforce.com doug_dennerline Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:32:51 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/27/will-ciscos-legal-eagles-go-after-salesforcecom 2009-08-27T16:32:51Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/will-ciscos-legal-eagles-go-after-salesforcecom http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1419 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/26/cisco-has-a-brain-drain Cisco CEO John Chambers has fashioned his company as a cut above the lumbering old giants rushing to get to the next big market opportunity in a bid to justify exorbitant margins.   That ability to move Cisco to the next high-margin opportunity john_chambers cisco doug_dennerline alex_thurber stock_options Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:09:11 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/26/cisco-has-a-brain-drain 2009-08-26T22:09:11Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago 1 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/cisco-has-a-brain-drain http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1411 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/26/alert-cisco-loses-another-top-exec Salesforce.com has hired Cisco veteran Doug Dennerline , who headed the networking leader's Webex collaboration software business, as executive vice president enterprise sales Americas.   This follows the departure just last week of Alex Thurber, cisco doug_dennerline alex_thurber Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:56:05 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/26/alert-cisco-loses-another-top-exec 2009-08-26T13:56:05Z 2 months, 3 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/alert-cisco-loses-another-top-exec http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1412 http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/24/do-you-want-to-twitter-with-hp HP wants to make sure it is getting its fair share of sales from young emerging companies that are on Twitter and Facebook.   HP Vice President and General Manager Solution Partners Organization Adrian Jones says HP  is sharply focused on twitter hp enterprise_2.0 linkedin adrian_jones Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:42:21 GMT sburke@cmp.com http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/2009/08/24/do-you-want-to-twitter-with-hp 2009-08-24T21:42:21Z 2 months, 4 weeks ago http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/comment/do-you-want-to-twitter-with-hp http://community.crn.com/blogs/TheRealChannel/feeds/comments?blogPost=1403