8:00 Chairperson Welcome and Opening Remarks

Mike Morgan
COO
Foundation Networks

8:15 How to Avoid Channel Conflicts and in Case of Conflict, How to Resolve Them – Conflict Management Tools

Conflicts generated among channel partners may lead to erosion of margins, internal competition and potentially losing partners to competition. How can these conflicts be avoided in the first place? What steps can be taken to amicably resolve the conflicts and restore partner loyalty? In this session, learn how the following conflict management tools can help you deal with channel conflict in your organization:

• Economic tools: deal registration and activity-based discounts
• Organizational strategies: separating channel sales from channel marketing
• Policy driven initiatives: MAP, vertical market restrictions, geographic restrictions
• Communication strategies: the channel planning process, advisory councils, senior executive speeches
• Product differentiation: packaging, specifications

Dell – over 30,000 resellers account for over $9 billion in sales

9:15 Managing Conflict Between Direct Sales and Indirect Channel Sales

In many companies the relationships between direct and indirect sales groups are antagonistic and can become destructive, especially in the current economy where making sales and fulfilling monthly requirements is difficult. Companies are often confronted by the divide between direct and indirect sales organizations, and struggle with pulling them together into a seamless, channel and end-user focused revenue-generating system.

Learn how to:

• Implement compensation and discount structures to ensure mutual focus on revenue generation
• Incentivize the direct sales force to sell through channel and generate business for the channel
• Implement criteria for distinguishing which accounts its direct and indirect teams should be targeting
• Build trust with channel partners through clear strategy communication

Bill Lipsin
Senior Vice President, Global Channel Sales
COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

Over 40,000 channel partners, average percentage value of services end customers buy per dollar unit of product sold: 250%

10:30 Panel Discussion: The Importance of Channel Data Integrity

For high-tech companies, the cost of a murky view of downstream channel activity can be substantial. However, their primary source of channel data - self-reported POS data feeds from channel partners – can be error-prone, inaccurate, and untimely. Managers in Finance, Sales & Marketing, and Channel Operations rely on this data to make important decisions around revenue recognition, channel promotions, sales commissioning and manufacturing operations. In this session, executives from leading high-tech firms will discuss “channel data integrity” challenges, and best practices in addressing these with specific examples to illustrate the overall business impact on the organization. Learn about:

• How leading technology vendors address problems with channel data and partner compliance
• How channel data integrity can increase sales, reduce financial exposure and improve partner-satisfaction
• Making the business case for channel data integrity

Moderator:

11:30 Partner Performance Management and Optimization – Establishing an Environment where Vendor and Partner Invest in Continuous Improvement

Many vendors have already established tier systems for partners. However, vendors often find that 5% of channels drive 95% of business. How can this metric be improved? Learn how the following strategies can help you graduate lower tier partners into higher categories and expand the number of partners that contribute significantly to the bottom line.

• Joint Business Plans/ Contracts
• Reward programs
• Penalty for poor performance

Paul Flanagan
Vice President, Sales and Business Development
SELKIE SOFTWARE

Everything Channel CRN Emerging Tech Vendor

1:15 Social Media Strategies for Reaching Customers

Social Media cost less money than traditional marketing tools, it is more effective at directly dealing with issues and has a higher leverage effect than traditional methods. However, many companies struggle with implementing comprehensive social media strategies, unsure if the responsibility lies with marketing, sales or channel management. In this workshop, you will walk through an analytic process to determine if adopting social media tools is right for your partner strategy and ultimately, for reaching your customers.

Learn how to:

• Determine the accessibility of your customer base by social media and identify the key influencers
• Implement strategies to embed your sales organization into the social web of customers
• Leverage the social web for your partner support organization
• Develop key measurement metrics for determining the ROI and effectiveness of social media as part of your marketing strategy

Mike Dubrall
Channels of the Future Director
GILWELL

2:00 Panel Discussion: Maximizing the Effectiveness and ROI of your Co-Op and MDF Programs

Now more than ever, marketing organizations must justify spending on the entire suite of tools for reaching partners and customers – web downloads, webinars, seminars and tradeshows. However, which tool in your marketing arsenal is most effective and deserves of limited resources? A typical answer is: “It depends”, but what are the processes for a vendor company to determine the program’s objectives, specific goals for each objective, baselines for success and reporting?

In this session, learn how to:

• Develop specific KPIs and metrics for your program goals to set up the direction of your current and future marketing activities
• Implement unique uses of MDF ranging from communications to sales engagement activities, multi-partner campaigns, partner sales force motivation to partner cost offsets.
• Check on your progress through key audit and claims processing methods that should be in place to measure the effectiveness of fund use

Moderator:
Colin Martin
CEO, PromoPipeline
LLC

Panelists include:

QLogic: Over 3500 channel partners worldwide, average percentage value of services end customers buy per dollar unit of product sold: 150% Under Braud’s leadership, Fortinet’s global channel program earned its first Everything Channel VARBusiness five-star award in 2006 and again in 2007. Braud has revitalized the company’s Americas Partner program and used it to develop channel models in the EMEA and APAC regions as well. The tri-level Americas program offers deal registration and renewal tracking.

3:15 The Cost Of Complexity – How Vendor Proceses Impact Partner Effectivenes

They say where there is complexity, there is money to be had. Many IT solution providers base their business proposition on this premise. Surely, the complexity of today’s IT standards and vendor product lines can be dizzying for even the most sophisticated IT managers. But, should the process through which solution providers do business with their major vendors be equally complex? This session focuses on the areas of channel programs and business processes which solution providers find to be the most difficult and compares that to vendors’ plans for increasing their ease of doing business. Key takeaways include:

• Discover which vendor process and program elements create the most partner “heartburn”
• Find out what effect complexity has on partners’ ability to service their end-user customers
• Define programs to ensure partner profitability in tough economic times of past and future complexity issues vendors are tackling

4:00 Quick Fire Session: 30 Ideas in 45 Minutes

Panel of experts will break down the tools and activities that have had the greatest impact on their business. The panel also brainstorms next steps and outlines quick wins for conference participants for next day action.

Panelists include: