Recent Articles
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Avnet’s Partner Strategy Continues to Evolve
Driving increased sales through its partner channel has been the primary strategy at Avnet Technology Solutions over the past several years. One way the global IT distributor is meeting this goal is by helping its partner channel build out their practices with new services and capabilities, particularly for the cloud, big data, social networking and…
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Mobile Transition: Managing Obstacles, Tapping Opportunities
From a channel perspective, mobile computing can be nothing short of maddening. Although there are millions of mobile computing devices out there, most were purchased directly by individuals or the companies for which they work. What’s more, from an application perspective, most run nothing more sophisticated than email and a few consumer apps. However, as…
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Charting Channel Partners’ Paths to Profitability for 2014
Path to profits Profitability Priorities As usual, almost a third of channel partners intend to hire more technical and sales people. But, surprisingly, 30% plan to invest in more marketing and offer higher-margin services. Keys to Profitability Quality products that don’t require a lot of support was rated No. 1 by 30%. Revenue and margin…
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Internet of Things: Pinpointing Its Channel Potential
Although the Internet of Things (IoT) represents trillions of dollars in opportunity for the channel, the challenge is finding the expertise needed to tap that potential. Hype notwithstanding, not all IoT opportunities are of equal value. IoT refers to everyday things—mobile devices, homes, cities, cars and other items—ubiquitously connected to the Internet and infused with…
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Sophos Simplifies Its Channel Strategy
Security specialist Sophos has overhauled its channel program as part of a sweeping effort to be easier to do business with and to increase profits. Sophos announced a simplified discount structure and deal-registration program so the company’s channel partners can spend less time obtaining special pricing when involved in competitive bids, said Kendra Krause, vice…
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Windows XP Deadline: Helping Customers Handle the Transition
In theory, at least, the end of life for free support for Windows XP represents a boon for solution providers as organizations rush to upgrade systems before the looming April 8 deadline. But, as is often the case with all things Microsoft, there’s a lot of nuance when it comes to understanding how big an…