Category Archives for "Managed Services News"

Being alive during the coronavirus pandemic has hammered home the degree to which we rely on software to communicate. Imagine enduring the 1918 Spanish flu without Zoom to see family? Or the Discord app to talk to friends, or Slack to conduct work? And even these modern solutions are starting to wear thin. Digital communication is appreciated, but there’s a real cost to losing out on the nuances of body language and tone that provide depth to human communication.

As a marketer, I know my cohort prefers to hide behind our keyboards and lean on our SaaS-based marketing tools. This “set it and forget it” approach uses automation to achieve far greater scale than we could have achieved in the past. This is especially true for the smaller marketing teams that most IT service providers have. But salespeople see it another way. They want interactions, preferably in person, and tailored to individuals. This allows them to provide a “human touch” to grow rapport with leads and customers, which is increasingly difficult during our pandemic.

To stay ahead of the pack in this competitive field, you need both the reach that digital marketing provides, and the human touch that closes sales. Otherwise, conversions from prospect to qualified lead to paying customer will get bottlenecked. Your leads will become your competitors’ monthly recurring revenue. Leaders of IT service providers must understand this distinction and help bridge this gap between their marketing and sales teams.

How to Market at Scale

IT service providers scale their marketing and sales efforts with SaaS platforms. Many MSPs use HubSpot for this purpose, and there are plenty of quality alternatives. These platforms make identifying, targeting, and nurturing leads achievable at scale with relatively little manpower. With automated lead nurturing, your team can template responses to common questions and engage with leads in a systematic and on-going manner. E-guides, case studies, and white papers can be templated, too, allowing marketers to operate more nimbly. Using lead scoring, you can send relevant marketing materials to the right contact at just the right time.

Your leads will conduct online research at their own pace, too, so you better have marketing materials readily available on your website. These materials should speak to different line-of-business decision makers and at different stage of the buyer’s journey. There are a lot of permutations, so you’ll need to have a lot of materials available. Any quality sales and marketing SaaS platform should offer a content library and versioning controls to help manage content so it doesn’t become unwieldy.

Balance Scale with Humanization

The successful union of automation and humanization means that you know when to automate and when not to automate. When it comes to marketing to your existing customers, humanization is appropriate because you already have a relationship with them. Then for acquiring new customers, the extent that automation is appropriate roughly follows the buyer’s journey down the sales funnel. At the top of the funnel, you’re casting a wide net to gain awareness, so automation and scale take precedent. Personalization at the top of the funnel even runs the risk of being perceived as creepy. But then at the bottom of the funnel, you’re trying to convert individuals who already know you, so treating them like an existing customer with humanization is more important. The approach at either end of the funnel is clear, it’s the middle of the funnel where the most discretion is required.

There are countless ways to apply humanization to your marketing and sales processes. Doing so often isn’t very costly, and doesn’t involve major changes. It’s really about …

Company Name: Iuvo Technologies
Company MSP 501 Rank: 401
President & CEO: Byron Beilman
Headquartered: Westford, MA
Primary Services:

• IT infrastructure
• Networking
• IT operations
• IT support
• Business continuity

Twitter: @iuvotech

M&A has impacted Iuvo Technologies more than COVID-19 impacted the MSP.

That’s according to Bryon Beilman, president and CEO of the Massachusetts-based company. The MSP has witnessed a significant amount of M&A on the customer side recently. Beilman said his team pursues a customer profile that often appeals to buyers. And for Beilman and Iuvo, this is an opportunity to prove themselves once again.

The company landed on the MSP 501 list this year. That makes two consecutive appearances for Iuvo. The company also earned a spot in this year’s Channel Partners Excellence in Digital Services Awards

Beilman spoke to Channel Futures about the company, its latest initiatives, M&A and his perspective on the MSP channel.

Channel Futures: What is one thing you wish vendors would do that they don’t?

Iuvo Technologies’ Bryon Beilman

Bryon Beilman: Vendor partnerships are interesting. We make sure we only partner with the products and vendors we believe in. It is extremely important to us that we only promote products that meet a certain standard and are best for our client businesses. Having had many vendor relationships over the years, there is certainly one thing that stands out that I would love to see get more attention. I would love if vendors would do more for their partners than simply provide products to sell.

We have based our business model on seeking out functional two-way partnerships with our clients, and I would love to see the same attention given to vendor relationships for committed MSPs. Instead of sticking to the basics – providing products to sell – provide ample marketing and sales resources, campaigns and ways to integrate our services with their product to maximize the value for MSPs and the clients we serve. Making it easier for us to educate, promote, highlight value and engage our clients on vendor products would save us a lot of time and allow us to meet vendor goals while still having time to provide stellar services to our clients.

CF: What new opportunities and challenges came with the global COVID-19 pandemic?

BB: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far-reaching. We felt so fortunate to be in the right business at the right time. It was rewarding to see just how many of our clients were already set up to succeed in a remote working model because of the work we have done for them over the years. Though we knew they would be OK, they were not completely ready yet because a lot of our clients simply were not used to working 100% remotely. Hearing the positive remarks about how seamlessly they were able to make the transition and maintain productivity after they were thrust into that model due to the pandemic was also extremely rewarding.

Out of the pandemic came several opportunities for us as well. We were able to quickly put together content and webinars to help those companies or individuals struggling to manage their new realities. While a lot of companies as entities were prepared, many individuals were not. We were able to guide many through the process of converting space in their homes to an “office,” how to use unified communications platforms and other tips and tricks that helped them ease into a work from anywhere model while still being efficient and productive. We also found many businesses had to throw solutions together to make their transition happen quickly. This introduced a lot of technical debt. We worked with companies to find the best long-term solutions, wrote policies and assisted with overhaul and reduced their technical debt, saving them …

Company Name: Iuvo Technologies
Company MSP 501 Rank: 401
President & CEO: Byron Beilman
Headquartered: Westford, MA
Primary Services:

• IT infrastructure
• Networking
• IT operations
• IT support
• Business continuity

Twitter: @iuvotech

M&A has impacted Iuvo Technologies more than COVID-19 impacted the MSP.

That’s according to Bryon Beilman, president and CEO of the Massachusetts-based company. The MSP has witnessed a significant amount of M&A on the customer side recently. Beilman said his team pursues a customer profile that often appeals to buyers. And for Beilman and Iuvo, this is an opportunity to prove themselves once again.

The company landed on the MSP 501 list this year. That makes two consecutive appearances for Iuvo. The company also earned a spot in this year’s Channel Partners Excellence in Digital Services Awards

Beilman spoke to Channel Futures about the company, its latest initiatives, M&A and his perspective on the MSP channel.

Channel Futures: What is one thing you wish vendors would do that they don’t?

Iuvo Technologies’ Bryon Beilman

Bryon Beilman: Vendor partnerships are interesting. We make sure we only partner with the products and vendors we believe in. It is extremely important to us that we only promote products that meet a certain standard and are best for our client businesses. Having had many vendor relationships over the years, there is certainly one thing that stands out that I would love to see get more attention. I would love if vendors would do more for their partners than simply provide products to sell.

We have based our business model on seeking out functional two-way partnerships with our clients, and I would love to see the same attention given to vendor relationships for committed MSPs. Instead of sticking to the basics – providing products to sell – provide ample marketing and sales resources, campaigns and ways to integrate our services with their product to maximize the value for MSPs and the clients we serve. Making it easier for us to educate, promote, highlight value and engage our clients on vendor products would save us a lot of time and allow us to meet vendor goals while still having time to provide stellar services to our clients.

CF: What new opportunities and challenges came with the global COVID-19 pandemic?

BB: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far-reaching. We felt so fortunate to be in the right business at the right time. It was rewarding to see just how many of our clients were already set up to succeed in a remote working model because of the work we have done for them over the years. Though we knew they would be OK, they were not completely ready yet because a lot of our clients simply were not used to working 100% remotely. Hearing the positive remarks about how seamlessly they were able to make the transition and maintain productivity after they were thrust into that model due to the pandemic was also extremely rewarding.

Out of the pandemic came several opportunities for us as well. We were able to quickly put together content and webinars to help those companies or individuals struggling to manage their new realities. While a lot of companies as entities were prepared, many individuals were not. We were able to guide many through the process of converting space in their homes to an “office,” how to use unified communications platforms and other tips and tricks that helped them ease into a work from anywhere model while still being efficient and productive. We also found many businesses had to throw solutions together to make their transition happen quickly. This introduced a lot of technical debt. We worked with companies to find the best long-term solutions, wrote policies and assisted with overhaul and reduced their technical debt, saving them …

Company Name: Iuvo Technologies
Company MSP 501 Rank: 401
President & CEO: Byron Beilman
Headquartered: Westford, MA
Primary Services:

• IT infrastructure
• Networking
• IT operations
• IT support
• Business continuity

Twitter: @iuvotech

M&A has impacted Iuvo Technologies more than COVID-19 impacted the MSP.

That’s according to Bryon Beilman, president and CEO of the Massachusetts-based company. The MSP has witnessed a significant amount of M&A on the customer side recently. Beilman said his team pursues a customer profile that often appeals to buyers. And for Beilman and Iuvo, this is an opportunity to prove themselves once again.

The company landed on the MSP 501 list this year. That makes two consecutive appearances for Iuvo. The company also earned a spot in this year’s Channel Partners Excellence in Digital Services Awards

Beilman spoke to Channel Futures about the company, its latest initiatives, M&A and his perspective on the MSP channel.

Channel Futures: What is one thing you wish vendors would do that they don’t?

Iuvo Technologies’ Bryon Beilman

Bryon Beilman: Vendor partnerships are interesting. We make sure we only partner with the products and vendors we believe in. It is extremely important to us that we only promote products that meet a certain standard and are best for our client businesses. Having had many vendor relationships over the years, there is certainly one thing that stands out that I would love to see get more attention. I would love if vendors would do more for their partners than simply provide products to sell.

We have based our business model on seeking out functional two-way partnerships with our clients, and I would love to see the same attention given to vendor relationships for committed MSPs. Instead of sticking to the basics – providing products to sell – provide ample marketing and sales resources, campaigns and ways to integrate our services with their product to maximize the value for MSPs and the clients we serve. Making it easier for us to educate, promote, highlight value and engage our clients on vendor products would save us a lot of time and allow us to meet vendor goals while still having time to provide stellar services to our clients.

CF: What new opportunities and challenges came with the global COVID-19 pandemic?

BB: The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been far-reaching. We felt so fortunate to be in the right business at the right time. It was rewarding to see just how many of our clients were already set up to succeed in a remote working model because of the work we have done for them over the years. Though we knew they would be OK, they were not completely ready yet because a lot of our clients simply were not used to working 100% remotely. Hearing the positive remarks about how seamlessly they were able to make the transition and maintain productivity after they were thrust into that model due to the pandemic was also extremely rewarding.

Out of the pandemic came several opportunities for us as well. We were able to quickly put together content and webinars to help those companies or individuals struggling to manage their new realities. While a lot of companies as entities were prepared, many individuals were not. We were able to guide many through the process of converting space in their homes to an “office,” how to use unified communications platforms and other tips and tricks that helped them ease into a work from anywhere model while still being efficient and productive. We also found many businesses had to throw solutions together to make their transition happen quickly. This introduced a lot of technical debt. We worked with companies to find the best long-term solutions, wrote policies and assisted with overhaul and reduced their technical debt, saving them …

ConnectWise, in true ConnectWise form, had some major news to kick off its virtual IT Nation Connect conference. The provider announced it has acquired Perch Security and StratoZen, two cybersecurity firms dedicated to the needs of SMBs. 

The acquisitions aim to change the way technology service providers (TSPs) and managed service providers (MSPs) think about security. The objective is to eliminate the many silos around point solutions that plague the MSP industry.

ConnectWise’s Brian Downey

“We’ve been looking at the MSP and security market for a long time,” said Brian Downey, vice president of security product management, ConnectWise. “We started to see some commonalities in terms of the PSA and RMM market. The vendor community has gotten in the habit of providing new tools to solve various challenges. This has left MSPs with more tools than they know what to do with. Our goal was to solve this. These acquisitions will accelerate unifying that data and allowing MSPs to draw actionable results out of it. They will also now have the capabilities to analyze and automate that data.”

ConnectWise Fortify

The two cybersecurity firms have capabilities that will complement each other. As part of the ConnectWise Fortify security management solution, these technologies will provide data management capabilities both as a service and as core technology in the ConnectWise Fortify SOC. Perch says it provides the only MSP-designed SIEM in the industry. This massively simplifies things while providing the multitenant functionality MSPs need to support multiple SMB clients. Not only that, it easily captures data from the systems it is monitoring for cyberattacks on behalf of their customers.

StratoZen’s advanced automation and data analysis capabilities come into play on the data side of things. These capabilities take the data gathered from the Perch SIEM and turn it into actionable insights. This will help MSPs pounce on false positives and respond faster and more accurately, involving fewer people.

“Good security requires answering some basic questions that can be difficult to answer: What are my risks? How do I know when I’m under attack? And how do I respond?” said Downey. “The reason it’s hard is because our industry has taken the flawed approach of adding more tools, more staff, more complexity — all contributing to silos of chaos. With Perch and StratoZen, we’re changing that approach, capturing only the data MSPs need and helping them make sense of it so they can protect their customers more effectively and efficiently.”

Silos of Chaos

ConnectWise’s Jason Magee

“Just as we sought to control the ‘Silos of Chaos’ with our PSA and RMM solutions, we’re now doing it for cybersecurity. We want to make cybersecurity less complex for TSPs. [We do this] by providing technology that makes it easy to collect, assess and respond to security data from many different point products,” said Jason Magee, CEO, ConnectWise. “The acquisitions of these two cybersecurity firms are about far more than the technology. We are gaining extremely talented and innovative colleagues with a deep understanding of cybersecurity, and a laser focus on what their partners need to succeed. We’re going to infuse these strengths into the ConnectWise brand and partner experience.” 

“We recognized the economics of things,” said Jeff Bishop, chief product officer, ConnectWise. “We knew that we couldn’t keep layering cost on top of cost. At an endpoint and end-user level, enterprise costs won’t scale in the SMB market. This strategy is financially feasible for an MSP to take to these small and midsize businesses.”

The company also provided an update on ConnectWise Fusion. The unified platform and the future platform will support all ConnectWise products.

The latest Palo Alto Networks acquisition is Expanse, an automated attack surface management provider. The purchase is for $800 million in cash and equity awards.

Palo Alto Networks will add Expanse to its product suite. The deal, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, should wrap before the end of the year.

The acquisition will add $67 million in annual recurring revenue to Palo Alto Networks.

New Lead Generator

Nikesh Arora is chairman and CEO of Palo Alto Networks. He said Expanse will be a lead generator for his company.

Expanse’s internet collection and attribution platform constantly monitors the global internet. It maps exposed and untracked assets that comprise customers’ attack surfaces. It also evaluates and prioritizes risk, and provides mitigation.

Expanse’s data provides CISOs with a view of the enterprise from the outside, representing the view an attacker sees as they probe for points of weakness.

Palo Alto Networks’ Nikesh Arora

“It’s like bringing in a security expert from the outside who says, ‘That window’s open and that door’s open — Why’s that door open? it doesn’t have the right things it needs to be in place for that door to be open,’” Arora said. “So you can find the errors from the other side when you’re scanning the outside. You can also say, ‘Oh, I see that; that’s a known malware and that’s a known security vulnerability. Why is that exposed to the internet?’ So it’s busy looking from the outside in to see what [you] see when you believe you’ve done all your work from the inside out.”

CISOs and CIOs Will Be Interested

Once combined, the Expanse platform will beef up the Cortex product suite. It will provide organizations with a complete, integrated view of the enterprise.

“It’s typically something that a CISO or CIO at that senior level is interested in,” Arora said. “Once you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.”

Palo Alto Networks‘ customer base includes 1,600 of the Forbes Global 2,000, as well as many governments around the world. Expanse is applicable to those 1,600 customers and those governments, Arora said.

Expanse’s customers include Fortune 500 organizations in the financial, health care, entertainment and technology industries, as well as government organizations.

Expanse co-founders Tim Junio and Matt Kraning will join Palo Alto Networks.

“Expanse’s mission is to discover and mitigate risks for our customers that no one else can find,” Junio said. “The world’s largest and most complex organizations trust Expanse to continuously discover, inventory, monitor and report against their dynamically changing attack surface. Matt and I look forward to joining forces with Palo Alto Networks to help secure the internet for enterprises and governments around the world.”

Komprise partners are getting an expanded partner program with new cloud-training certifications, incentives and partner tools.

Since the launch of the Konnect Partner Program, the company has onboarded more than 50 new partners. Moreover, hundreds of partner employees have gone through technical training and certification. Komprise provides analytics-driven data management as a service (DMaaS).

The expanded program is available to Komprise partners now.

Mike Munoz is Komprise’s new chief revenue officer. He previously was CRO of OpsRamp and Skyhigh Networks, which aMcAfee acquired nearly three years ago.

Komprise’s Mike Munoz

“We recognized that there were a massive number of partners being driven to us through our alliance relationships with Microsoft and Amazon, as well as those more traditional OEMs such as HPE and IBM,” he said. “As a result, we needed a more comprehensive approach to signing and onboarding new partners.”

New Features

The expanded Konnect Partner Program now includes:

• Instructor-led training courses in Europe and Asia Pacific, as well as new online training modules.
• New integrated labs with cloud data management and cloud data migration modules to ensure knowledge transfer, with knowledge checks along the way.
• An updated partner portal with a deal registration program to protect margins while maintaining account control. There’s also a built-in TCO calculator for partners to estimate how much customers can save with Komprise.
• Fast Finish Program and MDF funds for top reseller partners.

The Komprise technical professional training certification allows partners to size, deploy and use Komprise Intelligent Data Management.

Fast Finish incentives reward partners with bigger sales margins when they help customers get to the cloud faster and smarter.

“We’re welcoming all types of partners who have interest in driving a paradigm with the ability to create a strong recurring revenue model and great margin,” Munoz said. “We have seen particular interest from ISVs and cloud-focused partners.”

Partner Feedback

Munoz said everything the company’s done was based on partner community feedback.

“We are confident it represents all that our partner community desires in a great partner program,” he said. “We were hearing that many were in need of a technology that helps address the hybrid cloud and multi-cloud issues that were plaguing their customer base. They now have a vendor and cloud-neutral platform that provides them the ability to drive substantial value.”

“The Sayers partnership with Komprise gives our clients a comprehensive data management solution that offers everything from assessment to implementation,” said Joel Grace, Sayers‘ senior vice president of infrastructure. “Through the NAS Assessment we’ve developed with Komprise, we provide joint clients valuable insights to better plan their data management before they spend more money.”

Synnex Stellr became a brand in May 2019. But the public debut of the Stellr Marketplace and community didn’t happen until this week at Synnex StellrCon (virtual). Also introduced is the new 2021 Stellr Connect Partner Benefits Program.

Stellr is the collection of cloud, mobility and IoT within Synnex from a business strategy and go-to-market standpoint. Stellr tags itself as a trusted adviser, solutions aggregator and growth accelerator that helps partners innovate and adapt in a changing environment. The brand had a soft launch with a pilot group of partners.

Synnex’s Darren Harbaugh

“Over the last year, we’ve built a community of over 3,000 members,” Darren Harbaugh, senior vice president, North America, Synnex Stellr, told Channel Futures. “These members, through the Stellr Marketplace, have seen 70% growth year over year in recurring revenue. That’s significant growth as it relates to their recurring subscription businesses.”

The Stellr Connect community consists of select Synnex partners, solution providers, system integrators and VARs who focus on driving cloud, IoT, mobility and emerging technologies. The new partner program consists of three tiers with enablement aligned to a partner’s tier level.

More Partner Program Details

The three tiers are Connect, Connect+ and ConnectX. There are also three categories of benefits: sales enablement; education and training; and engineering, sales and marketing services.

The base Connect tier is for any transacting partner interested in growing their cloud, mobility or IoT business. These partners get information, training and services designed to grow their business.

The Connect+ tier is for partners bringing in $40,000 or more in monthly recurring revenue, or activating at least 100 devices per month. Connect+ partners are eligible for market develop funds, sales incentives, on-demand sales trainings, and exclusive invitations to events, conferences and roadshows.

Top tier partners occupy the ConnectX tier. These partners bring in $90,000 or more in monthly recurring revenue, or activating at least 500 devices per month. ConnectX partner benefits include invitations to roundtables with Synnex executives and industry leaders, one-on-one monthly business coaching, additional funding for market development, and more.

The types of partners getting the most out of Synnex Stellr are emerging partners that cross the emerging cloud, mobility and IoT space. Synnex offers other complementary specialized programs such as CollabSolv, ConvergeSolv, etc.

“These are complementary programs for partners who are expanding their capabilities in a real-time fashion. From a profile standpoint, cloud, mobility and IoT is the macro profile we’re looking for. These partners driving subscription-based emerging businesses seem to benefit the most [from Stellr],” said Harbaugh.

2021 Stellr Objectives

What the 2021 objectives for Stellr?

The first is collaboration solutions, inclusive of video conferencing, UC, through the Stellr marketplace. This also includes building cloud management tools and API integrations for partners to add their own unique value. The second area of focus is work-from-home, or remote learning, solutions. The third objective is mobility, 5G and networking.

On Monday, Synnex launched its 5G Acceleration Initiative delivered via the Synnex mobility program. The new initiative helps mobility resellers determine the types of 5G technology that is available across carriers and markets. Synnex says the program provides a framework for partners to leverage opportunities across industry verticals that enable new solutions beyond what 4G could deliver. Examples of new solutions are wayfinding and AR/VR for assisted care, enhanced workforce collaboration and mobile HD streaming solutions for enterprise. Also, AR for public safety applications, and infotainment and smart shopping in retail.

The 5G Acceleration Initiative is available to U.S. channel partners.

Ross Artale, president and COO of SpectroTel, has worked hard to build the telecommunications provider around the channel. An active advocate for the channel, Artale has proven to be a visionary leader. During his nearly 30 years of telecommunications experience, he has built a record of creating best-in-class service organizations. He joined Spectrotel as vice president of operations in 2007, and was promoted to COO in 2012. He was named president the following year.

Artale has led the transformation of Spectrotel from a regional CLEC to a national next-generation integrated solutions provider and MSP, quadrupling the company’s revenue during his tenure. He is responsible for managing and leading all day-to-day operations including sales, product management, marketing, network operations, engineering and IT. 

Spectrotel’s Ross Artale

We sat down with Artale to dig a little deeper into what makes him such an inspiring and driven channel leader.

Channel Futures: What attributes do you think next-gen channel leaders must have? 

Ross Artale: We live in a digital world and next-gen channel managers ought to be comfortable evangelizing their messaging on social media and developing video content to drive marketing enablement for the channel. In addition, it is critical to keep up with the rapid technology changes that the Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring the channel and the world in the next five years.

CF: Your profile says that you have built SpectroTel around the channel and for the channel. Can you expand upon that? 

RA: Our distribution is 100% channel-based. We do not have a direct sales force, so there is zero channel conflict. We’ve always understood that business from the channel has to be earned. If we, as a telecommunications provider, execute and provide great service, the channel will reward us with growth. If not, there are hundreds of other options out there for partners. That philosophy has served us well and always keeps us on our toes.

CF: If you had to sum up the current channel ecosystem in a few sentences, what would you say? 

RA: The ecosystem is thriving, expanding and evolving rapidly as the adoption of and convergence of digital transformation, cloud, security, hardware, and associated services expand the distribution to a limitless highway of opportunity. 

CF: What is one thing that people commonly misunderstand about the channel? 

RA: We often see people in the channel as the most successful sales people. In reality, the channel has some of the most amazing and creative entrepreneurs and business owners.

CF: If you could give one piece of advice to partners, what would it be? 

RA: Invest in your back office. The most successful partners have the commonality of robust back offices (support, project management, etc.). 

CF: What do you think Spectrotel and other vendors should be doing that maybe they/you aren’t? 

RA: There is so much price compression. It’s very much a race to zero. At some point as an industry we have to demonstrate the value of our service and support and hold the line on pricing.  

CF: Any other thoughts on this award? 

RA: I’m very thankful for my team of all-stars at Spectrotel who ultimately deserve recognition for this prestigious award.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created massive uncertainty for tech businesses globally, prompting the need for flexibility and agility.

This presents quite a challenge for tech businesses that are set in their old ways. But there are free resources available to help you develop and retain a culture of flexibility and agility.

Organizations with such a culture are better able to survive and thrive in uncertain times.

CompTIA’s Estelle Johannes

In this Channel Evolution Europe keynote titled, “There is No New Normal: Plan for Change with an Agile Culture,” 1 December, Estelle Johannes, CompTIA‘s director of member communities, will provide insights on fostering a flexible and agile culture.

In a Q&A with Channel Futures, Johannes provides a sneak peek of the information she’ll share with attendees.

Channel Futures: What’s your definition of a culture of flexibility and agility?

Estelle Johannes: It is being an outcome-focused company versus having staff clock-in their hours. So mutual trust is important for this to work. Adding in training to support staff and having clear guidelines will help to manage everyone’s expectations and have aligned goals. Then checking the temperature regularly, and this can be done via many methods, like a survey or anonymous suggestion box. Find ways to get employee feedback. Employees should feel like failure is learning and a step closer to success.

Many of our members say that being agile is about bringing people and processes together, working within guidelines, but without boundaries to achieve it. Make space for creativity, innovation, and quickly to adapt to change.

CF: How can having a flexible and agile culture help tech businesses survive and thrive during difficult times like the ongoing pandemic?

EJ: It’s having increased innovation and critical thinking, and having employees and clients stay loyal to your business.

CF: How do you go about establishing and maintaining a culture of flexibility and agility? Are there resources available to help?

EJ: Success leaves clues, so learning from industry peers, coaches and subject matter experts helps. Getting tools and guidance will be very useful, but you will get out of it what you put into it. So believing the culture from the C-suite down is essential, so you have that mindset.

Here are some resources:

CF: What are some pitfalls to avoid when establishing such a culture?

EJ: Communicate, listen and be inclusive. Ensure that you get buy-in from all levels, so it’s carried out, believed and championed by the whole company.

CF: What do you hope attendees learn and can make use of from your keynote?

EJ: I hope attendees look at how they can rethink their internal and external processes to help their business succeed.