PHONE+ Presents “Solutions Providers Blueprint”
PHONE+ magazine is pleased to announce the theme of The Fall 2005 Channel Partners Conference & Agenda: “Your Solutions Provider Blueprint.”
“Being a converged solutions provider is what it’s all about,” says PHONE+ Group Publisher Marla Ellerman. “It’s no longer sufficient to be a voice agent or a data VAR. You’ve got to be both, or partner to deliver both.”
The blurring of the lines between voice and data is growing and including ever more disciplines including in-building security and controls that also ride the converged IP network. “If you are only thinking about communications applications, you are limiting your earning potential,” says Ellerman. “There are add-ons in video surveillance, for example, that can help you grow your revenue from existing customers or drive interest from new ones.’
Ellerman says The Fall Channel Partners Conference & Expo explores this broadening focus for the channel and offers them a “blueprint” to becoming a solutions provider.
Attendees can tap vendors that can help them lay a strong foundation by mixing wireline and wireless network services and premises equipment with professional and managed services. Expert speakers will discuss how to layer on applications - voice, data, video, content, security and more.
To make this happen, PHONE+ has teamed with key industry organizations to present its most forward-looking educational opportunity to date. Each of these groups will bring the invaluable perspective of their memberships to the convergence discussion - both in the classrooms and on the expo floor.
The kick-off roundtable, for example, will feature practitioners and vendors sounding off on the multidisciplinary future of the channel. What and who is driving convergence? What is the end game? Where and when will today’s discrete business models overlap? What partners are best positioned to win? When does partnering make sense? What do you have to do to stay in the game?
This thought-provoking session will be followed by tactical convergence topics running the gamut from smart buildings to converged applications platforms. Business development sessions present guidance on sensible diversification strategies.
Mobility, security and voice/data integration also are the key themes in the exhibition hall. More than 100 vendors of services and equipment will offer key building blocks for the converged “solutions provider” portfolio.
What’s GE Got to Do with It?
In his special address at The Fall 2005 Channel Partners Conference & Expo, Jim Clark, vice president of global sales and marketing for GE Security, will tell attendees why the security division of this multibilliondollar company - one of the most valued and recognized brands in the world - is suddenly interested in telecom and its channel.
Clark, a 15-year veteran of the security industry, will put solutions providers on notice to a sweeping change in the market toward convergence of not only voice and data, but also video, security and in-building controls, which all are IP-based.
Clark joined GE in 2001 and is an executive board member of the Security Industry Association (SIA) and chair of SIA’s Education Committee. He also sits on the board of the Open Security Exchange. A business graduate of the University of New York, Regents, Clark also attended Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business where he studied marketing.
Don’t miss this address at 1:15 p.m., Sept. 20 - the kick-off to this business-building conference program - for solutions providers by solutions providers.
Build Your Business …
WITH FUTURE-PROOFING ADVICE …
- Thought-Leading Keynotes
- Set the Agenda
- Thought-Provoking Roundtables
- Make Sense of Convergence
AND HOW-TO COURSES …
- Three Concurrent Tracks
- Best Practices, Technology, Strategy
- Association Workshops
- In-Depth Seminars
COVERING …
- Hot Technologies
- VoIP, Wireless, Security
- New Opportunities
- In-Building IP Networks, Security, Automation
- Business Transformation
- Partnering, Diversification
- Growth Paths
- Sales Tips, Skills Building
Register by Aug. 19 for the Early Bird Discount!
For Attendee Information, call Jerry Murphy, +1 480 990 1101, ext 1161.
For Exhibits/Sponsorships, call Danica Cullins, +1 480 990 1101, ext. 1200.