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A New Normal – Dealing with Disruption at Work

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Disruption. A word commonly used in the tech world that carries a positive connotation regarding the change in status quo. Fail Fast. An expression commonly used in the tech world that embraces failure as a guiding direction, allowing navigation towards success. Pivot. Yet another word commonly used to describe a change in business direction, usually followed by Fail Fast. The above-mentioned have been used for years to help encourage risk-taking and spur innovation but it’s been used as a directive from leadership in organizations that focus on such things. Now, globally, companies are being forced to do so without first having the opportunity to prepare themselves for such a journey. Disruption, in this case, is seemingly terrible. Even moreso, it’s nearly impossible to Fail Fast if you weren’t prepared and never planned for a secondary or even tertiary strategy. It just feels like failure. So, how do you pivot and in what direction do you do so? 

Many companies are now struggling with a directive that forces employees to work remotely when there was not a cohesive plan in place to execute this and there are many items that need to be addressed before being able to do this well. How do your employees remote into a secure connection to transmit sensitive company data? Should everyone have the same access once they do remote in? What’s the best physical setup for an employee to work from home? How do you manage BYOD devices? What do you do about external threats? How do you protect company data? How do you protect against internal data exfiltration? This could all seem very daunting if you’ve never before looked into these topics but there are specific steps you can take to deliver a comprehensive and safe work from home solution. 

According to the Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), guidelines have already been established. And while the Guide to Enterprise Telework and Remote Access Security was created nearly a decade ago, these standards still hold true today. Any business can use this guidance as a roadmap to getting their workforce fully functioning while remotely deployed. This publication covers various topics of the remote working environments and remote access, such as VPN, Remote Desktop, Virtual Machines, Authentication, Access Control, Client Device Security, Data Encryption and a summary of recommendations per topic. Failing isn’t foreign to anyone or any company and it’s never a bad thing as long as we use it as a teaching moment, treating it like a tuition payment for future preparedness. Collectively, we can use our failures and misses to push us towards a picture of what success should be. Ultimately, if you’re certain of where you don’t want to be then you’ll have a better idea of where you want to end up.

6 Factors of Channel Success

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The most frequently asked question I hear from vendors is:

What do I need to do to be successful in the channel?

First, some background on what has shaped my perspective. I spent eight years at CDW, with exposure to channel programs from vendors of all sizes. I then started 3Eye, where our focus is on vendors who fall into one of these two categories:

1. “Emerging” – what I define as new or relatively new to selling through indirect channels
2. “Mid-market” – what I define as less than ~$50M in annual channel revenue.

Disclaimer: I’m not going to go into detail on the pros and cons of selling through the channel in this post, rather I’m just going to focus on the characteristics demonstrated by successful emerging and mid-market vendors. For now, if you’re interested in a brief read on the pros and cons of the channel, check out this write-up and stay tuned to this blog a future posting on the topic.

Whether you are selling hardware, software, or cloud services, you need a critical mass of customers who have already bought your product. You’ll need some customers to go on record stating that your product helped them achieve a better business outcome. Before you engage with the channel, you’ll also need a well-defined sales process that is clear and straightforward….and you must be able to translate it into something your channel can easily digest and repeat.

According to CompTIA, “Estimates suggest that 65-75% of IT products and services sold to businesses in the United States are delivered through or influenced by the indirect channel…Channel-influenced sales then equate to $350-400 billion of IT product and service sales in the United States.”

If you focus on the customer experience, many customers prefer to purchase through a channel partner. There is often less friction for your customers to buy through a channel partner, perhaps due to contracts, supplier consolidation, the difficulty of new vendor setup, pricing, or relationships. The channel helps you meet your customers where they are.

With that said, channel partners are not market makers. They are best viewed as demand amplifiers. You have to be able to generate demand that your channel partners can fulfill. Channel partners want to work with established technologies that have defined markets. Many vendors think they don’t need to market through partners, but they are mistaken. You’re going to have to invest in through-partner marketing and demand gen activities. Which leads nicely to my next point…

Like any go-to-market, selling through the channel takes time and money. Signing up resellers is the easy part (and signing up resellers is no small feat). Activating those resellers takes time, money, and a focused strategy. In addition to margin for your channel, you’ll need to invest in programs, to-partner and through-partner marketing, content development, and staffing. If you want to check out our approach, here’s a page that shows how we funnel programs to our partner community.

This should be obvious. However, there are a lot of ambitious sales and business development execs who try to build their own partner networks without executive buy-in. Your executive leadership needs to be aligned with your channel strategy, plain and simple.

Companies that are serious about succeeding in the channel take the time to get their sales compensation plan aligned to a pro-channel model. This is often referred to as “comp neutral” when your sales rep is paid the same commission no matter which channel the deal is sold through. Many channel leaders even create a “channel uplift” where their sales force is paid a higher commission for partner sales.

Some companies transition to a 100% channel model, where all sales flow through their partner network. The bottom line: if you compensate your sales reps more for deals they take direct, it will add a lot of friction to your channel engagement, and often create conflict between your channel and your direct sellers. Your channel partners have a long memory – the perception that you compete with them is a very tough one to overcome. Take the time to plan your sales compensation model now, with the channel in mind.

Just like the 50/50 raffle at the Friday night ballgame, you must be present to win. You have to engage with your partner network. Capturing mindshare is an ongoing battle. Like Woody Allen said, 80% of success is showing up. Of course, aligning with your channel partners’ strategies, bringing the right enablement tools and knowing how to engage across the organization all helps too. But it starts with being around.


In Summary
These strategies have been used by channel leaders both large and small to grow their business. Channel success, while not easy, is not a mystery – embracing these concepts will increase your probability of success.

I hope you found some helpful advice and/or inspiration! I’ll be back with another post soon.

References
CompTIA. (2016, October). 5th Annual State of the Channel. Retrieved from CompTIA: https://www.comptia.org/resources/5th-annual-state-of-the-channel

Why 3Eye?

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When I was asked to write “Why 3Eye?” I really had to think and then collect my thoughts. Not because there wasn’t enough to say, but because there are SO many reasons why I love to work here and why I think others should want to work here too. How do I get all those things down and make it into one cohesive piece for people to read? Well…. I narrowed it down to my top 3.


#1 – Culture
When you think of what you want to find in a new job, culture may not be the first thing on your mind but in truth it can make or break your experience at a company. Culture is defined as the sum of attitudes, customs, and beliefs that distinguishes one group of people from another. The culture makes the company. The culture at 3Eye is unlike any that I have been a part of in my working life history. It is a culture built on hard work, caring about one another, and fun. It is unique, it is special, and it is something that we pride ourselves on and work to preserve with each passing day.

How do we do this? Well, we focus on teamwork, Team Fun, and family. The teamwork comes from collaboration between all departments and transparent and timely feedback in all situations. The Team Fun comes from activities and potlucks that are planned by E2, AKA myself and my awesome co-chair, Frosty. Potlucks take place in our cafeteria and are often themed with the time of year or national holidays. They are known for way too much food and maybe a game or two. The activities have been things like trivia night, bowling, and visiting local attractions, such as the bird sanctuary. And then we have family; family may be mentioned last here but it doesn’t come last to anyone at 3Eye. We believe that there should be a balance between work and family. Family is important and should be treated as such. 3Eye is a place that is excited about your child’s soccer game, your significant other’s promotion ceremony, and even your dog’s visit to the vet…and we don’t want you to miss those things. You don’t find that outlook everywhere.


#2 – Industry
3Eye is a value-added distributor of mobility and cloud solutions. Confused? I was too at first. What does that even mean? Mobility is the quality of being mobile or moving around. We don’t sell the computer, tablet, or phone that you or your company uses but we do sell all the other parts that make it awesome. Hardware to mount and protect it, antennas to enhance the connection, software to keep it connected and programs to keep your information safe. What good is any of that equipment nowadays if you can’t move around with it? One of the things you can guarantee with technology is that it is ALWAYS changing. So why not work in an industry that is always working with the next best thing? It is never dull, it is growing rapidly, and there is always something new and exciting around the corner.


#3 – Growth
3Eye is growing, rapidly year over year. You should work here because you would be joining a company that is still small but does BIG things. There is a chance for upward mobility and the ability to try new things. We focus on not just the job, but career development. We want to train you to do your job the very best that you can and if you set your sites on another job here we want to help you attain that too. We see your success as our success and your happiness as ours. Our team is our most valued asset and we strive to have our actions show that.

I really could keep going, and if you decide to apply for one of our openings now or in the future I would be glad to share even more with you. You should go to our careers page and check out the positions we have open right now. We would love to hear from you!