100 Most Visible Channel Leaders - 2016

I have written in the past about Paul Revere and the applicability to the IT/Telecom Channel. It came from a chapter in Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point book. In the 'Law of the Few', Gladwell explains that a very select group of people are responsible for the "tipping" of almost all social epidemics. These people are special for their incredible abilities to communicate, teach, and persuade.

Check it out here.

Starting way back in 2009, when I moved to the U.S. from Canada, I began my fascination with how a huge global industry, with tens of millions of people across hundreds of thousands of companies, could be boiled down to about 100 influencers and superconnectors.

Back then, I collected all 16 channel magazines, attended dozens of tradeshows, studied associations, peer groups, bloggers and activity on social media and manually created a master spreadsheet. Every time I came across a keynote speaker, top industry list, writer, board member, trainer, community leader, or vendor/distributor executive, I would write their name, company and title down along with one check-mark. If I came across them again, another check-mark was given.

My hypothesis was that these connectors and influencers would be omnipresent in the industry - showing up at different shows, articles, press releases, top industry lists, communities, radio shows, and so on. A quick sort on check-marks would give me a visibility list - and what I thought was a solid influence list.

And I was mostly right.

Fast forward to today and I continue to keep track of numerous industry sources to keep the list updated. In fact, there are 36 sources that I regularly update including lists of channel leaders from leading global channel magazines, keynote speakers, various board and advisory council members, and others.

Disclaimer:  This is an objective view of the data - a scoring algorithm based on visibility across 36 different communities, importance factor, and timing recency. 

I do have another more subjective list that ranks people based on perceived influence, reach and leadership in the industry - but that is for another day.  :-)

A couple of interesting anecdotes:

1. The research tracks 2,855 people with multiple community touchpoints across 1,702 companies.

2. Social media activity is high among the top 100 - 65% of them are on Twitter, with just under half of those having 1,000+ followers. 99% of them are on Linkedin - here is looking at you Mike Cullen :-)

Anyway, here is a stack-ranked list of the top 100 IT/Telecom industry leaders by visibility:

1.  Rob Rae, Vice President of Business Development , Datto   Points: 57

2.  Janet Schijns, Vice President Global Channels, Verizon   Points: 50

3.  Dave Sobel, Senior Director of Partner Community, Solarwinds MSP   Points: 49

4.  Len DiCostanzo, SVP, Community and Business Development, Autotask   Points: 48

5.  Arnie Bellini, CEO, ConnectWise   Points: 48

6.  MJ Shoer, Chief Technology Officer, Internet & Telephone   Points: 44

7.  Vince Tinnirello, CEO, Anchor Network Solutions   Points: 41

8.  Craig Schlagbaum, VP, Indirect Channel Sales, Comcast   Points: 40

9.  Brooks McCorcle, President, Partner Solutions, AT&T   Points: 38

10.  Scott Barlow, VP, Global MSP, Sales & Marketing   Points: 37

11.  Ted Roller, Owner, GetChanneled   Points: 36

12.  Gary Pica, Owner, TruMethods   Points: 34

13.  Arlin Sorensen, CEO & Founder, HTG Peer Groups   Points: 34

14.  Renee Bergeron, Vice President, Cloud Computing, Ingram Micro Inc.   Points: 31

15.  Larry Walsh, CEO and Chief Analyst, The 2112 Group   Points: 30

16.  Jason Bystrak, Executive Director - The Americas, Ingram Micro   Points: 30

17.  Mary Ellen Grom, VP US Marketing, Synnex   Points: 29

18.  Dave Seibert, President, SMB TechFest   Points: 29

19.  Wendy Bahr, SVP Global Partner Organization, Cisco Systems   Points: 28

20.  Dina Moskowitz, CEO, SaaSMAX Corp.   Points: 28

21.  Shannon Mayer, Vice President of Channel Development, ASCII   Points: 28

22.  Neal Bradbury, Co-founder & VP of Channel Development, Intronis Inc.   Points: 28

23.  David Graffia, VP Sales, dinCloud   Points: 28

24.  Mike Cullen, VP of Sales, Solarwinds MSP   Points: 28

25.  Tiffani Bova, Global, Customer Growth and Innovation Evangelist, Salesforce   Points: 27

26.  Stuart Crawford, CEO, Ulistic   Points: 27

27.  Karl Palachuk, Owner, Small Biz Thoughts   Points: 27

28.  Ted Hulsy, VP of Marketing, eFolder   Points: 27

29.  Ed Correia, CEO, Sagacent Technologies   Points: 27

30.  Stuart Selbst, President, Infratactix   Points: 26

31.  Nancy Hammervik, Senior Vice President Industry Relations, CompTIA   Points: 26

32.  Toni Clayton-Hine, VP, Global Marketing & Value Proposition, Xerox   Points: 26

33.  Darrin Swan, CEO, CloudRunner   Points: 25

34.  Cheryl Cook, Vice President, Global Channels & Alliances, Dell   Points: 24

35.  Meredith Caram, Executive Director - AT&T Partner Solutions, AT&T   Points: 24

36.  Jamison West, Founder & CEO, Arterian   Points: 24

37.  Carmen Sorice, SVP, Global Channel Sales and Programs, Sungard AS   Points: 24

38.  Shannon Sbar, VP Channels North America, APC by Schneider Electric   Points: 24

39.  Leslie Bois, Vice President Channel Sales-North America , Kaspersky Lab   Points: 24

40.  Michelle Accardi, Chief Operating Officer, Star2Star Communications   Points: 24

41.  Brooke Cunningham, AVP, Global Partner Programs & Operations, Splunk   Points: 23

42.  Jeannine Edwards, Sr Director, Platform Strategy, ConnectWise   Points: 23

43.  Luis Alvarez, President & CEO, Alvarez Technology Group   Points: 23

44.  Dan Wensley, President, Passportal   Points: 23

45.  Alessandra Brambilla, Vice President WW, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise   Points: 23

46.  Curtiz Gangi, Vice President, US Channels, Datacenter Segment, Eaton   Points: 23

47.  Frank Vitagliano, VP North American Partner Sales, Dell   Points: 23

48.  Bob Gault, EVP Worldwide Sales Services Channels, Extreme Networks   Points: 23

49.  Scott Dunsire, VP GM Americas Channels, Hewlett Packard Enterprise   Points: 23

50.  Todd Thibodeaux, CEO, CompTIA   Points: 22

51.  Bill Lipsin, VP Worldwide Channels, NetApp   Points: 22

52.  Amy Babinchak, Owner, ThirdTier   Points: 22

53.  Theresa Caragol, Founder & Consultant, Theresa Caragol Consulting   Points: 22

54.  Kevin Royalty, Managing Partner, Total Care Computer Consulting   Points: 22

55.  Susan Bradley, Partner, TSHB   Points: 22

56.  Justin Crotty, Senior Vice President Channel Sales and Marketing, NetEnrich   Points: 21

57.  Tracy Pound, Managing Director, Maximity Limited   Points: 21

58.  Carolyn April, Senior Director of Industry Research, CompTIA   Points: 21

59.  Barbara Spicek, VP Worldwide Channel Sales, Gigamon   Points: 21

60.  Colleen Kapase, VP Partner GTM, Incentives and Programs, VMWare   Points: 21

61.  Donna Grothjan, VP WW Channel Distribution, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise   Points: 21

62.  Kendra Krause, VP Channels, Sophos   Points: 21

63.  Cindy Bates, Vice President US SMB, Microsoft   Points: 20

64.  Kimberly Martin, VP, Worldwide Partner Strategy & Sales, Citrix Systems   Points: 20

65.  Erick Simpson, Co-Founder, Senior Vice President and CIO, SPC International   Points: 20

66.  Terry Hedden, CEO, Marketopia   Points: 20

67.  James Foxall, President, Tigerpaw Software   Points: 20

68.  Ron Culler, CTO, Secure Designs Inc.   Points: 20

69.  Carl Mazzanti, Founder and CEO, eMazzanti Technologies   Points: 20

70.  Colleen Browne, Director, NA Channel and Enterprise Sales, Viewsonic   Points: 20

71.  Linda Brotherton, General Manager, ConnectWise   Points: 20

72.  Alex Rogers, CEO, CharTec   Points: 20

73.  Mary Campbell, Vice President of Marketing, D&H Distributing   Points: 20

74.  Steven Banks, President, Banks Consulting Northwest Inc.   Points: 20

75.  Jeanne Hopkins, Senior Vice President & CMO, Continuum Managed Services   Points: 19

76.  Vincent Brissot, Head of Channel Marketing & Operations, HP   Points: 19

77.  Marie Rourke, Owner & President, WhiteFox Marketing and Communications   Points: 19

78.  Greg VanDeWalker, SVP and General Manager, GreatAmerica Leasing   Points: 19

79.  Paul Dippell, CEO, Service Leadership   Points: 19

80.  Julie Hens, Vice President, U.S./Canada Channels Distribution, Cisco Systems   Points: 19

81.  Craig West, SVP, Channel Sales, NetSuite   Points: 19

82.  Jim Lippie, Chief Advisor, Clarity Channel Advisors   Points: 19

83.  Nancy Reynolds, Vice President, Americas Channel Sales, LogRhythm   Points: 19

84.  Barry Williams, Executive Director, Indirect Channel Sales, Comcast   Points: 19

85.  Robin Robins, Owner, Technology Marketing Toolkit   Points: 18

86.  Phil Sorgen, Corporate VP - U.S. Enterprise and Partner Group, Microsoft   Points: 18

87.  Jed Ayres, CEO, IGEL Technology   Points: 18

88.  Jane Cage, Managing Principal, InsightFive22   Points: 18

89.  Peter Sandiford, CEO, Netsone Technologies   Points: 18

90.  Jan Spring, Vice President, Channel Development, eFolder   Points: 18

91.  Gavin Garbutt, Strategic Advisor, VIPSoftware Co.   Points: 18

92.  Jerry Koutavas, President, ASCII   Points: 18

93.  Harry Brelsford, Director of Business Development, LeadSCORZ   Points: 18

94.  Terry Wise, Vice President, WW Alliances, Channels and Ecosystem, Amazon   Points: 18

95.  Vince Bradley, CEO, WTG   Points: 18

96.  Tricia Atchison, Vice President, Global Partner Marketing, CA Technologies   Points: 17

97.  Amy Luby, Vice President Sales - US, Sinefa   Points: 17

98.  Zak Karsan, Co-Founder, SecureEDEN   Points: 17

99.  Dee Dee Acquista, Vice President, WW Channel Sales, Proofpoint   Points: 17

100.  Erin Malone, Vice President, NA Channel Sales, Sophos   Points: 17

Next time you are at an industry conference, make sure to say hi to these folks. 

Applying the law of Kevin Bacon, you will be one-degree of separation of millions of people by knowing these leaders. Also, follow them on Twitter and Linkedin - some of the best thought leadership you will find anywhere!

Michelle Ragusa-McBain Named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 4 Role Models Who Inspire Girls to Pursue Tech Careers!

Congratulations to my wife, Michelle Ragusa-McBain, who was just named by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 4 Role Models Who Inspire Girls to Pursue Tech Careers! 

Link:  https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/283994

Think back to the last time you were asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Now think about why you gave the answer you did.

When you’re young, you don’t know what you don’t know -- and you can’t aspire to be something you don’t know either. Our early career preferences are shaped by what we read about or watch, what we learn in school and most directly, what we see the people around us doing for a living.

Today, research suggests that the presence of role models isn’t just essential to defining students’ dream jobs, but to rectifying the IT industry’s gender disparity.

Dispelling tech career stereotypes

Only 23 percent of middle and high-school girls surveyed said they had considered pursuing IT careers, according to CompTIA’s recent research report, Make Tech Her Story: What Needs to Change to Inspire Girls’ Pursuit of Tech Careers. Of the girls surveyed who hadn't envisioned IT in their future, 69 percent didn't know what these jobs entailed or what opportunities were available.

Surprisingly, exposure to technology classes and fondness for video games aren’t the main differentiators between girls who contemplate IT careers and those who don’t -- it’s role models. Although 37 percent of girls in the survey who knew a relative or friend who worked in IT, this number jumped to 60 percent among girls considering technology jobs.

Many girls today narrowly associate IT jobs with working in consumer tech support roles, or spending hours alone in a cubicle, crunching numbers on a screen. But when girls have a friend or relative who works in the industry, their perception of IT starts to expand beyond the stereotypes.

Ongoing mentorship from a passionate IT professional -- someone who can explain why she loves what she does -- gives girls a lens through which they can view their own futures.

If we expect to fill the almost 600,000 new IT jobs projected to be created by 2024, we need to inspire a new class of equal parts boys and girls to follow these career paths. This requires giving girls information: details about what skills are needed to work in IT (beyond math and science), the jobs that exist (beyond coding) and the multiplicity of benefits these jobs offer (from competitive salaries to the ability to travel and help others). Role models are some of the most powerful vehicles for delivering this information.

There are no strict criteria for who can be a strong role model. From founders to public servants, many women work in IT today whose stories can empower girls to consider this growing field. Here are four women with diverse backgrounds who take time (during and outside of their day jobs) to make the IT industry more open and supportive:

Angie Chang

Over the last decade, Angie Chang has worked tirelessly to create opportunities for women in IT. Her resume includes her having co-founded Women 2.0, an online and events-based community for female business and technology entrepreneurs, and having launched the Bay Area-chapter of Geek Girl Dinners, a group bringing local women in tech together for networking and talks hosted by brands like Microsoft and Facebook.

Today, Chang is a vice president at Hackbright Academy, a software engineering school that aims to increase women’s representation in the IT industry.

Michelle Ragusa McBain

Michelle Ragusa McBain is an 11-year Cisco veteran and mother of four devoted to making the technology sector more inclusive. Today, she serves as Cisco’s global customer and partner experience manager, overseeing the company’s alliance with Ingram Micro.

Since 2014, Ragusa McBain has been the executive chair of CompTIA’s Advancing Women in IT community, a group providing women with the resources they need to pursue and grow their IT careers, and helping technology employers create cultures that support a more diverse workforce.

Jessica Williams

Jessica Williams began her career by earning a master’s degree in information systems and then building a background in systems integration. But a trip to a Spark & Hustle event opened her eyes to the world of entrepreneurship. In 2011, Williams founded Tech Biz Gurl, a technology consultancy that advises business owners on everything from launching WordPress sites to managing email marketing campaigns.

Aside from holding Cisco and CompTIA certifications, Williams is a co-facilitator for WiSTEM, a 16-week educational program dedicated to assisting female technology entrepreneurs with funding, community and IT resources.

Brenna Berman

As the commissioner and CIO of Chicago’s Department of Innovation and Technology, Brenna Berman has set a new national standard for open, agile and data-driven local government. Role models played a crucial role in her career (which includes more than 10 years at IBM): her uncle was a pioneering computer science professor who introduced her to computers as early as kindergarten.

In addition to overseeing IT initiatives for the third largest city in America, Berman sits on the board of the Chicago Entrepreneurial Center, a nonprofit group that manages 1871, the city’s startup community hub.

In sum, for girls figuring about what to be when they grow up, information is power. Although parents and teachers play a major part in shaping girls’ preferences, role models are uniquely equipped to reshape girls’ perception of IT.

By sharing their stories and guidance, the women who represent today's small female fraction of the IT industry can make that industry more balanced tomorrow.

Entrepreneur Article written by TODD THIBODEAUX, President and Chief Executive Officer, CompTIA.

THE RISE OF SHADOW CHANNELS - 5 New Competitive Threats for IT and Telecom Partners

I have written extensively this year about the changes happening in the traditional IT and telecom channels. Here are some of the major industry trends that have accelerated these changes:

• 30% decline in the number of traditional channel partners since recession of 2008
• 40% of partner owner/principals plan to retire in the next 8 years
• 75% of technical professional services will be delivered by millennials at that time
• 72% of all customer technology decisions led by Lines of Business (growing to 90%)

We know that millennials are not joining leadership/ownership roles within traditional channel companies in sufficient numbers. Business models based on managed services, client/server management, hardware sales, and break-fix do not seem to be enticing the next generation.

Channel margins have been challenged for over a decade, with eroding hardware, software and services resell opportunities. Further, increased competition and more efficient tools and processes has commoditized the delivery of IT and telecom. There is also a degree of consumerization that threatens traditional cash cows with the rise of Apple, Google and the like.

Millennials are joining the broader technology industry and other industries that are radically transforming themselves into tech companies. Read the annual reports of the Fortune 500 and you would think that they are all technology companies.

The changes in how companies make technology decisions, led by the lines of business, used to be called “shadow IT” or “rogue IT”, but today is the new normal. This change in the customer buying journey has been heavily influenced and accelerated by several “shadow channels”.

Who are these shadow channels?

The shadow channel is a broad and diverse group of companies from all backgrounds who engage, influence, recommend and even resell technology to lines of business. It is useful to break them into categories:

1. SaaS ecosystem consultants and integration partners
2. Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)
3. Industry-based professional services firms
4.  “Born in the Cloud” IT and telecom firms
5.  Start-ups looking to disrupt traditional industries

Let’s take a closer look…

1.  SaaS ecosystem consultants and integration partners

The growth of the software-as-a-service industry since early in 2000 has been staggering. Major, multi-billion dollar revenue streams are still growing north of 30% - 15 years later.

We are now seeing clear winners in each of the line of business categories. For example, 10 years ago there were over 300 CRM solutions competing in a very fragmented market. Salesforce has now secured almost 1/5 of all CRM opportunity and competes in a more narrow, established market between on-premises and cloud offerings.

Other winners include companies like Marketo, Netsuite, Workday and many others. All of these winners have built impressive ecosystems around their products where all boats are rising – and quickly. For example, Salesforce has over 1,000 partners globally that drive over $20B in revenue. That is estimated to be $4.14 for every $1 a customer spends on the CRM license (according to IDC). Similar numbers are seen across all LOB ecosystems.

This is primarily consulting and integration revenue. The Salesforce ISV and customized developer partnerships drive billions of more dollars of value. In fact, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, outlined a $290B ecosystem opportunity value over the next 5 years for those that want to compete.

According to Goldman Sachs research, the SaaS economy drives $106B in revenue this year, growing by 30% CAGR for the foreseeable future. With the opportunity of $5 for every SaaS dollar, we are looking at a half-trillion dollar opportunity that hasn’t yet been realized. I personally don’t believe the number is that high, but anything multiplied by $106B is significant.


2.  Independent Software Vendors (ISVs)


Keeping on the Salesforce example, the ISV ecosystem is called AppExchange and it has 3,000 apps, generating 4 million downloads, $20B in ISV revenue (including a sizable chunk that Salesforce takes off the top in a revenue share). An impressive 75% of their customers use Apps in addition to the core software.

There are several unicorns (companies worth over $1B in market value) that are completely reliant on these SaaS ecosystems. Adding tools, workflow, customized and specialized industry solutions, and other value adds is a very lucrative environment for entrepreneurs. The investment community of venture capitalists are also eager to back companies in these ecosystems with hundreds of dedicated funds.

The shadow competition comes in the form of free services. In the rush to grab share, many ISVs (and the investment community behind them) measure recurring revenue on the software and tend to give away or look negatively upon one-time, project based services.

3.  Industry-based professional services firms


Every company is being forced to become a technology company. Whether it is a car company with Tesla sneaking up, transportation company with Uber, hospitality company with AirBNB, or any other of the 27 industries, technological disruption is threatening traditional companies with extinction.

This means that every ancillary service or consulting company supporting these industries is being forced into technology as well.

CompTIA did an excellent piece of research in late 2015 focused on the professional services vertical. Looking specifically at accounting, legal and marketing firms they drew a couple of important conclusions:

1. These verticals are huge, rivaling the size of the IT and Telecom Channel in terms of number of firms. The best estimate for IT firms in North America is 160,000 while legal has 190,000, accounting has 133,160 and marketing has 105,180.
2. More than just size, these companies are rapidly converging into the broader IT and Telecom space. For example, 51% of accounting firms resell software today, with 33% more considering it. The numbers are similar for offering IT compliance, consulting, advisory and assessments.

By the year 2020, more than 80% of accounting and marketing firms will be indistinguishable from traditional IT channel partners. Legal is slightly lower at 55%, but still heading the same direction.

Now think about every company, in every industry becoming a competitor for these technology dollars that lines of business are increasingly spending. This casts a huge shadow and is very tough to compete with.

4.  “Born in the Cloud” IT and telecom firms


Much has been written about born in the cloud – and most of it turned out to be wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, there are many successful companies that have been started in the cloud era, with business models purpose-built for this environment, and finding success as brokers, integrators and building trust within lines of business. I spoke at an Ingram Cloud event earlier in the year with 1,300 of these eager folks in attendance.

The great influx of millennial, born-in-the-cloud VARs and MSPs hasn’t materialized as predicted however. The technology industry is struggling to stay in the top 10 of most desired industries for college grads.

Technology is so intertwined with business today that younger people look to themselves as sales, marketing, HR, operations or finance leaders and that technology is an obvious and ubiquitous part of their job role.

With all that said, born in the cloud is still a formidable shadow channel as the skill level is high, business model optimized and energy level high.

5.  Start-ups looking to disrupt traditional industries


It is difficult to measure startups, as many countries don’t keep track. The best estimate from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor is there are about 613 million people trying to start about 396 million businesses. About one third will be launched, so you can assume 133 million new firm births per year, with just shy of 2 million of those being technology startups.

Forbes reported 50,000 companies get Angel funding in the US, with 4,000 of those moving on to secure venture capital funding per year.

These are big numbers – but safe to say that innovation and entrepreneurship is as hot as ever. Each of these companies have a new idea or, what they think, is a better way to do things.

The shadow channel effect is that traditional service-based opportunities could be automated, replaced or deemed redundant in the future. The traditional channel is not immune to the reported 47% of jobs that could be replaced by artificial intelligence, machines and robotics in the near future.

Summary


It is hard to predict the impact of each of these shadow channels against the future technology opportunity. We do know that competition for traditional partners is shifting from the business across the street to a myriad of influencers on end customers.

The good news is that the pie is also growing. The technology industry is expected to grow by 5.1% this year and is looking positive for years to come. The skills and resources to take advantage of this pie look much different than they did even 3 years ago.

The shadow channel is currently the wild west - the equivalent of where the traditional channel was maturity-wise in the early 1990’s. They are putting customer businesses at risk everyday by playing fast and loose with customer data, financial and even HR data. Proprietary information is flying everywhere across public clouds by smaller startups with little control or regard for the ramifications (or regulations).

The traditional channel has an opportunity to play a crucial role. Through strategic partnerships of their own, mergers, acquisitions, hiring/adopting the right skills, as well as business model changes, they can ensure that maturity is injected back into the system. Things like business continuity, security and compliance are critical requirements of  the LOBs – and very few in the shadow channels can execute at this point.

Initial Review of iPhone 7 Plus

Well, the 24 hour mark has hit since picking up my iPhone 7 Plus 128GB in flat black. Here are my initial thoughts.

Verdict:  Ho-hum

The acquisition process was more painful than normal. I faithfully stayed up to 3AM EST on preorder day and placed order for Michelle's Rose Gold 7 Plus as well as my own in fancy Jet Black Plus. Because the order went through at 3 minutes after 3:00am, the Jet Black was already showing late October for delivery.

Tip to Apple: After screwing up supply planning on the new Gold color a few years back, perhaps you should be more bullish on your customer's quest to get new colors. How about an early order window for all free trade-in contracts to test what the color/feature mix would be?

I was able to change over the order a few days later to a flat black version and secure delivery on the first day at 9:00am, September 16, 2016. Michelle was still out of luck on the Rose Gold into October.

The first major snag came on restore of new phone. After waiting almost an hour in the Apple Store for process to be complete, it failed at 1% with the following unhelpful message:

I decided to try again with an older backup - same thing, after 1 hour it failed at 1% remaining. I updated the phone to iOS 10.0.1 and tried again to no avail.  As a last resort, I followed the bare-metal restore to factory settings via the DFU Mode - also to no avail.

So, I was defeated. Started a new phone and downloaded hundreds of apps and tuned to what I remembered on my old phone. Next time I will back up to iTunes AND iCloud the night before. I lost my health history which seems to be the biggest issue.

After a long day (and night) - it was time to start Saturday fresh with a new phone.

First up: mow the grass while listening to music on headphones. I plugged the the new Lightning dongle adapter and Skull Candy headphones. Everything worked as advertised however I couldn't make out any improvement of digital over analog sound. There was an adverse effect - in 90 minutes of listening, it burned up 30% of my battery. I checked the battery monitor and "Music" was the culprit.

In the analog days, I could listen for hours and barely dent the battery. Does the new digital port have a big weakness?

Side bar: I applaud Apple for getting rid of the analog headphone jack. As an IBM/Lenovo guy for 17 years selling PCs, I do think it takes courage to take away the floppy, CD-ROM, serial and parallel ports, and now the last remaining analog remnant on their products. This was something that the Wintel industry would never do as they were focused on making enterprise clients happy - the consumer was always an afterthought.

Second up: Play with the family on the neighbors slide. This gave me a good chance to put the dual cameras to use. The 2X optical zoom and some of the advanced effects are a real leap forward. The ability to emulate some of the advanced DSLR portrait effects is really cool. Having 2 cameras working independently and having software stitch together the results will change the game for photography moving forward. Watch this space for incredible artistry.

Third up: Go see a Weird Al Yankovic concert and test out low-light settings. Because of the music battery fiasco early in the day, I did have to find a charger for the car ride over to Schenectady however. The video camera worked "at par" with previous phones in this environment. I was hoping for better focusability so the artist wasn't a white-out when a spotlight was on - but I wasn't able to take advantage of the 2 cameras here.

Other observations:

- They are obviously doing the big refresh on the 10 year anniversary with the iPhone 8. This seemed like more of a "S" release. I will call this my iPhone 6SS.

- I like the water resistance to IP67. Not as good as Samsung, but a big step forward for reliability and those occasional rain/boating accidents.

- Because the lower button is now digital and not a physical mechanism, the taptic feedback was cool. Took a number of times to get used to it. Also, to hard reset the phone, you need to hold down Power and Lower Volume buttons instead.

- iOS 10 is a linear improvement over previous versions. I am excited about the Siri integration within apps as well as mapping integrations with 3rd parties. The new Home app is a future win once the cost of IoT devices comes down. I refuse to be a wide early adopter of plastic devices that cost $300 a piece. Homekit is the much-needed industry standard for millions of devices that are coming to market - not an open standard by any means, but at least a popular one.

- Performance wise, I can't tell any difference on the new A10 chipset. Partially because these are not processing devices, the network is the bottleneck. I do like the dual stereo speakers and volume which is much higher than previous.

Conclusion: This is a linear bump to the product line - more of a "S" product than a new model. I will call this my iPhone 6SS Plus until the iPhone 8 comes out with things like wireless charging, edge to edge OLED screens, and more.

Nautical Adventures of the McBain Family

As a family, we love the cruising lifestyle.

Charting new ground across the North East and seeing new sights every time. Here is a visual of thousands of miles of waters and ports seen to date.

(CLICK TO MAKE LARGER)

More detailed trip plans are here:

http://www.jaymcbain.com/2015/07/the-bayliner-chronicles-1000-miles-in-2.html


And the backstory of how the nautical adventure life started:

http://www.jaymcbain.com/2014/12/my-nautical-story-adventure-on-high-seas.html

ChannelEyes Provides An Extra Set Of "Eyes" On Your Channel

OPTYX is a predictive analytics platform developed by the team at ChannelEyes that is 100% dedicated to indirect channel sales teams. It helps vendors by watching their partners, people and opportunities and providing real-time sales intelligence to drive more revenue. By analyzing millions of data points, both internally and externally, it calculates the impact that channels have on winning opportunities and the lift that partner interactions have.

It alerts channel sales people with the things they need to know, and prioritize when they need to action. Talking to the right partners at the right time about the right things can generate up to 10% lift in channel revenue.

By watching every opportunity in real-time, OPTYX generates a rolling confidence score based on 65 unique attributes. These scores are constantly changing and it understands what timely actions are needed to ensure success. Out of the box, it achieves over 90% accuracy on forecasting at an overall channel level.

It also watches each channel sales territory and builds stack-ranked lists of hard to measure KPI's. Answering the age-old question:

"Have you ever wondered if you have a great salesperson in a bad territory or a weak one in a good territory?"

By knowing the likelihood of winning every deal, OPTYX produces unique "save and fumble" reports by salesperson. Looking at their activity level, it can ascertain their efficiency level and understand the lift (or lack thereof) that they drive in their territories.

The team at ChannelEyes knows that partners have an out-sized impact on sales success. OPTYX provides automated sales intelligence and workflow to capture up to 10% more in channel revenue.

It is the first predictive analytics software platform that is 100% dedicated to indirect channel sales. It works hand-in-hand with Salesforce and is an easy 5 minute install via the Appexchange.

Robin Williams committed suicide 2 years ago - what if Michael Phelps did too?

The news about Robin Williams was so shocking at the time. How could someone so full of life and who created so much happiness in others be depressed?

The good news, is that it became one of the turning points in our understanding and compassion for mental health issues. Beyond the laughter, that will be his greatest and most enduring gift to humanity.

There are some startling facts about suicide:

• 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.
• 42,773 Americans die each year
• Over 1 million attempt suicide each year - that is a large city.
• White males account for 70% of all suicides
• Guns are used 50% of the time, suffocation 27% and poisoning 16%

Most people didn't think about this morbid anniversary because we are preoccupied with the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.  

Perhaps this graphic would remind us that it can happen to anyone, anytime:

Be good to each other - and watch out for your family, friends and neighbors.

- Jay

An Open Letter to CompTIA

As the time counts down on another successful ChannelCon, I wanted to document some thoughts before I return back to the grind.

First and foremost, the event this year in Fort Lauderdale was fantastic, the CompTIA staff is amazing, and the get-together feels like a family reunion (even comes complete with some crazy uncles and aunts!).

Two years ago, Todd Thibodeaux, CEO of CompTIA said two things that I personally found startling about the channel:

• 40% of partners are going to retire in the next 10 years
• 75% of the channel will be made up of millennials at the end of those 10 years.

These are both coming true, and probably faster than predicted.

Herein lies the challenge for the traditional IT and Telecom channel, and CompTIA in particular. 

Millennials are not joining leadership/ownership roles within “our” channel. They are, however, joining the broader technology industry and other industries that are radically transforming themselves into tech companies.

Todd mentioned in this year’s keynote that Technology was struggling to stay in the Top 10 of desirable industries. With the surge of AI, virtual reality, robotics, IoT, mobility, self driving cars, Pokemon and other cool stuff – this seems perplexing.

When Marc Andreeson predicted that “software will eat the world” 5 years ago, we felt that the channel would lead the charge on driving this change with their customers. With deep skills in security, infrastructure, compliance, and a host of other important things, the IT industry would enjoy a renaissance of sorts.

Well, the opposite has happened.

IT departments have steadily lost power, and the CIO has relinquished purchasing control to the line of business executives. In fact, Gartner reports that 72% of all technology spend is now being led out of LOBs – much of the time without IT influence. In only a few years, this will be 90%.

This was once called “shadow IT” or “rogue IT”, but today is the new normal. Much to the surprise of CompTIA, and the channel industry as a whole, this change in customer behavior has also spawned the “shadow channel”.

The shadow channel is predominantly made up of “born in the cloud” millennials that have built successful businesses inside the ecosystems of SaaS companies. For example, Salesforce has 695 partners that drive over $20B in services – none of them present at ChannelCon.

In fact, NONE of the Top 100 SaaS companies in the world had a booth at ChannelCon 2016.

Dreamforce, an annual conference in San Francisco (run by Salesforce) is now the largest software tradeshow in the world. With over 150,000 attendees, you can see the new shadow channel in action – consultants, integrators, and other experts at serving the LOB customer, solving customer pain points and delivering real business outcomes.

As much as we try to convince ourselves differently, things like security, backup, disaster recovery, remote management and the plethora of other business critical solutions the channel faithfully delivers, do not drive business outcomes in the same way. Hence, the disconnect.

While the traditional channel has shrunk by more than 30%, the shadow channel has exploded in numbers over the same time period.

Not only did none of the Top 100 SaaS companies have a booth at ChannelCon, their partners were not in attendance either. CompTIA needs to immerse into their ecosystems to understand where (and if) it can provide value. Where do they go to learn? How do they certify their people? What do they read? Who do they follow? How do they run their businesses?

THIS is the channel of 2024, where 75% of the participants will be millennials. By then, we won't be calling it shadow channel any longer - it will be the new normal. Does CompTIA represent and lead this new channel or stay with whatever is left of the traditional one?

Action needs to be taken – and fast.

The shadow channel is currently the wild west - the equivalent of where our channel was maturity-wise in the early 1990’s. They are putting customer businesses at risk everyday by playing fast and loose with customer data, financial and even HR data. Proprietary information is flying everywhere across public clouds by smaller startups with little control or regard for the ramifications (or regulations).

The traditional channel has the opportunity to play the adult in the room. It may not be sexy to talk about business continuity, security or compliance with LOBs – but someone needs to do it. If the IT department is losing power, the channel needs to step up to protect these customers. Mistakes in these areas can cause business-ending catastrophes or even put executives in jail.

CompTIA, its members, staff and Board all need to take stock. Software is eating its world too. Larger hardware and software companies are busy making a pivot for survival (perhaps why they weren’t exhibiting this time around) and the association needs to as well.

These LOB focused SaaS companies – as well as their partners and ecosystems – are the future of IT, at least for the next decade. How does CompTIA help train them? How does it speak for them in Washington? How does it design communities and councils to attract them? How does it deliver relevant research and events?


RELATED PRESS:

Jay McBain: Channel Alarmist or Realist?

Traditional resellers warned over rise of 'shadow channel'

Beware of 'shadow channel' solution providers warned

The Doyle Report: Penton Xpert Jay McBain Calls Out Channel for Lagging Behind the Biggest Trend in Business Today

CompTIA Responds to Open Letter Via Podcast

Yes, I am a social media-aholic. The first step is admitting it.

I have tracked my social usage for about 6 years now. Looking at friends/followers is one of those metrics:

• Facebook has doubled over that time 
• Linkedin has gone up 3X 
• Twitter is up 14X 

The other 10 social networks are around the 500-1000 range with slow growth. Some social sites have come and gone as relevant (Tumblr, Vine, etc) while some are staples on the front screen of my phone.

Building a Channel Partner for the Year 2020

Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett made a quote by Wayne Gretzky go viral in recent years: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been.” It was sage advice that Wayne’s father (Walter) gave him growing up – and landed him in the Hall of Fame with dozens of records that may never be beaten.

If you are one of the nearly 600,000 VARs, agents, solution providers or MSPs in the IT & Telecom channels worldwide – it is advice that is now more important than ever.

I have written extensively in the last couple of months about disruptions in the channel caused by the cloud and changing customer buying models. The most popular of these blogs were: 

1. Here is why the traditional IT & Telecom channel is shrinking at an alarming rate – and what to do about it

2. Where are all of these so-called “Born in the Cloud” Partners Anyway?

3. The End Of The IT Channel As We Know It. (And the start of something amazing!)

There are changes happening in the industry that require action. The good news is that they are playing out over the next 5 years - giving time to properly plan, build a strategy and execute.

As correctly predicted by Marc Andreeson in the Wall Street Journal 5 years ago, software is indeed eating the world. Every industry has been transformed, including the buying journey itself. The center of gravity for buying decisions has fundamentally shifted to cloud software and into the business units. 

5 years ago, about 80% of technology decisions were researched and made in the IT department, today it is only 28%. In fact, Gartner predicts that it could be as high as 90% of decisions made outside of IT by 2020.

This radical shift in buying process has already had a couple of major impacts on the channel:

1. By the year 2020, the spending on IT cloud environments will surpass the total spending on enterprise IT infrastructure according to IDC. Cloud infrastructure is growing by 13.1% compounded while traditional is shrinking by 1.4% per year.

2. New channels, many powered by millennials, are growing at an exponential pace. These new partners are joining ecosystems built around SaaS software companies (Salesforce, Marketo, Workday, etc.), lines of business (sales, marketing, HR, etc.), solutions (CRM, HCM, EPM, ERP, etc.), industries, sectors, geographies and even customer segments.

Back to hockey – where is the puck going to be?

With 72% of decisions now made by lines of business professionals, and growing the 90% by 2020, the obvious answer is verticals. It is actually more complex than that – I made up a term called “vectors” to highlight the intersection between industry and LOB, including other factors such as segment, sector, solution and geography.

Today, these vectors are implementing 15 different categories of solution. From largest to smallest, these are:  Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Human Capital Management (HCM), Content Management, Analytics and BI, Collaboration, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Procurement, eCommerce, Treasury and Risk Management (TRM), Enterprise Performance Management (EPM), Project & Portfolio Management, IT Service Management (ITSM), and Sales Performance Management (SPM).

Perhaps more important than size is looking at the growth rate over the next few years. Some of the smaller solution areas have the most explosive growth – TPM, EPM, SPM, eCommerce and ITSM all have CAGR’s of 4% according to Apps Run The World.

Another major area is to look at the fastest growing industries. Healthcare, Life Sciences, Hospitality, Professional Services, Insurance, Media, and Education are the hottest sectors (in order) all with over 2% CAGR until 2020.

Once a channel partner lands on vector(s) that they will build skills and capacity for, the hard work begins. Deciding what vendors and distributors to partner with, understanding the ecosystem of where customers congregate, learn and engage, and building relationships in new, and sometimes uncomfortable places.

Get ready for new competition

Every potential customer is being forced to become a technology company. Whether it is a car company with Tesla sneaking up, transportation company with Uber, hospitality company with AirBNB, or any other of the 27 industries, technological disruption is threatening traditional companies with extinction. 

This means that every ancillary service or consulting company supporting these industries is being forced into technology as well.

CompTIA did an excellent piece of research in late 2015 focused on the professional services vertical. Looking specifically at accounting, legal and marketing firms they drew a couple of important conclusions:

1. These verticals are huge, rivaling the size of the IT and Telecom Channel in terms of number of firms. The best estimate for IT firms in North America is 160,000 while legal has 190,000, accounting has 133,160 and marketing has 105,180.

2. More than just size, these companies are rapidly converging into the broader IT and Telecom space. For example, 51% of accounting firms resell software today, with 33% more considering it. The numbers are similar for offering IT compliance, consulting, advisory and assessments. By the year 2020, more than 80% of accounting and marketing firms will be indistinguishable from traditional IT channel partners. Legal is slightly lower at 55%, but still heading the same direction.

Now think about every company in every industry becoming a competitor for these technology dollars that lines of business are increasingly spending.

The opportunity for channel partners in the future lies in the complexity of vectors. The permutations and combinations are somewhat endless and carving out new niches will be the new normal. Each partner must decide on “how” to get to the puck. It could be through skill and capacity development, partnering, mergers, acquisitions, or a successful mix of them all.

Technology reached a tipping point this week in America

This brutal week in America had a number of technology stories buried underneath that mark a significant shift going forward.

The first was the prevalence of live video, particularly by the victims themselves. Over the past few years, we have seen interesting things with cell phone footage and dash cams - but it has all been recorded and transferred after the fact. We are now living in realtime, and this changes everything from who owns the news (Facebook) to how we can handle it psychologically. 

The second technology story was the killing of the Dallas police sniper by a bomb carrying robot. This is the first time an American citizen was killed in this way. We have become desensitized to the daily drone killing overseas, but this marks a potential shift in how domestic terrorism will be handled by authorities (think about Orlando and if they could have infiltrated with robots immediately). This isn't Terminator as these robots and drones are human controlled, but changes the game all the same. 

Third, is the power of social media in either starting or stopping another civil war (I can't decide which). We are learning that developing advanced data science around social sentiment will be critical in predicting potential danger zones (think Minority Report). 

Finally, in order to protect ALL citizens, we need to invest in research of a non-lethal, 100% effective device that immediately incapacitates a person. Similar to a stun gun from Star Trek. Tasers are not 100% effective and guns are lethal - we need something in the middle.

Jay McBain Driving a Ferrari in Albany - June 2016

My wonderful wife, Michelle, purchased a very cool birthday present for my 44th birthday on June 24, 2016.

From Motorsportlab.com she surprised me with 3 laps of either a Ferarri 430 or a Lamborghini!

I chose the Ferrari because it was the better car - and because of my life dream to own a Ferrari - more on that story here.

So here it is - 2 videos - showing the action from all angles including inside the car, dashcam and from afar. All in all, it was a really cool way to spend a Saturday afternoon in Albany, NY.

From INSIDE:



From OUTSIDE:



Highly recommend these guys:

Link:  http://www.motorsportlab.com

The Bayliner Chronicles - Cruising thousands of miles across the Northeastern United States

Michelle and I traded in a 40 foot Carver over the winter of 2014/15 and purchased a 2008 Bayliner 245 Ciera so that we could explore the Northeast United States without breaking the bank on gas and repairs.

More backstory on our nautical life, including the boats owned prior, can be found here.

After a couple of cold winters in New York, thoughts quickly changed to trip planning. With a trailerable boat, the world was now our oyster - so to speak.

Here are some of the journey's thus far...

Major Trips:

1. Jersey Shore via Manasquan River

MAY 27-28, 2016

A 206 mile drive south of Albany put us at the Manasquan River Club in Brick, NJ, where we could launch, keep the truck and dock for a few days while we explored the Jersey Shore.

We were able to jump out of the inlet and get a taste of the open Atlantic for awhile, and then jump back inside for a nice 25 mile cruise down the shore to Seaside Heights where we tied up at a Moose Lodge.

A nice walk over to the ocean side beach and then down the Boardwalk to see the home turf of Snooki and friends. On May 29th we trailered the boat to Sesame Place in Langhome, PA.

2. Washington, DC for July 4th Fireworks

JULY 1-5, 2016



The longest drive yet with boat in tow - a 360 mile drive south of Albany will put us at the Franklin Street Boat Ramp in Cambridge, Maryland. 

Fun fact: Jay-Z called Cambridge home before pursuing a music career.

We start the 5 day trip from Cambridge, into Chesapeake Bay down to the Potomac River and then back up to the Nation's Capital. On the way, we will spend the first night at Bayside Marina in Colonial Beach, Virginia making for about 100 miles of cruising.

On July 2, we head up the remaining 76 miles of the Potomac to Washington, DC and stay at the Washington Marina, just steps from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. We hang out to watch the fireworks on July 4th and do some navigating around the DC area (by foot and boat).

On July 5, we make the full 176 mile journey back to Cambridge and then the drive back to Albany.

Day Trips:

1. The Hudson River

2. Saratoga Lake

Major Trips:

1. Hudson River to NYC and then Long Island (and back through Harlem River)

MAY 8-10 & JULY 26-27, 2015


A short 90 mile drive south of Albany put us in Newburgh, New York and the start of a 250 mile nautical journey taking us through Manhattan, the Statue of Liberty, East River and the Long Island Sound to Northport.

We had a great dinner at Water's Edge Restaurant spent the night right beside Citi Field, the home of the Mets as well as Northport in Long Island.

In July we headed back on almost the same route to see friends Melissa Kerkau and Myra Jensen and stay 2 nights at the 79th St. Boat Basin.

Great to see family and friends along the way!

2. Thousand Islands and Lake Ontario (and back to Oneida Lake)

MAY 22-24, 2015

A 140 mile drive west of Albany put us in Oneida Lake, New York and the start of a 275 mile journey taking us through the Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Lake Ontario, St. Lawrence Seaway and then the Thousand Islands.

We had a wonderful time exploring Boldt Castle on Heart Island as well as the little towns along the way. With nights in Oswego and Clayton, it was a beautiful journey through two countries.

3. Boston, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard (and back to New Bedford)

JULY 3-6, 2015

A 200 mile drive southeast of Albany put us in New Bedford, MA, and the start of a 300 mile journey taking us through Buzzards Bay, Cape Cod, Boston Harbor, the Atlantic Ocean, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. We were joined by a great crew - my dad Jim McBain and Audrey Jackson.

We had a great time exploring Boston for 2 days including a game at Fenway Park and the July 4th fireworks at anchor!  The weather was cooperating so we took the outer Cape Cod route to Nantucket which worked well except for the last 20 miles of open water where we were battling big waves.

Staying at the Nantucket Boat Basin gave us excellent access to the town and we enjoyed walking up and down each street. It was an expensive night, but worth it because both nights in Boston were free.

The journey between Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard was calm as a small lake and the 28 miles flew right by. We found a nice town dock in Vineyard Haven (Tisbury) that was only $5 per hour and had an excellent beach to cool off.

The final leg back to New Bedford was also clear sailing and a very quick 23 miles.

4. Philadelphia & Baltimore, via the Delaware River, C&D Canal & Chesapeake Bay

SEPTEMBER 4-7, 2015

A 211 mile drive south of Albany puts us in New Jersey's capital city Trenton, and the start of a 300 mile journey taking us through Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the C&D Canal, and Baltimore, Maryland.

This was our first trip down the Delaware River. From what I read on the internet, the rocks up north are a concern and the tides can cause some interesting navigation. Not to mention the amount of commercial traffic that takes this route.

It was also our first time in Chesapeake Bay which I know is a boaters dream. Approaching Philly and Baltimore by water was an awesome experience. Baltimore has one of the nicest waterfronts I have ever seen.

When I bought my previous boat, the Carver Mariner, I navigated from south New Jersey up the Atlantic to New York City and then to Montreal and Toronto. This time we were on the inside route!

5. Whitehall, NY to Plattsburgh, NY on Lake Champlain

SEPTEMBER 19-20, 2015

A quick 80 mile drive north of Albany puts us in Whitehall, NY, on the northern end of the Champlain Canal and the gateway to Lake Champlain. Whitehall is steeped in history as during the late 17th century, the area was a staging ground for raids between English and French colonies. I visited once before on the Carver and remember the famous Skene Manor on the hill.

The voyage up Champlain is about 90 miles direct, with a few more miles planned for visiting the Vermont side of the lake.

It is "parent's weekend" at SUNY Plattsburgh where my daughter is attending her freshman year and we will spend one night at the Boat Basin.

Day Trips:

1. The Great Sacandaga Lake

JUNE & AUGUST 2015

A quick 52 mile drive west of Albany put us on the southeastern side of Great Sacandaga Lake.  The first thing we found was a sandy island with a bunch of boats beached and having a great time. We joined them and basked in the rays.

We then drove to the farthest point in the northeast part of the lake and then watched the sunset as we cruised back down and explored the built-up western region with numerous marinas. Lucky I had my Navionics running on my iPad as the sunken islands and shoals are not very well marked!

2. Saratoga Lake

JUNE, JULY, AUGUST 2015

A very quick 32 mile drive north of Albany put us on Saratoga Lake.  A favorite spot for locals because of its proximity and clean water, this lake offers a lot of options for kayakers, waterskiers and even small sailboats.

While it is shallow around the shore, the middle is wide open and has little worry about shoals or sunken islands of any kind.

We enjoyed spending time with our friends the Godgarts, who have a beautiful property on the southwest shore.

3. Hudson River

JUNE, JULY, AUGUST 2015


Our home body of water is the Hudson River - dividing Albany, NY and our home in Wynantskill.

We were members of the Albany Yacht Club (excellent group of people - highly recommended!) which is only a few miles down the road. With a trailerable boat, we decided to keep it on the trailer this year - but who knows what the future will bring!


So there it is, how to put a 1,700 miles on a boat in only one summer!

Stay tuned for our next adventures...