The Channel Partners Conference & Expo continues to add CEO voices and perspectives to its agenda based on demand from partners who want to hear from the senior most leaders driving vendor, supplier and distribution organizations.
Given the importance of today’s technology services distributors to channel partners and the changes to their underlying business models, the event will feature three senior leaders on the main keynote stage discussing the future of the business. Aptly titled, “CEO Perspectives: The Future of Technology Services Distribution,” the panel includes Telarus CEO Adam Edwards, Intelisys President Ken Mills and Bridgepointe Technologies CEO Scott Evars. These leaders will share their views on a wide range of issues impacting the connectivity, communications and collaboration channel. Explore the Channel Partners Conference agenda.
The panel will be moderated by Channel Futures editor James Anderson and he will be joined by David Dyson, the outspoken founder and chief strategist of Eclipse Telecom. The two will provide a balance of journalistic insight and partner-driven questions for the TSD leaders to answer in what no doubt will be one of the event’s most compelling executive keynote panels. Dyson is also a board member of the Channel Partners Technology Advisory Board that provides strategic guidance for the Channel Partners Conference & Expo live and digital event portfolio. (Full disclosure, Channel Partners and Channel Futures are part of the greater Informa organization but operate in separate divisions.)
Today’s leading technology services distributors are undergoing a dramatic evolution in their business models and value propositions. Some see these organizations as essential middlemen between the technology advisor and customer providing a wide range of services while others view these organizations as the center of the universe. One thing is certain -- vendors, suppliers, channel partners and others in the partner ecosystem depend on TSDs to do business today.
Everyone is watching the moves the TSD organizations make to see what investors they attract, the suppliers they partner with and the services they add. As a result, channel leaders want to hear it straight from those atop the organizations — the senior most executives who must make the tough decisions to find new avenues of growth and opportunity.
TSDs today find themselves in the middle of a B2B telco market opportunity that Informa’s Omdia research organization estimates to be $340 billion. As a result of hypergrowth business models that serve partners who generate a high percentage of recurring revenue, TSDs have attracted private-equity investors allowing them to expand their services and reach beyond the traditional agent channel into the managed services space. At its annual Channel Connect conference for partners and vendors last fall, Intelisys president Mills and company leaders mapped out a new go-to-market strategy intended to fuel the company’s growth ambitions while better serving partners. Intelisys, an independent unit of ScanSource, generated $2.67 billion in end-user billings last year and serves some 4,200 partners. It remains the only publicly traded company among the TSDs. Here is Channel Futures coverage of Intelisys Channel Connect.
Edwards is among the agent and technology advisor communities founding fathers playing a vital role in the channel’s growth and development. He is a founder of Telarus and has focused on opportunities around AI, cybersecurity, and cloud modernization while helping partners find ways to reduce costs for their customers. His perspective on that evolution of the Telarus business model will interest this year’s event attendees. Rounding out the discussion is Bridgepointe’s Evars, whose company plays a role as both technology advisor with some 400 employees as well as services channel partners. Bridgepointe has grown into one of the largest and most influential technology advisors in the market through an aggressive M&A strategy. Evars has been vocal about the future of the agent model and the dramatic changes taking place in the TSD market. We expect him to add fire to the panel discussion.
Join us for this special CEO panel featuring leaders with bold opinions about the future of the connectivity channel. Register by Jan. 27 for best rates to Channel Partners Las Vegas.