IPED Helps Vendors Get Closer To Channel

The program, called the Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED), provides training and information to help technology sales and marketing executives leverage the channel to grow their businesses.

According to its mission statement, IPED is "committed to empowering IT companies with insight and a complete understanding of multitier sales models,information that will shorten their learning curves, enabling managements to develop, deploy and execute on channel strategies and programs that will drive their revenue."

Call To Action

According to Gartner/Dataquest, IT product manufacturers will generate up to 66 percent of the estimated $388 billion of U.S. IT sales in 2003 through business partners. The problem, industry analysts say, is that many of these vendor companies don't have effective programs in place to leverage those indirect channels.

In announcing the new initiative, Robert Faletra, TSG president, said the group has received numerous requests during the past year from vendors to provide training to help them increase market share and profits by leveraging the channel.

Channel issues that will be addressed by IPED's programs include a wide range of subjects, including strategy, tactical implementation and execution; the evolution of the channel and emergence of solutions-oriented channel players; the channel's relationship with end customers and what that means for vendors; channel business models and strategies; and channel-management and program approaches.

As part of that mission, IPED will host quarterly, regional events that bring together vendor sales and marketing executives. The inaugural program will focus on issues for channel sales and marketing executives, with training programs designed at three levels: fundamental, intermediate and advanced.

Topics that will be addressed include the evolution of the indirect channel, the evolution of the vendor-direct model and ways to better manage channel partners.

Customization

IPED also provides custom programs for companies seeking to educate and empower their employees, offering one-, two- and three-day programs that focus on a company's specific sales goals and the channel's role in meeting those goals.

Aside from the specific training programs, the institute will also host the IPED Community, a network of channel sales and marketing professionals who are alumni of the program. Members of the community will receive a monthly newsletter that discusses new channel trends and looks at emerging solution-provider models. Members also have exclusive access to IPED's staff, and will have the opportunity to attend regional roundtables with other alumni to exchange ideas and information in an informal, moderated, peer-to-peer format.

IPED's first event, which will include information on channel sales and marketing strategies, is scheduled for October 16 to 17 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Amelia Island, Fla.

For more information about IPED, go to www.theiped.com, or contact Toni Clayton Hine, managing director, at (212) 592-8483 or [email protected].