HTG Members Flock To Apple's Mobile Competency Training

Apple has had about 30 VARs complete its Mobile Technical Competency through its relationship with HTG Peer Groups and many more are interested in cozying up to Apple, said Arlin Sorensen, CEO of HTG.

If HTG's early participation is any indication of overall interest from VAR's, invites to Apple's MTC training sessions will be hot tickets for some time to come.

The 30 HTG members represent about 10 percent of HTG's total membership. Sorensen expects another 10 percent to soon complete the Apple training and for others to follow over time. "It's been rapid adoption and I think it will go faster now that we've got some people on it," said Sorenesen, who sent some of his own staff from Heartland Technology Solutions, based in Harlan, Iowa, to a session in Reston, Va.

"There's technical info but it's also a business look so there's a day of training and day of scenarios and applications [of the technology]. It's not just learning a skill, it's learning how to apply it," said Sorensen. "My guy said he'd never touched an iPad for months but he came back a believer."

Apple's training validates what many VARs were doing by themselves: integrating iPads and other iOS devices onto company networks.

"Apple never told anybody how to do it before. Everybody was trying how to figure it out. It's easy to get Exchange and e-mail on it, but not so much do it securely. That's our motivation," Sorensen said. "We want to know what Apple knows and will share and teach us so we can provide integration done the right way."

Apple chose HTG members as initial targets for its mobile competency program soon after launching the competency in October because of their solid business practices and interest in mobility, Sorensen said.

"When we started strategizing for 2012, a big focus in that is the client experience, managing all these devices that are starting to show up [in business settings]. Obviously a big chunk of those are Apple." Solution providers in HTG were proactively seeking a way to support iPhones, iPads and other devices as more consumers look to use their devices in the workplace. So when Apple approached HTG, it made perfect sense to work together, Sorensen said.

"We knew we wanted to learn to support Apple and they were thinking the same thing. We had already been talking about mobility as our main [focus] in 2012. It just all fit together," Sorensen said. Apple recently conducted its third training session for HTG members at the HTG All conference in Orlando this month. Apple also held a mobile competency training session for non-HTG VARs at a different location in Orlando, Sorensen said.

Robert Cioffi, an account manager at Progressive Computing, Yonkers, N.Y., was one of the first HTG members to attend the Apple training because it's important for VARs to embrace and understand mobile technology, he said.

"We've watched the consumerization of IT effect our business. We've all felt [Apple's iOS] has been 'invading the network,' not in a negative way but in a factual statement. We've been sitting on the sidelines with no proactive or strategic plans in place. We don't know how to manage them," Cioffi said.

Next: Big Opportunity For VARs

But as more customers request integration of employees' iOS devices into the corporate network, Cioffi knew Progessive Computing couldn't ignore Apple any longer.

"While I've been here [at HTG's conference], I've gotten requests from two clients that want to get iPads, they want the executive directors and senior staff to have them to take into board meetings. [Before taking the class], I would say 'Go to an Apple store and I'll send an engineer over,' but that's no strategy. That's reaction."

HTG's Sorensen noted that the iOS training is disconnected from Mac training and focuses specifically on the mobile OS.

"The odds of us ever going to Mac training are not very high. It's a stand-alone totally separate track [from Mac]. It's interesting that you need a Microsoft certification to be able to go to the Apple class. They're breaking the rules in some way," Sorensen said.

"Not everyone's going to go there. But there's a lot of focus on mobility and the BYOD [bring your own device] driver is something we're all trying to address. We know a big piece will have Apple logos on them."

Apple will not have the resources to adequately serve SMB customers who want iPads in their business accounts, Cioffi said. That's where VARs have a big opportunity , he added.

"If you're a corporate account and you walk into an Apple store and say, 'I want 50 iPads,' they'll take care of you with white glove service. But if you ask, 'Who will come onsite to configure them for us,' that's when they put their hands up," Cioffi said.

End users' IT departments and Mac specialists also aren't qualified to integrate iOS without proper training, Cioffi said.

"We all need to recognize that Mac OS X and iOS are completely different. And furthermore, [a Mac specialist] has no idea how to properly and securely integrate that into a Microsoft-based corporate environment," he said. "So we see a tremendous opportunity as steam continues to pick up for mobile devices. We'll be able to position ourselves as a select group fo partners to deliver technology in the manner in which it needs to be deployed."