The 2011 Tech Elite Class

Steven Burke

February 18, 2011, 01:31 PM EST

What characterizes these Tech Elite partners is the huge investments they have made in their own unique solutions methodology and the highest-tier, multiple vendor certifications with a heavy emphasis on services and software. That is paying off in higher average sales per deal, higher profit margins and a higher client satisfaction rate. That’s because these Tech Elite partners are strategic consultants focused on aligning technology with businesses to produce breakthrough results. They are business consultants working hand in hand with CEOs, CIOs and CTOs to rearchitect businesses for the 21st century. It’s all about bringing customers significant competitive advantages through the strategic use of technology solutions.

Customers come to these Tech Elite solution providers because they are the best of the best. They are the technology equivalent of the Navy Seals, the Green Berets and Special Forces all rolled into one. Customers know they have the knowledge and the technical muscle to deliver high-business-impact results under the most demanding business conditions. Clients value the highly consultative and strategic solutions methodology from these partners -- this in a technology market that is more treacherous than at any time in the history of modern information technology.

Part of being a Tech Elite solution provider is a huge investment in top-of-the-pyramid vendor certifications across multiple vendors and technology practices, including data center, security and storage. These Tech Elite players, indeed, have invested more per capita in sales and engineering talent in multiple vendor certifications than their competitors. They are all about knowing what is the right product for the customer and getting the most out of that product.

What’s so exciting is how trusted these Tech Elite partners are by their clients. The clients know that they can depend on them to deliver the solutions that no single vendor and very few solution providers could ever bring them.

Paul Brady, the former senior director of information technology for a Fortune 75 insurance company, brought in GreenPages Technology Solutions of Kittery, Maine, to provide the Tech Elite technology muscle on an ambitious $12 million private cloud solution.

Brady says GreenPages’ “vendor-agnostic cross-vendor” expertise was critical in delivering on the value of the private cloud implementation that ultimately reduced the time it takes to provision a server for a critical business function from 42 days to an amazing 26 minutes. “It was pretty cool,” says Brady.

Cool indeed. That’s what all of these 250 Tech Elite solution providers are: super-cool, high-business-impact solution providers!

BACKTALK: Are You Tech Elite? Reach out via e-mail to Steven Burke at steve.burke@ec.ubm.com.