In January, The CMP Channel Group Will Debut Changes To Serve You Better
In January, CRN will move to a magazine format, focusing on news analysis surrounding the market, products, technology and vendors that make up the industry. CRN also will launch a new publication called CRNTech dedicated to covering technology you can wrap services around to drive more solution sales and higher profits for your business. CRNTech, a monthly offering, breaks new ground in its approach by going far beyond the basic product coverage many publications deliver. After all, a product is just a product until you bundle it into a solution and deliver it to the customer. With CRNTech, we aim to quantify the actual services opportunity you have in certain technologies and how much you have to invest to get there.
These enhancements are the result of extensive research we have conducted around solution provider information needs and the best media with which to meet those needs. After all, what we aim to do in the CMP Channel Group is deliver solutions, not just information.
When CRN and CRNTech land in your hands early next year, they, along with sister publication VARBusiness, will be the only publications built with you and your business in mind. But the CMP Channel Group, in its never-ending quest to serve your needs, also is enhancing many other things we do. Coming in January, you will see a rich new online offering that gives you access to all our information and services in a single site.
The research we conducted tells us you want information optimized for the medium through which it is served. Print is the preferred vehicle when you are in discovery mode. Our research tells us print is a superior vehicle to serve your effort to explore new product and technology opportunities. On the other hand, online is superior for solving an immediate need. For that reason, we believe it is best for us to put all of our online offerings in one place rather than force you to surf through all our sites independently: All our online information will ultimately be offered through our ChannelWeb.com portal.
We have no intention of stopping there. In the coming months, we will launch a host of online tools and services to help you do your job better. While I'm not at liberty to announce the entire toolset, one of them is already up on ChannelWeb—a tool that allows you to find other solution providers with whom you may be looking to partner.
The level of solution provider to solution provider partnering is on the rise, and we have the most extensive solution provider database in the world. It makes sense, then, for us to offer you access to help you advance your business. If you log on to ChannelWeb.com and click on tools and services, you will see the partner locator. Look for more tools that allow you to build better solutions, and you just may see something from us soon that will allow you to manage your relationships with vendors.
Our XChange conference group is breaking new ground around the world with announced events in Eastern and Western Europe, Latin America and, coming soon, Asia.
The Institute for Partner Education and Development (IPED) is educating the elite set of solution providers and offering more opportunities for you to learn more about running a successful business. Look for IPED market intelligence to be provided via our enhanced online offering in the future.
There is far too much happening for me to tell you about all of it in a single column. For now, let me encourage you to come back early and often to our online offering to see the consistent and regular enhancements built exclusively for you.
Make something happen. I can be reached at (781) 839-1202 or via e-mail at [email protected].