Expanding Skill Sets

Some serious tectonic shifts are under way in the channel. Solution providers are evolving into strategic service providers, for example, while IT purchasing authority is shifting to line-of-business managers. All the while the pace of technology change continues to accelerate.

For solution providers, the key to keeping up with these changes --– and profiting from them -- is maintaining and expanding their skill sets. That means staying abreast of the latest technologies, not just on how to implement, integrate and operate them, but also on how to help clients get the most out of their IT to be competitive and successful.

One way solution providers and strategic service providers can maintain their technology edge is by taking advantage of the training and certification programs offered by the IT vendors they partner with. Such certifications not only help secure a solution provider's bond with IT vendors, and reap higher levels of benefits and incentives, but they serve as a badge of a solution provider's expertise in specific technologies and business practices.

CRN's annual Tech Elite 250 list honors an exclusive group of North American IT solution providers that have earned the highest number of advanced technical certifications from leading technology vendors. Here is a sampling of the solution providers on this year's list. The complete list is available for purchase by contacting Laurie Condon on the East Coast (lcondon@thechannelcompany.com) or Nora Uriarte on the West Coast (nuriarte@thechannelcompany.com).