Exposing the 2007 Channel Expo
The entire industry convenes at NEC on 28-29 March for the Channel Expo. Nick Booth looks at one of the channel's premiere events, where visitors can make top-level contacts and pick up vital information
Life in the IT industry is like the beginning of a relationship. You seem to spend all day on the phone, you don’t get much sleep and you never quite know enough about your partner.
In the IT channel, keeping up to speed with partners has never been as challenging. Being a young, fast-growing industry, IT has always been in a constant state of flux. Now that IT is in the throes of converging with telecoms and broadcasting, keeping up with the complex technology is even more demanding. Meanwhile, customers evolve at an alarming rate and constantly discover new growing pains.
For resellers and consultants, the weight of responsibility to their end-users is immense. There are so many good suppliers of technology to talk to, but there is never enough time to dedicate to this vital research.
This is where the Channel Expo has proved a godsend. It is the UK’s biggest showcase of all the most crucial new products, services and technologies, all under one roof. Held at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre on 28 and 29 March, it covers the complete range of companies, products and skills within the UK.
Because the show attracts all the biggest and most important names from the IT and telecoms industries, it has become the unmissable event on the IT industry calendar.
The show was formerly the Computer Trade Show, Comms Channel Expo, Technology Retailer Show and Office Technology Expo. However, this year all four shows have been combined and revamped to become Channel Expo. Last year, more than 7,000 resellers visited the shows: this represents a significant percentage of the numbers of resellers and consultants in the UK. Even by conservative estimates, at least half of the UK’s IT channel players attended the four shows that made up Channel Expo in 2006. Some would estimate that that made up about three quarters of the number of resellers and communications dealers in the UK.
The show represents the single biggest networking opportunity in the year. It is not just a great venue for meeting manufacturers and distributors and casting an eye over new technologies. It is a lot more than a chance to test the new products and attend seminars and Masterclasses.
Channel Expo is also an opportunity for VARs to meet with channel executives that they would not normally get time with. CRN is launching its exclusive Channel Executive Forum. This is a chance for resellers to listen to presentations and strategy briefings from the biggest players in the UK IT industry. Presenting this year will be: Dave Poskett, head of Hewlett-Packard’s solutions partner organisation; Karl Noakes, director of channels at Microsoft; Alan Hartwell, head of Oracle’s UK channel; Semmy Levit, head of Acer UK; Graham Palmer, head of Intel UK; Sam Sandercock, head of channel at Orange; Gareth Hansford, UK managing director at Lenovo; and Gary Fowle, head of marketing at Fujitsu Siemens.
These are some of the most important people in the channel today. They will also be holding roundtables, giving partners the opportunity to discuss topics in a quiet meeting area reserved especially for them.
The Channel Expo is one of the biggest market places for channel intelligence ever created.
Since Channel Expo brings the entire industry together, there is no better forum for interaction with other partners. It is the place to be to share information with other channel players, find out the latest inside information on the vendors and make new business contacts.
One veteran of the show told CRN: “A lot of important new technology is showcased on the stands, but it is the bars and cafes around the NEC that see hundreds of little deals being struck and alliances forged.”
One of the great unreported benefits of the Channel Expo is that it is just as an important market place for human resources as it is for technology. Careers are made at the NEC. At least one managing director received his biggest career break while attending meetings at the NEC.
Coming just before the start of the new financial year – when companies are planning their marketing strategies and working out how to spend their budgets – the show represents the best opportunity VARs have to generate business leads and get deals signed.
Karin Jones, head of marketing at VIP Computer Centre, said: “Channel Expo brings the industry together. It’s great to see customers and suppliers converging to share experiences, ideas and plan for the year ahead.”
Cate Hind, Intel’s channel development manager, goes further. “This is the most important event for resellers in the UK,” she said.
The diversity of testimonials illustrates how successful the Channel Expo has become. The likes of AMD and Intel will be addressing an audience of system builders and systems integrators. On the other hand, the constituency for exhibitors such as Oak Telecom (which is now a major sponsor of the event) and Entanet would naturally be telecoms dealers and networking resellers.
One of the talking points of the IT industry is the degree of convergence that is currently taking place. Not only are communications and networking converging, but so too are other aspects of IT. These days, even system builders will need to be aware of the issues around treating voice as an application. Similarly, telecoms dealers cannot afford to ignore the issue of storage, since call recording is increasingly a function that IT manufacturers cater for.
It is a moot point how much convergence most channel players are capable of. It is a lot to ask traditional telecoms dealers to become IT experts and vice versa. They have different business models, for one thing.
Many comms dealers give away their consultancy free, and bill their clients on a monthly basis, whereas IT vendors are more used to charging for consultancy and value-added services, long having abandoned the idea of making profits on hardware.
The challenge of learning about voice (for IT resellers) and data (for comms dealers) has also worked out to be a lot more tricky than many experts predicted. The upshot is that convergence of the IT and telecoms channels has not happened at the rate predicted. Consequently, many convergence vendors tend to grumble about how difficult it is to find a channel partner that fully understands both voice and data.
Since supply of true convergence skills is short, demand for partners is so high it has created a massive opportunity in the convergence market.
Since it is difficult and expensive – not to mention risky – to acquire those skills, forming partnerships with other channel players has never been more important.
There is an astonishing breadth of expertise among the attendees at the show. They range from manufacturers to mail order vendors, superstore executives to systems integration experts. System builders will almost certainly be present at the AMD and Intel pavilions, keeping an attentive ear out for anyone present who sounds like they could be a useful software development partner or service provider.
Whether attendees are looking for a consultant to help them in a big project or a consumer electronics store to take on their latest invention, their ideal partner is likely to be at this show. It is simply a question of fin-ding them.
The hard bit is deciding, quickly, whether the person you are looking at is an integrator or an importer. The clue is in the ID badge the attendees are given, so it is worthwhile to scrutinise every badge as you wander round the exhibition.
An easier way of meeting partners, of course, is to find a good distributor or manufacturer that runs a good matchmaking service. A number of vendors and distributors, such as Entanet, Ingram Micro, AMD and Intel, make every effort to play matchmaker among their channel, and create useful partnerships.
Having said that, a number of vendors take a different approach. Many believe that training their resellers will help to move them up the value chain. Being helped up the value chain is the gift that keeps on giving, and many vendors are confident that this is the best way to buy a reseller’s undying loyalty.
Some vendors, such as Entanet, adopt both policies. Find the Enta Technologies stand and VARs will find it is equally happy to train them as it is to provide the missing components of a service offering.
VARs attending the show to find out about products, or get trained in new technologies, will have their work cut out. With the best will in the world, resellers will never be able to assimilate the amount of knowledge on offer in the time available. So choose wisely from the list of Masterclasses.
For many visitors, though, the Channel Expo’s most obvious advantage is that it is a showcase of all the most exciting new technology from all the most helpful suppliers. Now that it is the meeting point for the industry, most manufacturers also find it very useful.
Jon Hunt, managing director at J + J Associates, said: “The [2006] show attendance was excellent and the quality of the customers was also very good. We have definitely benefited from exhibiting as usual.”
Derek Jones, trading director at Integra Office Solutions, agreed.
“Channel Expo is undisputedly the best trade show in the UK,” he said. “It boasts quality visitors in significant numbers. I look forward to booking again.”
The Enta Group is a case in point. Entanet and Entatech (both divisions of the Enta Group) will be hosting stands.
Darren Farnden, Entanet’s marketing director, said: “We will use the stand to help visitors understand what’s involved in meeting customers’ demand for convergence solutions, and how they can go about reselling Entanet’s broadband, voice over IP, traditional telecoms and bespoke connectivity.”
Convergence is one of those market opportunities that tends to frighten many VARs off because it usually involves an element that they cannot provide. For example, most resellers tend to be experts in voice communications, but are baffled by the complexity of storage. Or they may know all about data networking, but may not be particularly confident when asked for their opinion on PBX replacement.
Entanet recognises that and fills in the gaps for its partners. The company offers the complete range of convergence products, everything from leased lines to bonded xDSL. If there is a part of the service that VARs cannot support, they will do it, until resellers feel confident enough to take up the reins themselves.
Farnden is looking forward to meeting a range of partners. The variety of the channel never fails to surprise him.
“Some may be existing broadband resellers who are looking to expand their service portfolio into IP telephony and other traditional telecoms services as a means of adding value,” he said. “Others ºwill be existing telecoms resellers who have recognised the need to move into providing IP telecoms because they can see the traditional PBX market changing. Still others will be hardware resellers and consultants or systems integrators who are looking to add voice and data connectivity to their portfolio as a way of capturing a bit more of their customer’s purse.
“Our purpose for being at the Channel Expo is to meet with existing and potential channel partners who are looking at the area of converged voice and data services.”
VARs that are after demonstrations could visit the Enta Group stands – two giant areas occupying 150 square metres, directly facing each other – and keep occupied for most of the day. Visitors to Entanet will gain first-hand experience of its IP telephony product portfolio. This includes VoIP Express, a pre-pay product for single user customers; VoIP Enrich, a product for customers that need to provide telephony to multiple users; and VoIP Elite, designed for customers requiring a dedicated, customised and fully managed solution. In addition, resellers will learn how easy it is to order and provision voice and data services through an online portal, Entanet’s Partner site, as well as via XML and sign up scripts.
Enta Technologies (Entatech), on the other hand, is a supplier of software and components for UK resellers, systems builders and retailers.
Jon Atherton, vice-president of Enta, said: “We have a lot of new products and technologies to shout about this year. We have taken on board many significant vendors and our stand focuses on the new features and systems that we can offer customers.”
One of the subjects covered on Enta’s main stand will be Microsoft Vista. Entatech will be displaying the system and its benefits through working demonstrations. It will also show customers its upcoming range of products that can be incorporated to increase the effect of their existing and future home environments.