If you haven’t heard already, Day 2 of our Ready for Success Partner Summit was fantastic! Our guest speaker Jamie Clark inspired and energized the crowd first thing with his talk about climbing Mount Everest and the challenges he faced and ultimately overcame.
Over the course of about 75 minutes, Jamie gave us a glimpse into his life as an adventurer and explained why it took him three different attempts to finally climb Mount Everest. He spoke of what he learned along the way – which in some cases was quite humorous like “next time, pack more toilet paper” – and encouraged the crowd to really prepare for the day.
Although most of us will never climb Mount Everest, the message Jamie was delivering was clear: Don’t wait for the perfect conditions to reach for your goals and “go for the top.” Seize the opportunity at hand and make the most of it. For the IT service providers and MSPs in the room that message quickly translated to – Don’t wait for a better economy. Your time is now. Prepare yourself, get focused and seize the opportunity at hand. It was the perfect message and set a great vibe for the remainder of the day.
Another few highlights from Day 2 that I’d point out are the partner panels and presentations. Never before have I seen so much interaction and enthusiasm around topics such as emerging trends and technologies; selling to the mid-market; lead generation; and acquisitions and mergers.
One of the most insightful partner panels moderated by Joe Panettieri of MSPmentor focused on identifying what’s next out there and discussed the threats and opportunities impacting service providers. In his usual fashion, Joe at MSPmentor took the panel discussion to the internet and wrote up the following blog which evoked much discussion from his readers including N-able Partner John Cowan of 6fusion. Check it out: http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/27/why-do-managed-service-providers-keep-looking-back/
Another lively point of conversation spiked during a discussion led by Mike Cullen about the next generation of managed services. It appears Mike’s point on only a fraction of managed service providers in North America have advanced their businesses enough to offer true fixed-fee services sparked some partners, as well as MSPmentor’s readers to take notice. http://www.mspmentor.net/2008/10/24/why-two-percent-is-a-big-problem-for-managed-service-providers/
The last presentation that really had partners talking was given by N-able partners Jason Caras, CEO and Jason Pollner, COO of IT Authorities. These two gentlemen facilitated a show-stopping, parter-to-partner discussion on how to conduct a new customer network assessment that literally had partners waiting in the aisles for more. More to come on that subject!
All-in-all it was a grand event that gave our partners a lot of business takeaways and encouraged them to learn from each other and network. It also presented them with a number of growth opportunities and new technologies to consider. Be sure to check out the N-able website for more events news. http://www.n-able.com/news/events/