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VideosApple Reseller Summit and Expo 2009 at the Westin Harbour Castle and Distillery District in Toronto a Huge Success
Apple resellers from all over Canada converged in Toronto on August 20th for the second annual ChannelNext Apple Reseller Summit. “Resellers should go after the business market if they want to succeed in the future” was the underlying message at the event.
Jeff Cates, Channel Manager for Apple Canada gave a keynote after landing the job just 16 days prior. Coming from Hewlett-Packard, Mr. Cates should be able to help bridge the gaps that the resellers currently have with Apple. VARs should send their suggestions to Mr. Cates.
Mary Percat presented four key vertical markets in which Apple feels their VARs can grow business. VARs can contact Mary Percat to receive the list of target vertical markets vendor solutions. The panel discussion with VARs and distributors openly discussed the challenges facing the channel including how to sell Managed Services, leverage programs from Apple and working with distributors.
Several vendors presented B2B solutions including BestWave for digital signage using Macs; Parliant for telephony and iphone applications and HansaWorld for their ERP solution. The entire event featured B2B solutions from over 30 vendors.
“VARs only need to work with these vendors at the event to instantly expand into over a dozen growth markets” said Julian Lee, President of TechnoPlanet, the event organizers. “I have had the chance to speak with most of the attending VARs and the common theme is that they are looking for ways to grow their business beyond retail and I think that support will mostly come from the third-party vendors” Lee adds.
Many VARs are already doing a great job of going after businesses. The shortfall may be in the level of support that they get from the vendors to develop the Canadian market. With Apple’s direct competition with the channel, many wonder if the resellers will survive. Apple is great at delivering the ultimate retail and online shopping experience, but not so great when it comes to servicing or supporting the business users. This is where the resellers can play a huge role, but the conflicts seem to continually cloud the partnership.
Several VARs like IronGate, Loop and Jump IT have already moved down the path of exclusive B2B sales and service. They have all made significant investments to move away from retail and build total solutions for business customers. They will emerge as the next wave of successful Apple VARs and they all have excellent working relationships with Apple. These leading VARs are also developing partnerships with other VARS. It is part of a growing trend in the channel where VAR to VAR is now accounting for about 23% of their revenues.
Many VARs could easily take this direction with any of the dozens of vertical market solutions already available. Many of these solutions were presented at the event. "The small to mid-size businesses can truly benefit from the price and performance of the Macs and iPhones" was the core message presented by Bruce Hough, Bruce Dagge and Ian Kelly (Three experts from Apple Canada who presented at the conference). VARs can win if they leverage this supporting data and the massive brand awareness that Apple is generating with iphones and ipods.
This year’s event was truly a success in bringing together VARs, Vendors, Distributors and Apple to exchange ideas, discuss challenges, build relationships and develop partnerships. Even the huge thunderstorm that literally soaked many of the delegates as they went to the dinner location overlooking Lake Ontario did not dampen the experience. The food was great, the drinks were flowing and the view of the lake and Toronto skyline was spectacular. Back at the Westin Harbour Castle, everyone continued the networking and fun until midnight at the hospitality suite on the 33rd floor.
The second day’s activity was at the Historic Distillery District. It was simply a fantastic venue as delegates attended seminars in the Young Theater and the expo in the Fermenting Cellar. Lunch was served at an outdoor terrace. The perfect weather and the beautiful cobblestone walkways made the experience that much more enjoyable. At 3PM the reseller event came to a close and the end-user AppleExpo began. Hundreds of business users poured into the
AppleExpo allowing both vendors and resellers a chance to connect with some prospects. Watch for more news coverage on the AppleExpo.
To learn more about the event please check out the video coverage on www.ecntv.ca and read the following articles from the attending Vendors. See you next year!