Over the next few months, I plan to use this blog as the central communication vehicle for putting together the Trusted Business Advisor certification program. This gives everyone in the North American IT-Industry the ability to follow what is being done and to offer comments, complaints and/or praise. We?ll need all three.

Yesterday I sent out the first invitation to select VARs asking them to join the ChannelLine Advisory Council?s Trusted Business Advisor Steering Committee. The response was fabulous and the level of excitement was overwhelming. I thank all of you who responded.

Today, I will start recruiting Steering Committee members from Vendors, Distributors and suppliers to the industry (researchers, publishers, channel marketers, etc.).

The objective is to bring together some of the best minds in the industry to create a certification, business education and channel advocacy program. This program will help these capable VARs, who understand both the business and technology aspects of delivering IT-based business solutions to SMBs, to differentiate themselves from the weaker VARs.

Please read this blog entry and then provide us with your thoughts on one or more of these questions:

• What variables a VAR should be measured on in order to become a Trusted Business Advisor?
• Should the Trusted Business Advisor status be for the company, individual or some combination of both?
• What a TBA needs to do to keep up his certification?
• What support does a TBA require?

Truth be told, there are about 85,000 VARs in the North America with less than 20% of them being capable of developing, implementing, servicing and supporting IT-focused business solutions for the SMB market. The Trusted Business Advisor (TBA) program will:

• Help this unique group of VARs to accelerate their businesses.
• Make it easier for Vendors to find capable VARs .
• Educate SMBs on the importance of working with TBAs and help them find TBAs that can assist them.

Through the program, TBAs will receive:

• Tremendous exposure within the SMB community and throughout the IT industry.
• Business certification.
• Prime positioning on the heavily promoted Partner Locator.
• FREE suite of online collaboration tools and communities enabling them to work better with peers, vendors, distributors, channel marketing experts and end-users.
• FREE marketing and sales tools (W3 Channel Enablement Program) to assist them in growing your business, without having to spend a whole lot of time on sales or marketing.
• Ongoing channel business education through: course material; weekly TBA eNewsletter and quarterly print publication; monthly Webinars; and regular face-to-face events.
• FREE affinity program.
• An opportunity to speak and to be heard ? so that they really can affect change within our industry.

Part of the program includes educating the vendor community on the value TBAs provide through Channel Advisor

eNewsletter and IT Biz ? a Vendor education program being produced in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce, Canadian and US Consulates and a number of other partners that focuses on how to successfully do IT business in North America.

So ? what are you thinking?

Together we are making a difference!!!

Robert M. Cohen

President & Business Editor

Integrated mar.com Corporation

office: 905-763-1200 ext. 226

toll free: 800-465-2059

cell: 416-568-2059

fax: 905-886-6216

P.S.: If you want to recommend others, please send me an email with the contact information, including: name, company, and email and phone number. The criteria for joining are:

• Seasoned professional with at least 5 years experience as a VAR.
• Provide solutions, not just a box pusher.
• Agree not to sell pirated software or grey market products.
• Recognize the need for selling business solutions.
• Willing to work with the ChannelLine Advisory Council to help make the IT channel more productive.

Robert I like the concept and the outline very much. This is a good vehicle to get Vars accredited however how are we going to promote it to the public so it means something in the field? Regards Keith Posted by Keith Jalbert at 9:30am

1) What variables a VAR should be measured on in order to become a Trusted Business Advisor? First and foremost, I would suggest that the attempt to have the industry move away from the VAR designation. It does not project a degree of professionalism. The TBA is much better. Companies that are VARS in this space are really security, accounting, networking, mobile messaging, etc& companies, including information management companies. Variables should consist of things like : A) Legally Registered Business with a Business number. B) A corporation / Partnership / or Sole proprietor. C) FIVE Account references that are verified in the area of expertise they are promoting. D) Be in Business for a minimum of 5 Years E) Maintain some form of minimum educational standard within the company, be it degree status people, Diploma status people, or industry experience - minimum of 5 years. F) Clean Police Record on Principals. G) Clean CRA Record. 2. Should the Trusted Business Advisor status be for the company, individual or some combination of both? A) The Status should be bestowed upon a COMPANY only. IF it is bestowed upon an individual, this creates tension and headache for an owner/principle to maintain a level of education inside the organization, with the looming threat that an individual can become trained and then leave, once obtaining the TBA status. B) By Bestowing this on a Company, versus an individual it is also an intangible asset that can be pointed to by the company when discussing results with financial institutions. Although this may sound naïve and silly today, as financial institutions recognize more and more, intellectual property, intangibles and I.P.costs on the Balance sheet  i.e. the cost to train Bill Smith to become a CRM expert, can be viewed as an ASSET rather than an expense at some point. 3. What a TBA needs to do to keep up his certification? - simple  Stay in business and Add customer references OR upgrade existing customer references. If you make it an onerous, a costly additional process, you will have people abandon it like a sinking ship. 4. What support does a TBA require? From the perspective of a manufacturer / supplier or developer  I cannot say. As a Potential TBA, I would suggest the following: 1) The ability to Source products and services from manufacturers / vendors at the same price points as larger transactional companies or better. Define a Distribution point, i.e. we choose ABC Disti with an alternate. Why? It is typically these people that are the evangelists. They need to know that there is a dedicated team behind them, not of one person either. They are the ones blazing the trail, not the box pushers. In order for a TBA to be profitable, they need REAL support from vendors / manufacturers, not token 2% mdf funds that need to be earned after performing a contortionist move.. Treat them as a real partner  engage them with Contracts that pay them real money  not a free sales force. OR you get what you pay for, that is why the channel has people abandoning it in droves, they cant make the money they need to survive. Its really simple economics. 2) Secondly, make the margins they earn real  15% is really in my opinion pathetic. These types of sales and implementations need to be in the 40-80% range. 3) On the contract end, ensure that a minimum time is engaged with for rampup and measurement of results, say  24 months, with 6 months for education, 6 months  12 months for a first customer on a complicated process/product line where there is no real penetration and another 6 months to get a half dozen more hot leads. Pay the company the salary of the person being hired or engaged to be the evangelist. i.e. if a company is engaged to focus on selling some form of firewall/antispam software, and the salary of the dedicated specialist is 60,000/annum, pay 50% of that salary, with the other 50% tied to results quarterly. If the company hits the target over the 24 months in any way, they automatically get the payments even if it is retroactive. This way there is risk and reward on both sides, however the TBA is not taking all the risk. 4) Do not allow a person in the channel ( vendor community to do an end run around the TBA in any way.) If they do, they are immediately reported by the TBA and the TBA has the ability to shut them down as TSAs (Trusted Supply Associates). Have a peer review process for this type of action. 5) Be representative in ALL parts of the country  not just the GTA. Many highly skilled people reside in remote parts of Canada, yet, because the universe spins at T.O., many functions and most networking occurs in T.O. Make different parts of the country the place for the TBAs to congregate yearly. This should be a CompTIA like event, that provides all kinds of information from Product seminars/speed meeting/educational tracks, Business functions/financing opportunities/leasing/vcs/etc&and importantly, profiles of other TBAs that attend or couldnt attend, so that someone can just look them up in electronic format. Preferrably this would be information distributed in an electronic format such as outlook or an excel file or better yet, online with the option of downloading the information. 6) ALL Training courses NEED to be FREE. Why should anyone PAY for the priviledge to Sell ABCs products, when LMNOPs products are just as good  maybe better? This is viewed as a cash grab. Have Colleges deliver the courses through out the country  that way, there is no need to TRAVEL to a single central location OR have them online. The colleges and Universities and or PRIVATE Colleges Would be very receptive to this. PAY the Colleges to provide the facilities. They are there anyway  costs would be low I suspect. 7) PARTNER  TRULY Partner with the TBA. Dont blow smoke. Make them part of the team, introduce them to key members  have a meeting to meet decision makers in the organization  put a face to the name. Followup. Dedicate resources. As you see, I could go on and on, however, I have to get off the soap box and get back to looking for the light at the end of the tunnel. Posted by Kevin J. Fitzgerald, Hons.B.Sc., President Aurora Microsystems at 3:15pm