• How many people will be on the committee? A few hundred. The objective is to be able to launch the Trusted Business Advisor Locator and Channel Advocacy Program right away. To do this, we need enough strong VARs to be in the program to cover Canada and the US. As well, this gives us a wide array of opinions so that we will be pretty sure that we have covered all angles.
• What are the time and travel commitments if any? For the most part it will all be done electronically. The few live events will be for focused groups with everyone invited and the results shared with all of those that don’t attend. These live events will be as part of other events going on. We will do our very best to keep the time commitment to a minimum. Mostly what we want is your candid opinions regarding what you would like to see in an industry-wide business certification program, including what qualities a VAR organization should need to have to be qualified and what needs to be included to keep those that don’t belong out. The other thing we will want is your opinions on direction as we move forward. Essentially … we will provide the forum and do the work … but the certification is vendor neutral with the objectives of making it:

1. Understandable as to why SMBs need TBAs.
2. Easier for SMBs to find TBAs that meet their requirements.
3. Easier for TBAs to differentiate themselves from those that do not belong in the industry.
4. Easier for Vendors to partner with TBAs that can help develop, install, configure, service and support IT-focused business solutions.

Mike, thanx for the questions and for joining us.

Together, we will make the IT Channel more profitable for all of us.

Some immediate questions that come to mind are: What criteria are we going to associate with such a program without making it irrelevant? Also once certified, how do we ensure that VARs are maintaining their status? Posted by Ajay Singhal at 9:08pm