Like several of my colleagues here at Tech Image, I am an unabashed American history buff. As far back as third grade, I became fascinated with Presidential biographies. I enjoy reading so much, if fact, that I have started a blog that reviews what I am reading, watching and listening to and provides links to complementary books, videos, CDs and websites.
A big portion of the blog links biographies of people whose lives are interwoven (such as John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton). The more you read, the more your gain a 360-degree perspective. Someone you may have initially viewed as a scoundrel (like Aaron Burr) becomes much more of a human being with human foibles, rather than the character you learned about in school. I’ve also noticed my perspective continues to shift, depending upon what I read and retain.
Take Abraham Lincoln, for example. During his Presidency, he was often vilified and ridiculed, especially in the press. Today, Honest Abe’s considered one of the country’s top five presidents.
Of course, you don’t have to be studying the lives of dead presidents to appreciate the historical perspective that time provides. There are plenty of great examples even now.
For those of us who spend our days marketing technology, one of the most glaring examples was all the dire warnings about the extinction of the channel back around the turn of the millennium. It was right up there with bald eagles, hump-backed whales and Canadian Geese on the endangered species list. This was during the dot-com bubble, and I remember it well, particularly when I am forced to clean off my shoes after a gaggle of Canadian honkers have finished using my front lawn as their personal playpen.
According to the pundits at the time, the channel was no longer needed. It was superfluous, past its prime, a holdover from the old days. In the new world view, companies and customers would be using eBusiness enabled by the Internet to work together directly to buy and sell technology, and soon the channel would be rendered obsolete.
A funny thing happened on the way to that new world, however. To paraphrase Mark Twain, the reports of the death of the channel were greatly exaggerated.
In fact, what actually happened is the channel became more vital and essential than before. Once technology providers got a taste of working one-on-one with the customers, and vice versa in some cases, it became easy to see the important role the channel plays in technology sales.
So now, as often happens in history, the pendulum has swung the other way. Rather than dismissing the channel, or looking for ways to get around it, technology marketers are relying on their channel partners more than ever to help them drive sales – particularly in the current economy.
Still, it’s one thing to acknowledge the importance of your channel partners. It’s quite another to give them the tools they need to make a difference.
Elsewhere in this issue you’ll read about the program that Cisco® has put together for its channel partners. They’re doing more than simply providing co-op dollars and wishing their channel partners good luck. They have contracted with a number of professional marketing-oriented organizations (including Tech Image, I’m proud to say) to give their partners access to a menu of specific offerings that would normally be too expensive to obtain on their own.
For example, a Cisco channel partner can have Tech Image prepare a single press release for a specific amount. Normally, Tech Image wouldn’t write a single release on a one-time basis. But this innovative program makes it possible for the channel partners to have access to our professional writers and former journalists without having to enter a long-term relationship on their own. It’s good for the partner, and it’s good for Cisco as it helps this vital link in the sales process generate visibility it normally would not get under ordinary circumstances.
When you’re deep in the doo-doo (thinking about those geese again – sorry), it’s often difficult to tell what’s around the next bend. Events may seem to be taking you one way, but when you see the bigger picture with some historical perspective you realize all was not as it seemed.
That was true for the founding of America, and it is equally true for the channel as well. Despite the challenges, the channel continues to grow and the more tools we provide to help it expand, the better off we all will be.
Anyway, that’s my two cents.
