Selling Office Technology Blog

Useful Organizations to Consider Joining in 2011

Updated 1/20/11 By Dan Baldwin, OTMA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email 

Following are various organizations and companies that IT consultants, telecom agents, channel partners, VARs and resellers should be aware of in 2011. All these entities aim to influence the professionals that OTMA members and vendors may want to interact with for the purpose of networking and lead sharing.

OTMA is in the process of learning about each organization and developing an independent opinion about the value they offer to OTMA members and vendors. If you have an informed opinion please share a comment below.

If you know of a link that needs to be here please email it to me at [email protected]. 

 

Membership Groups & Organizations

ABP Tech / ABP Sec (ABP International) - ABP is a large IT equipment distributor. Their "members" are the IT & telecom VARs that purchase equipment through them.

AIM (Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility) -The international trade association representing automatic identification and mobility technology solution providers and VARs.

AIIM (Association for Information & Image Management) - AIIM is also known as the enterprise content management (ECM) association. This group looks fairly accessible as they appear to have many local chapters of information and content management professionals and VARs across the country.

ARMA (Association of Records Managers and Administrators) - The non-profit group for records and information management end-users and VARs.

AUG (Aastra Users Group) - A nonprofit, incorporated group, made up of corporation, hospital and university end-users that own and operate Aastra products.

ACUTA (Association for Information Communications Technology Professionals in Higher Education) - A non-profit educational association serving end-user decision makers and managers at colleges and universities.

BICSI (Building Industry Consulting Service International, Inc.) - A group for "ITS" (information technology systems) professionals who specialize in cabling, data centers and other infrastructure areas.

BTA (Business Technology Association) - A non-profit membership group from imaging (printer & copier) VARs.

CIPTUG (Cisco IP Telecommunications Users Group) - For users and solution providers of Cisco IP solutions.

COMPTEL (Competitive Telecommunications Association) - A non-profit group mostly for network carriers and resellers to lobby congress for open markets. 

CompTIA (Computing Technology Industry Association) - The non-profit trade association advancing the global interests of information technology (IT) professionals and companies including manufacturers, distributors, resellers, and educational institutions.

Events to Consider Attending This Year

Updated 1/20/11 By Dan Baldwin, OTMA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email 

If you love to travel and your budget can handle it, following are the 2011 events that OTMA may attend in our ongoing effort to report on the best shows for OTMA members and vendors to attend.

Many of these events have been attended personally by Doug Green of Telecom Reseller. For events that OTMA's not been to, ask Doug about them.

To get your event listed here, have OTMA cover your event, offer OTMA members or vendors discounts to attend/sponsor your event or you want OTMA's opinion about whether you should attend/sponsor these events, please contact me at [email protected].  

If you've attended one of these events and have a review you'd like to share please add a comment below or send an email review to [email protected]. 

January

        6-8 Technology Marketing Toolkit Producers Club Meeting Nashville - We've not previously attended but we've heard that 80 or more of the top IT VARs that subscribe to Robin Robin's sales and marketing techniques pay big bucks to attend and learn about new residual revenue strategies.

      9-12 ACUTA Winter Seminar Phoenix - We've not been before but it's likely a good show to meet IT enterprise end-users and their vendors in the university & college space.

     12-13 Q.Marketplace Denver, CO - Qwest's signature annual Partner event. 2011 theme is “Invest In Your Success” and will showcase why now is the perfect time to invest time, resources and effort in a partnership with Qwest.  Attendance is open to all Qwest Business Partners Partners.  Click here to become a Qwest Business Partner.  Here's a summary of the 2010 event.

          18 WTG's 2011 Kick-Off Agent Partner Event Los Angeles - A private WTG agent event. Request an invitation.

     16-19 PTC'11 Honolulu - We've not previously attended but we understand it's a good event for those who focus on connecting networks throughout Asia and the Pacific rim.

     16-19 BICSI Winter 2011 Orlando - We've not previously attended but we understand it's a good event for those who focus on cabling, data center construction and other building infrastructure areas.

     21-22 CharTec Partner Training Academy Bakersfield, CA - We've not previously attended but we understand that dozens of successful MSPs pay to attend these CharTec events to learn how CharTec's HaaS solution will increase their residual incomes.

     24-25 CompTIA IT Service & Support Meeting Las Vegas - For CompTIA IT Service & Support community members.

     24-27 SNIA Winter Symposium San Jose, CA - A four day event about data and information storage. Wow! (Hard to believe there's that much to know.) We've not previously attended but we assume it's the place to be if you love, use or sell storage.

February

            1 CompTIA Managed Print Services Community Meeting St. Charles, MO - For CompTIA Managed Print Services community members.

First Post - Welcome & Subscribe!

By Dan Baldwin, OTMA Executive Director, 951-251-5155 email 

For over 15 years I've been writing and blogging about the best ways to market and sell telecom to single and multi-location businesses.

Now that telecom, IT and software applications are merging both in the office and "in the cloud" it seems appropriate to create a different blog that covers all office technologies (IT, LAN, hardware, WAN, voice, document management, etc.) because while the skill set to install these solutions vary, the skills needed to market and sell the solutions are pretty much the same: find pain, poke at it and then offer a cure.

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