Changing era of channel training

Skilled workers are the core of any successful business and CRN recently caught up with Alex Lopez of newly formed firm Training IT Professionals to discuss his latest venture and the implications on the channel.

CRN: Can you give us an overview of how Training IT Professionals will operate?

Lopez: Training IT Professionals is in the business of delivering multivendor technical and pre-sales training nationally.
We work closely with vendors, their channel partners and ultimately end customers to ensure we are delivering training that meets their specific requirements.
Our first vendor signed has been Juniper Networks and we have worked closely with them to establish a national schedule of technical courses covering their security, switching and routing technologies.
We are currently in discussions with other vendors to deliver an even wider array of courses.

CRN: Why have you established a new training company?

Lopez: In talking with resellers and vendors, we discovered there was a need in the marketplace to provide quality hands-on technical training on a national basis.
It is the age-old problem, vendors are increasingly releasing more sophisticated equipment and they struggle with getting these products operationally into networks with a minimum amount of fuss.
The Training IT Professionals proposition is bringing the vendors, channel and end customers together in our own training facilities located in North Sydney. Using our state-of-the-art training labs, students get to use the equipment first hand, working through various technical configuration exercises.
Seeing is believing.

CRN: How do you work with the channel?

Lopez: We launched a channel program that provides significant value to partners in two ways.

Firstly, we offer a 25 percent margin to partners who re-sell our training to their end customers. This is a fantastic way for resellers to gain additional margin out of every sale and increase the overall blended margin of the deal.

Secondly, we offer even more heavily discounted certification training to partners so that they can enable their internal engineering teams.

Certification training allows resellers to confidently sell, install and support complex solutions to customers as well as driving high margin professional services projects.
As we talk to end customers, they tell us that resellers who have certified engineering staff help them win business and differentiate themselves from the pack.
There’s no doubt that this also leads to better customer satisfaction in the overall project.

CRN: Why is training so important for Internet companies and those who use their products and services?

Lopez: Engineers need to be trained so that their organisations can get maximum performance, security and reliability from their investment in communications infrastructure.

Of course, new products and newer versions of existing products give rise to the need for ongoing training as is the case in all high-tech industries in this age.
This will never stop happening and so the need for training will be ongoing.
Our really great challenge here is to ensure we are offering the right training at the right time for those who need it.

CRN: Where do you see the training needs of partners and end-users going in the foreseeable future?

Lopez: Juniper has had enormous growth in the past couple of years and continues to do so.
They have released new and exciting technology which will require constant training.
We see ourselves as an integral part of their going forward strategy.
The more engineers we train the more engineers there will be in the marketplace using and recommending Juniper products.

CRN: How do you see the role of the training provider changing over time?

Lopez: In the ideal world, there is nothing better than an instructor in
a classroom with students, a lab where they can “touch” the equipment and the networking with other students on how to do things.
However, that is impossible in some cases.

So, some sort of e-learning is something that we all need to consider and we are looking into this method of delivery for the future.

CRN: Will there be some degree of consolidation occurring in the region and globally?

Lopez: There is always consolidation going on and since we are the new training company in the marketplace we need to look for expansion organically and by acquisition.

As the market contracts, resellers need to get more “wallet share” from existing customers as well target new more profitable services.

Training again provides resellers with the capability to deliver these services.