BTA Managed Services Workshop Scheduled for Dec. 7-8

Kansas City, MO — Are your managed IT services sales numbers not meeting expectations? Are you looking for tools that deliver results instead of just hearing more about what you should be doing? Have you just entered the market — or are planning to — and need to make up for lost time and avoid mistakes? On Dec. 7-8 at Sharp Electronics Corp. in Santa Ana, California, the Business Technology Association (BTA) will present the BTA Managed Services Workshop, which can help a dealer start, improve or optimize his or her managed services business.

The one-and-a-half-day BTA Managed Services Workshop has been expanded to include the data and critical success factors within the Managed Services Business Model 2.0, developed by workshop instructors Mitch Morgan and Chris Ryne of Growth Achievement Partners (GAP), and Continuum. The companies’ combined knowledge in the MSP space will allow attendees to walk away with a time-tested business model and key metrics to guide success and ensure profitability. The business model includes an action plan and covers such topics as:

· Revenue: The appropriate targets, mixes and types, and how should those change over time to include items like hardware-as-a-service (HaaS) and cloud services.

· Contracts & Account Expansion: Seats under management, revenue per seat and growth expectations via additional products and services over time.

· Activity & Pipeline: Sales cycle duration, pipeline metrics and activity targets to achieve business model revenue targets.

· Head Count: Productivity measures for sales and vCIO personnel, target head-count levels based on seats managed and customers under contract, and personnel mix between sales and operations.

· Compensation: Who to pay, how to pay and when to pay, as well as target compensation levels as they relate to gross profit and revenue.

· Profitability: Target contribution level and operational levels to enhance performance.

· Operational Metrics (Core NOC/Help Desk): Key drivers of managed services profitability and customer satisfaction, including productivity measures, availability metrics and response times.

In addition to the updated business model, participants will be trained on the Managed Services Sales Process. This three-phase sales process provides clarity to the important components in closing manages services opportunities. Continuum reports that this sales process has helped GAP clients:

· Achieve four-times higher sales results than non-GAP clients

· Increase their devices under management 297 percent over last 36 months

· Manage more than 15,000 global IT devices on the Continuum platform

As an additional bonus to attendees, GAP will be detailing the critical elements in developing and maximizing the attendee’s vCIO resource. The effectiveness of this position is key to the overall success of a managed services program. Morgan and Ryne will also be providing insight into the MSP acquisition trends, critical success factors and best practices they are seeing through their activity and strategic partnership with Mike Dudek and Zygoquest Group.

Mitch Morgan is a partner at GAP. He founded the Connectivity Dealer Program at NIA in 1991. After his business was acquired by IKON Office Solutions in 1996, he led its Technology Services division. In 2001, he formed the Professional Services division for IKON. Morgan has been consulting with CEOs on strategy, operations, organizational development and sales since 2005.

Chris Ryne, a partner at GAP, brings significant experience in driving growth and profitability, possessing a comprehensive understanding of the industry that includes traditional and emerging markets from both a sales and operations perspective. His tenure includes 10 years with IKON, where he built and led a successful professional services business unit from startup to a well-integrated team.

BTA member tuition for the BTA Managed Services Workshop is $995 and an additional attendee from the same dealership is $745. BTA members may apply their $150 or $250 educational discount promo code received with their membership toward this workshop (coupons do not apply for additional attendee registrations). Non-member tuition is $1,425 and includes a one-year BTA dealer membership.

For more information or to register, visit www.bta.org/MS or call (800) 843-5059.

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About the BTA:
Founded in 1926, the Business Technology Association serves office technology dealerships, resellers, manufacturers, distributors and service companies. Its core members — office technology dealerships — consult, sell and service hardware, software and supplies with the goal of helping businesses maximize their investment in devices and technology. Through the association’s various educational programs, information, research, legal services, publications and guidance, BTA member dealerships are positioned to be the premier source of the office technology used by businesses throughout the United States every day. For more information on BTA, visit its Web site at www.bta.org.