ChannelPro-SMB - Arlin Sorenson

A Great Week at CompTIA

Arlin Sorenson — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 11:01:00 GMT

The CompTIA Breakaway event has ended this week after three days of great content, partner engagement, and vendor interaction. Scott, Ken and I were in Las Vegas to man the HTG booth as part of their vendor fair, and I was privileged to moderate the lunch session on Wednesday which focused on success stories and lessons learned from partners. There were over 500 partners on hand, along with almost 100 vendor companies and a variety of other folks. Grand total was over 1000 people registered and on site for the event. That is encouraging in and of itself. Many of the IT channel events have been well down in attendees if held at all. But this event gives one hope that the economic impact is slowing and the attitude in the channel is regaining some positive steam. Overall the people we met with were upbeat and feeling pretty good about things. While there are certainly pockets of real economic distress, the general feeling was that customers have money available, but have been waiting for some solid direction that things have stabilized and are headed back toward better days. There werenât many folks that felt we were sliding more deeply into the arms of a recession, but most said they see positive signs of recovery that should lead us to higher ground.

The event was a unique mix of folks and content. Lots of focused meetings tackling a variety of topics and issues mixed with briefings from vendors and great content from leading speakers. I was able to sit in on Verne Harnishâs presentation on planning and get some firsthand exposure to his Gazelle system. I met with a number of media folks to talk about the HTG story and mission as well as update them on our future direction and goals. We had 20 or so HTG green shirts in the crowd, and I am sure there were others on hand I missed. But our presence was felt and seen with those shirts. HTG was the buzz in the places I spent time and the interest is high and the demand to get involved in peer to peer community very strong. The partner attendees are a bit unusual at this event as the mix is all over the board from the largest in the channel down to the SMB. Most conferences are targeted at a particular type of partner, but CompTIA serves the entire channel and that was evident by the attendee list. It was a great place for us to recruit from a different pool of prospects than the normal places we connect.

HTG was the focus of lunch on Wednesday where I moderated the session of discussing successes and lessons learned by three companies in the channel. Jeff Anderson from BulletProof in Canada, a member of HTG10, made us all proud as we walked through the changes in their organization over the last 8 months or so. Jeff and Rene Sloos have merged their companies and created a new one that now includes Stuart Crawford as well. I heard from many that his section of the interview was filled with value and great insight. Thanks for making all of us HTGer's proud Jeff!

HTG will be working to identify ways we can work more closely with CompTIA in the days ahead. They certainly have a class organization that provides a lot of value to members in the channel. HTG wants to leverage their vast resources across our membership so we can participate with and take advantage of the quality programs and activities they are serving up. There is new leadership at the helm, and a fresh perspective on how they can engage the channel and drive the best interests of all involved. HTG is proud to be recognized as a leader in the channel and to partner with CompTIA to continue to help the ecosystem succeed and serve our collective customers the best way we possibly can. So a big thanks to the CompTIA team for a job well done and for allowing us to be part of your event. We look forward to much more in the coming days.

Passing the Torch Again!

Arlin Sorenson — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 02:46:00 GMT

Earlier this year Scott Scrogin was named President of Heartland Tech Group. Recently another key announcement was made - that Connie Arentson is now President of Heartland Technology Solutions.

That makes me out of the loop on the day to day business of both HTS and HTG. Sort of like sending your kids to college. You work toward this day all your life, and when it comes, it seems like only yesterday you were starting the business. Connie and Scott are both fantastic leaders whom I trust completely. They are surrounded by a fantastic leadership team at both HTS (Jane Cage and Larry Hedin) and HTG (Ken Shetler and Christy Sacco) as well as strong boards that will be focused on keeping things moving the right direction. My role will be to focus on strategy, M&A, relationships and whatever else I can do to add value to both orgs. My official title will be CEO and Chairman of the board and I will still be involved in both organizations to support and bring opportunities to the leadership teams. The hard part is keeping out of the way of day to day decisions, although with my travel schedule it really isn't all that hard to be out of the routine.

Here is the official press release. It really is a great day for all - our teams, our customers, our partners, our members, our vendors and everyone associated in any way with HTS or HTG. Things are in very good and capable hands, and I am proud to still be allowed to be part of it all.

Harlan, Iowa (July 21, 2009) â Heartland Technology Solutions (HTS) announces that Connie Arentson has been named president of HTS. Connie will be responsible for day to day activities at HTS. Connie most recently served as Vice President of Professional Services where she managed the service side of the HTS technology business as well as leading the Precision Agriculture business unit. Connie has been with HTS since 1995 and served as a dispatcher for a number of years, and as a field engineer prior to that. âProviding great customer service has been an integral part of delivering solutions at HTS and that will definitely continue to be a top priority,â said Connie.

Connie is a member of First Baptist Church where she serves as a teacher for Sunday school and Baptist Youth Fellowship, an outreach ministry program for 170 kids in the Harlan community. She is also an active member of the praise team. Recently Connie served on the Harlan Sports Booster Board.

A graduate of Iowa State University, Connie earned double bachelorâs degrees in Agriculture Education and Dairy Science.

Kim Marples has also been promoted to service manager at HTS and will hold that role across all HTS locations. Previously Kim held the role of dispatcher for the Harlan location and worked closely with the technical team to ensure clientsâ needs were met and expectations were exceeded.

Kim is also a graduate of Iowa State University with a bachelorâs of Business Administration in Transportation and Logistics.

Scott Scrogin was earlier named President of Heartland Tech Groups, the international peer group program founded in 2000 by Arlin Sorensen. Scott has been filling that role since the first of the year and has recently been joined with the addition of Christy Sacco who is now part of the HTG team. Ken Shetler continues his role of building strategic relationships for HTG as well.

Arlin Sorensen will continue to serve as Chairman and CEO of both organizations. âConnie and Scott both bring a deep understanding of our client base and the proven ability to streamline processes and drive efficiency which will help ensure that our clients continue to receive the best possible service. This will allow my role to change from day to day management to strategy, M&A and industry relationships,â said Arlin.

WPC Wrap

Arlin Sorenson — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 16:31:00 GMT

What a week it has been. The 2009 version of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference is in the books and it was another fantastic event. The WPC team did a fantastic job of executing as I didn't detect any real blips at all. OK - the power going out on Thursday during the central region awards event caused some excitement - but that is probably not in the master plan. Kudo's to the team for a job well done. I can't really imagine the details that go into planning an event like that. I can imagine the miles of walking because it seemed my meetings were from one end of that venue to another, and it is no little distance. But it was cool inside so no complaints from me. If there was an area the team could have corrected, it would have been to get the temps down to the Friday level for the early part of the week. I nearly melted on Sunday and Monday just walking the few blocks to the convention center.

There were lots of important announcements this week. MPN - the new Microsoft Partner Network - tops my list of important things to consider. Change is inevitable, and while the current MSPP program is very well done, the new one looks to take it to yet another level. They are putting Small Business where it belongs - as a real competency - and appear to be raising the bar a bit as well which is welcome. The current program has been watered down a bit too much over time, so a reset is good and should bring new value to partners. Of course the key will be the associated air cover to the marketplace so they have some clue of what MPN is all about and how they can use it to find quality partners to engage with.

The technology wave is exciting. I think this has to be the largest wave of new products ever, and there are some really exciting things on the horizon. I spent quite a bit of time with the Win7 group as part of their Ignite program. We had a customer who participated in the program down at the event with us and were able to spend time providing feedback and direction on our participation and the program overall. Win7 has me really excited - in our SMB client base - lots of folks that have postponed hardware refresh due to the economy. I hope Win7 will be just the nudge to get them to move. Office 2010 looks very cool as do a lot of other pending releases.

But the real value of WPC is not the sessions (sorry Microsoft - especially now with digital WPC where I can watch them this week from home). The real value happened in the hallways and particularly for me - in the Connect area. I had about 25 meetings this week with different partners and Microsoft folks. That is why I attend WPC. No other venue gives me the access to so many people I want to connect with. Even in the many trips I make to Redmond, it is more difficult to connect. At WPC everyone is there for the same reason - there aren't all the normal interruptions of life, and you can just get down to business. So if you attend this event in particular, but really any of the large partner events, use the time to connect. I tend to use the daytime to connect with Microsoft and the evening and meals to connect with peers. But my goal is to be spending time with people in small groups or one on one for at least 12 hours a day. I can sleep this week - sure didn't do enough of that last week.

HTG had a fantastic week at WPC. A number of our members presented, and we had our green shirts (well some of us did) on Wednesday. You know who you are if you didn't. :-) Funny the excuses I heard about why not. Var Vid was there recording things and it was just great to be in a place where there were about 20-25 fellow HTG'ers roaming the halls. Inevitably I would run into a friendly face most everywhere I went. The SBSC council dinner was another highlight as we spent the evening getting acquainted and looking forward to the future. Francois Dumard is doing a stellar job of resetting that program and has pulled together a strong advisory council to help lead that charge. HTG has 5 of those seats and will be intimately involved in helping take SBSC in the US to a new level. I was able to connect with a lot of the central region team about our needs at HTS, and with many folks about HTG. There was certainly a lot of buzz around HTG and the great things we are doing.

The ConnectWise partnership continues to grow and drive value and direction in the marketplace. Had a lot of good time with the ConnectWise team and many good discussions with members about how we can take process to the next level with our relationship. Exciting days are ahead because of our strategic alliance with them.

All said, it was an awesome week. Great food, great content, great venue and most of all great people. It just doesn't get much better than that. If you missed this year - put it on your calendar for 2010. Washington DC in July - it is worth the investment!

HTG at WPC

Arlin Sorenson — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:24:00 GMT

We are almost ready to head to New Orleans for what may be the biggest event of the year outside our quarterly HTG meetings. There is a lot going on down there, and here is a list of things you probably want to take advantage of:

HTG Green Shirt Day
Wednesday is the day which has been set aside for HTG members to wear your green HTG shirts. It is important to bring that shirt along and proudly wear it that day. See photo for clarification on shirt!

HTG Buttons
Scott and I will have buttons available for you to wear at WPC to let people know you are part of HTG. Find us and put a button on!

HTG meeting place
SBSC is again hosting the Yellow Lounge, which is a good place to meet up with other SMB partners and particularly HTG members. Plan to meet up there around 11:30 each day to see what other HTG'ers are free for lunch.

Morning prayer and devotions
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday mornings we will have a devotional and prayer time at 6:30 AM at the Residence Inn Convention Center in the courtyard there. Join us and bring along anyone that has interest.

Partners in Christ Prayer Breakfast
Wednesday morning at 7 AM we will hold the annual prayer breakfast at the Marriott Convention Center. Pre-registration is requested â link to register is http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2is6m4qfuzirfgr/a011kfwjnyit6/questions

HTG Meet-Up and dinner
Sunday evening at 6:30 PM â sponsored by ConnectWise and Microsoft
The Court of the Two Sistershttp://www.courtoftwosisters.com/ 613 Royal St. New Orleans, LA 70130. This is for HTG member companies only and you need to RSVP to me via email to have a spot.

HTG Speakers at WPC
SMB007 Power of Community
Presenters: Mark Crall, Dave Sobel, Erik Thorsell, Richard Tubb, Jamison West
Wed 7/15 2:00 PM-3:00 PM 215-216

Learn from esteemed peers who have successfully harnessed the "Power of the Community" in not only establishing better operational, sales, marketing and financial practices but greater work/life balance through execution of goals and accountability to their peers who become lifelong friends. Get ready to be personally challenged to aspire to greater things as you witness fellow SMB IT community peers who have called each other higher though a commitment to giving and execution.

SMB008 Social Media 101: Defining and Understanding How to Connect with Your Clients and Colleagues Using the Latest Technologies
Presenter: Stuart Crawford
Wed 7/15 2:00 PM-3:00 PM 217

Social media is the latest trend, but many leaders face big hurdles with getting online and creating a buzz. Hear how you can use social media tools internally across your organization and as a mechanism to quickly share important information. This session takes a hands-on approach on how to: use social media to connect with employees, team members, and clients; design a blog; write your message clearly and concisely; and apply delivery mechanisms and alerts for notification of new content.

SMB009 Partner Planning: Four Simple Plans That Can Change Everything
Presenters: Scott Scrogin, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Wed 7/15 3:30 PM-4:30 PM 208-210

This first session discusses key plans that should be in place for success, including: company business plan, personal leadership plan, life plan, and a disaster recovery/continuity plan. Hear from Partners who have had business or life change because of planning and learn how to get started with specific tools in each of these areas. Plan to spend a few hours working on your business and your life developing foundational direction that will lead to success!

SMB010 Virtualization: What You Need to Know to Get Your Business Ready
Presenter: Dave Sobel
Wed 7/15 3:30 PM-4:30 PM 215-216

Virtualization is a game-changing new approach to infrastructure. Learn what you need to know to start implementing projects using virtualization technologies, specifically as it relates to Windows Small Business Server and Windows Essential Business Server. See real life techniques and experiences that get you ready to deliver solutions, including a complete restore into a virtual machine from raw backup. Not just for the big boys, this is the next generation of infrastructure.

SMB013 Partner Planning Workshop: Putting Pen to Paper
Presenters: Scott Scrogin, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Wed 7/15 5:00 PM-6:00 PM 208-210

In this session, a workbook is provided for working on your company business plan, personal leadership plan, life plan, or continuity plan. We break into groups to work on at least one plan that is specific to your situation. Partners provide feedback and ideas to help you with the process. One of the outcomes of this session includes follow-up and accountability. Plan to spend this hour working on your business developing foundational direction that will lead to success!

SMB015 Building Momentum in Your Managed Services Practice
Presenter: Mark Crall
Thu 7/16 1:30 PM-2:30 PM 218-219

Move from the hit-or-miss world of break/fix to a reliable, recurring revenue stream. Industry leader Mark Crall strategizes on how to successfully move your customers to managed services. Learn â¢ The importance of offering managed services â¢ Key issues to consider first â¢ Steps for planning your new service offerings â¢ When and how to present to existing customers Don't miss this session! A stable, predictable revenue stream is critical for your company's survival and continued growth.

SI003 Optimizing What You Already Own in a Changing Economy
Presenter: Kenneth Lince, Arlin Sorensen, Erik Thorsell
Thu 7/16 4:30 PM-5:30 PM 243-244

Understand the software your partnership with Microsoft affords you to maximize your management of information and client relations. Learn how partners are using Microsoft technology solutions they own, as a result of their partnership with Microsoft, to optimize their business and sales agility in selling and delivering solutions more effectively to their customers.

One More SWOT Under the Belt

Arlin Sorenson — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:45:00 GMT

I was blessed this week to spend a couple days with Russ and the team of RJB as we performed a SWOT here in Philly. Russ is part of HTG14 and had requested some outside eyes to take a look at where his company is and help provide some guidance on where they should tweak a bit. Joining me were Michael Cocanower (HTG2) and Chris Chirgwin (HTG14). We arrived on Tuesday evening and started bright and early on Wednesday. The entire day was spent with Russ, his strong management team, and his staff at large. We met in small groups, large groups and one on one. As SWOT participants we turned over the rocks, looked in the closets and dug around all aspects of his business. As is always the case, we uncovered a few things that were news to everyone, but most of our findings were known or at least suspected. We ended a very long day with a great sandwich at Pat's King of Steaks where we got cheese steak "wit" and added some American cheese.

Day two we turned the tables and the management team at RJB grilled Chris, Michael and me for almost three hours with questions they had. The theme for this visit was growth and how to prepare for it - what things need to be put in place to allow the business to scale. Later in the day we presented our finding to the management team and then the entire company. We left them with some pretty large shifts in how they currently do things, and a task list that should keep them focused for the next months at a minimum. But the story doesn't end here. We also set up accountabilty for all to make sure that things really do change. It is so hard to stay focused on the transition when human nature pulls us to return to our comfort zone or past way of doing things. We aren't going to let Russ do that, nor his team for that matter.

One of the questions I answered over and over is why we do this. The answer is quite simple. Everyone who participates in the HTG SWOT process wants to make a difference. And the best way to do that is to give back. We all have warts and issues that we know exist in our businesses. So the fact that people need help is no mystery. But when owners give their time to help another, they learn more than the company being visited in most cases. I am sure that Chris and Michael would say that is true here. RJB was the focus, but the three of us all were talking to ourselves often as we gave suggestions and counsel to the team here, and we all have a list of things to go home and work on in our own company.

Expect to see some great things from the RJB team in the days ahead. It won't be because of our SWOT, but because of the focus and teamwork they will put together to make their company even greater. We may have played a small part in helping them realize just how well positioned they are to succeed, but the hard work will be done by Russ and the team and we will be watching and smiling and looking back saying I remember when.......

Heartland Tech Group Partners with ConnectWise

Arlin Sorenson — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:19:00 GMT

Here is the official press release about the HTG strategic alliance with ConnectWise. This is great news and the phone and email have been running hot with calls and mail grateful for this move. While no one really likes change, everyone who has called acknowledges that it is needed to move us to the next level. We can't just continue on the path we have been on and achieve the ultimate goal of helping our members succeed. So this is fantastic news for all involved.

MSPMentor has also captured a podcast that you can check out to hear the interaction between Joe, Arnie and myself regarding this strategic alliance. That podcast may answer some of your questions and should certainly give you something to be excited about. Check it out at: http://www.mspmentor.net/2009/06/30/connectwise-htg-peer-groups-ink-strategic-alliance/

One other note while we are announcing things: Christy Sacco has joined HTG as a full time staff member. We are really excited about her addition and know she will continue to make a significant impact on our members and HTG as a whole. Welcome her when you have a minute!

Here is the official press release:

HTG Peer Group members standardize on ConnectWise PSA platform to more accurately compare and measure operational data, performance and efficiency

HARLAN, Ia. â June 30, 2009 â Savvy IT service providers appreciate how critical it is to streamline their business operations and rely more than ever on their peers to develop, share and implement industry best practices. Today, the leading IT peer group network, Heartland Tech Group (HTG), and ConnectWise, the worldwide leader of IT professional services automation software, announced a strategic alliance that will further the insight and analysis available to HTG members through ConnectWiseâs capabilities.

Through the partnership, HTG members will use ConnectWise as their business operating system and use ConnectWise-developed education as part of their peer group process. This common experience will enable HTG members to share expertise and quickly implement and measure business process improvements.

âJoining HTG and making the investment in ConnectWise both rank up there with the best business decisions we have made,â commented Dan Shundoff, President and CEO of Kearney, Neb., based Intellicom. âWe are excited to see these two mission critical organizations work hand-in-hand to enhance our peer group interaction and our business. This move just confirms those decisions even further.â

ConnectWise, the worldwide industry-leading publisher of professional services automation (PSA) software, is investing over $3 million in the development of educational content for its partners during 2009. The alliance with HTG builds on the companyâs commitment to deliver practical and actionable business process education to the solution provider community.

âAs HTG has evolved, we realized that our members needed an efficient way to transform ideas into operational improvements,â said HTG CEO and Founder Arlin Sorensen. âWe can now not only focus on what should be done to enhance our membersâ operations, we can talk very specifically about how to do it. This strategic alliance will allow us to move from theoretical to tactical and increase the impact on member companies exponentially. ConnectWise is uniquely positioned to deliver the industry insight and software capabilities HTG members need to create business success.â

ConnectWise CEO Arnie Bellini said that the HTG partnership is one more way for his company to support the solution provider industryâs success: âHTG has clearly established the industryâs leading peer group community. Weâre committed to helping organizations like HTG develop their membersâ expertise and improve their business results. With our online university, regional user groups, Learning Center, Mastery sessions and Partner Summit, HTG members have access to the industryâs leading educational content and can select the delivery method that works best for them.â

About Heartland Tech Group
Heartland Tech Group (HTG) is an international peer group organization focused on business improvement, member accountability, and work-life excellence among leading IT solution providers. HTG has over 225 member companies throughout the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom spread over 20 groups of 12 non-competing member companies. Peer groups meets quarterly for a confidential two-day event that focuses on sharing best practices, benchmarking, process improvement and member business review. HTG was founded in 2000 by Arlin Sorensen to provide solution providers a community to foster business and personal growth driven by execution. Visit www.htgpeergroups.com or call 712-744-3619 for more information.

About ConnectWise
ConnectWise is the leading Web-based professional service automation (PSA) software application designed exclusively for technology consultants, integrators and developers. More than 29,000 IT solution providers rely on ConnectWise to more efficiently integrate key business operations across their enterprises, from business development and project management, to client services and billing. ConnectWise technology enables IT companies to drive greater accountability, operational efficiency, profitability, and tighter systems integration. Visit www.connectwise.com for more information or call 813-463-4760.
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Contact for More Information:
Christy Sacco, Heartland Tech Group
813-785-8571 / lcgoodwin@tampabay.rr.com

Lynette Bohanan, CommCentric Solutions
813-727-0196 / lbohanan@commcentricsolutions.com