Today we had our first day for the HTG peer group meetings here in Dallas ahead of the SMB Summit. People are arriving and activities are picking up. We had an HTGALL reception tonight at the Texas Grill and had a great time connecting with each other. Each of the five groups met individually all day today and will repeat the tomorrow. We heard from HP - Dan Smith and Pradipta Dutta - over lunch and then in HTG1 this afternoon. There are some exciting announcements for SMB partners that were announced last week. Things are looking up. We sent these guys back with a list of tasks that would make working with HP a little easier for us as partners. If you have feedback, please send it to me. As I sit on the HP SMB advisory council, I want to be your voice to our friends at HP.
Far and away the funniest thing I heard today was from Alex Ziogas, HTG7 member from Chicago. Alex is such a timid young man but he provided the analogy of the week, month and maybe the year. Pay close attention to what he said: "Buying from Dell is like being married to a wife that cheats on you all the time". Maybe not exactly verbatim but you get the drift. HP is far from perfect but at the end of the day they really are our choice in the channel. OK - IBM and Lenovo and a few others fit the bill too, but Dell - now that is like loving a cheating woman. The one thing that was so obvious from the discussion - very direct and somewhat heated at times - is that doing business with HP is too difficult. If they can just get that part fixed they can own the channel completely.
Sonicwall is here doing a CSSA training. Part of the challenge today was the offer to give a free firewall to anyone who smoked one of the units. Of course, one of the creative HTG members was able to give everyone a good laugh with his digital smoke. Check out the photo of Eric Adkins and the SW he was working on.I want to alert you to the HP cocktail party that is being held on Friday night - opening night at the Summit. It will be held from 7:00 - 9:00. Drinks & Desserts will be served in Salon C. Hint - there will be a ticket for this in your badge holder so don't lose it!
See you in Dallas!
1 comment:
OK Arlin, you know I respect you, however, you couldn't slam DELL without a response from me!
DELL is a wonderful partner to work if you understand their system, I can say the same for HP and "How can you be married to a woman who never listens to you and doesn't communicate with you". That is my feeling on HP.
DELL has allowed me to make a great living in Western Canada, they have never once cheated on me or am I worried that they will.
DELL has provided me with all kinds of promotional items, DELL gets my pipeline report every week, DELL invites me to speak on their behalf at conferences etc.
Overall, one completely satisfied DELL partner.
Stuart Crawford
Calgary, AB
http://www.stuartcrawford.com
http://www.weareitpros.ca
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