Say It Ain’t So! You Missed Breakaway?

More than 1,000 industry leaders were in attendance at our annual Breakaway conference this month in San Antonio. But what? You missed it?

We can’t replace the networking that you missed, but we’ll try to update you on the host of the learing opportunities available at the event. 

The Channel Vanguard Council (CVC), a thought-leadership advisory group to CompTIA, powered two special presentations – transformative revenue models and rethinking sales compensation plans. The idea behind these sessions was to provide solution providers with insights on mechanisms for accelerating growth. Moderator Larry Walsh then pulled some of his panelists aside to do video take-aways from the sessions.  Check out advaice about revenue models and compensation.

Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, gave the opening keynote address and announced new educational programs aimed at helping IT businesses raise their levels of productivity and professionalism. To support the initiative CompTIA’s board of directors has committed to invest additional funding of nearly $1 million over the next three years. Initial new educational offerings will center on healthcare IT.

The Vendor Tech Fair teamed with approximately 200 companies ready to help resellers expand their markets and enhance their businesses.  Our roving show reporters caught some highlights from the show floor.

A few companies also gave in-depth presentations on their technology solutions, which we captured in video.  To help VARs and MSPs run their business better and more profitably, Autotask Corp. offers its Professional Services Automation (PSA) software and the VARStreet family of advanced quoting and e-commerce tools.  itControl Solutions offers remote monitoring andn management and has flexible scaling to help MSPs deliver service to their customers but also increase product sales and project work.  Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility Solutions and Networks business offers an end-to-end portfolio of products and solutions to help companies connect with their staff and customers.

For a quick wrap-up on the show via photos, check out our post-event slideshow.

Product Upgrades

We reported earlier this month on a number of the new products that were announced during Breakaway, but in our follow-up search, we can across two other new product updates.

iolo technologies announced a new upgrade to System Mechanic Business, its computer optimization and maintenance software designed for small and medium size businesses. The new version carries advanced tools that provide precise control over automated network deployment and configuration. The new Network Deployment Manager allows system administrators and IT managers to easily create automated network installation packages, which then can be used to deploy System Mechanic Business across some or all PCs on a network. Administrators can apply varied policy settings for different groups, customized ActiveCare automatic maintenance preferences, and even enable silent-installation options, so setup occurs seamlessly in the background without interrupting workstation users.

Quosal Inc. released Quosal for ACT!, an exclusive version of the Quosal product for users of ACT! by Sage. Quosal offers market-leading features and technology for sales quote and proposal creation, delivery and management. Its new product set-up and integration model makes installation a snap, without sacrificing any of Quosal’s ability to produce timely, accurate, winning quotes and proposals. Quosal for ACT! also allows customers to access Quosal’s proposal presentation and delivery platform, Order Porter, to create and deliver personalized Web pages to customers, complete with product data, product images and personalized sales videos. For a limited time only, Quosal is offering Quosal for ACT! at promotional pricing as low as $99 for a single-user basic license.

Want more Breakaway news?  Search the tag #bkwy10 and you’ll find a host of stories.  Happy reading and viewing.

Don’t forget to put Breakaway 2011 on your calendar, August 1-4 in Washington, D.C.