Here at Quiss Technology, we’re an inquisitive bunch. And just because we know a lot about a huge range of technical subjects, from managed IT services to converged telephony, we never stop trying to learn more and how our clients might benefit from technological advances and new products or services.
If we don’t offer something, it typically means we haven’t been asked before; innovation and the desire to shape our offering to suit our clients’ needs are at the heart of our business and have been since Quiss was founded in 1988. Which is why when I was invited to attend the recent TechData partner academy event at Carden Park, I jumped at the chance to learn something new.
The TechData academy is an online, cloud based portal that offers valuable and insightful training delivered across a number of technology brands. Most of these brands will feature in our managed IT service offering at some point and hence the reason to understand more.
Now I’m a salesman, but also someone who recognises the importance of truly understanding the tech I’m trying to sell. There are too many ‘box-shifters’ out there in my opinion who only know part numbers and margins, rather than being able to match products and solutions to needs and challenges for prospects and clients.
Although very much an online resource, on this occasion, the academy was holding a live event to showcase the latest information and also offer insight into what technological advances we can expect from the biggest brands in the channel.
There were presentations to the entire audience, followed by smaller, more personal breakout sessions, when we could get up close and personal with the presentations and the technology.
One of the headline acts in this ‘gig for geeks’ was the session from Microsoft, who much as they did at the Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto in July, excited everyone with more details of their commitment to a mobile future.
Which to be honest was a theme that ran through most presentations from Cisco, Dell and HPE. The breakout session from HPE was very interesting as they talked in depth about Aruba, their first ever integrated networking technology, demonstrating the next phase of mobility as they see it.
From every session I was able to take away important details of products and services that I can use to better solve the problems suffered by businesses I talk to on the phone every day. Of course it’s also a great opportunity to swap war stories with other sales execs and make some great contacts at the business partners we rely on.
The Academy also gave an overview of their services and the statistics are impressive, with more than 90,000 materials downloaded, 37,000 eLearning sessions completed, over 29,000 badges earned, with over 4,000 users making good use of the channel academy.
I’m already looking forward to the next one and learning a little more about what the future has in store for us all.
Rob Wheeler, Sales Executive, Quiss Technology
Like what you read?
