Articles by Matt Pillar

  1. Is Payment Security A Commodity Now? 4/9/2018

    The PCI Security Standards Council’s announcement of plans to strategically drive its QIR (Qualified Integrators and Resellers) program deeper into the SMB retail market is by most counts a positive thing for the industry. For the greater good of data security, it’s hard to muster a qualm about moves like these. It’s a little easier to be annoyed by these changes if you’ve been going out of your way to differentiate your business via a payment security consultancy. 

  2. Artificial Intelligence: A Channel Opportunity 3/1/2018

    Here’s why 620-employee MSP Alphanumeric Systems is going all-in on artificial intelligence. Will its large base of public sector clients embrace the tech as well?

  3. A Disruptive Plan For Nationwide Growth 3/1/2018

    The 20 is a growing, hard-to-define group of MSPs led by charismatic channel veteran Tim Conkle. Its mission? National domination. Here’s Conkle’s plan.

  4. WWT's Top Investment Pays Dividends 3/1/2018

    Jim Kavanaugh is winning. World Wide Technology (WWT), the IT and managed services company he leads, topped the $10 billion sales revenue mark last year. It also moved into a new $95 million St. Louis corporate headquarters building and added some 500 new employees.Those are giant milestones, but this exclusive Q&A reveals Kavanaugh’s greatest pride as CEO of the sprawling privately held company.

  5. It's The Data, Stupid 3/1/2018

    It isn’t sustainable to build or run a business on the sale of a product suite that’s widely available and subject to rapid devaluation—or on a service that can be executed by virtually anyone. Yet that’s precisely what most resellers are doing. Where will sustainable differentiation come from? I’m betting on the development and sale of services built around the mastery and delivery of data.

  6. Is Apple Ready For The Channel? 2/15/2018

    Seven historically valid reasons for VARs and MSPs to ignore Apple, and seven counterpoints on why that might be a mistake today.

  7. Inside The ConnectWise/HTG Acquisition 1/5/2018

    The pundits and prognosticators, myself included, have been predicting robust channel M&A activity in 2018. That activity got off to an exciting and immediate start with acquisition of HTG Peer Groups by ConnectWise, announced Jan. 5.

  8. Why VARs And MSPs Are Key To The Data Security Solution 1/2/2018

    Secure Ideas’ Senior Security Consultant Nathan Sweaney sat down with Channel Executive to discuss the channel’s growing and important role in data security.

  9. Why IT Services Must Become Data Services 1/2/2018

    If hardware margins & services commoditization have you down? It's time to wrap your brain around the customer data you've been merely facilitating, and develop ways to help those customers exploit it.

  10. 3 Tips For Engaged Selling 1/2/2018

    Sales came easy back when demand was high and supply was low. Today, value-adds and managed services are everywhere. How to differentiate? Here are a few timely and specific calls to sales action that you can implement today.