Sat, Mar 4, 2017 - 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

Depart from Maryland Ballroom Foyer

Channel@Work


At each XChange Conference The Channel Company hosts a Channel@Work event.  Channel@Work is a charitable arm of The Channel Company and is designed to bring the IT community together to connect and give back to the local communities that host our events.  For the past 8 years we have joined together to help organizations such as Soldiers’ Angels, USO, Habitat for Humanity, Wounded Warrior Project, Ronald McDonald House, and many more.   This year we are honored to partner with Food for All DC.  Our partner, vendor, and staff volunteers will come in for the conference early and spend Saturday sorting, packing and delivering food to families in need throughout the D.C. area.   It’s really hard to believe that people are living a stone’s throw from the Capital building in poverty and without food. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help and to make a small difference while here in D.C.!

Food for All DC is a non-profit charity organization that strives to provide food to those low-income home-bound residents that are in real need. In the past year, volunteers have put in over 4,000 hours of work to provide food to over 500 of DC's most vulnerable residents. These residents include elderly and handicapped citizens, and single mothers with young children. Food for All DC has been entirely volunteer operated with the assistance of private and public grants for over 25 years. Over 3,000 bags of food are continuing to be delivered each year with the help and support from Food for All DC.

Special thanks to all those who are participating!

Program Underwriters:

     Image result for dell emc logo    

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Sat, Mar 4, 2017 - 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm XChange University: IT Security

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:15 am to 12:15 pm XChange University: IT Security


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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

Chesapeake 5-6

Pre-event Workshop

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 11:30 am to 7:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration & Attendee Welcome Desk

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 12:45 pm to 1:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Solution Provider Orientation

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 12:45 pm to 1:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Vendor Orientation: XChange Best Practices For Success

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 1:15 pm to 1:45 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Opening Remarks


 

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: Disruptive Thinking: Fostering A Culture Of Game-Changing Leadership

To compete today in a fast-changing world, businesses need a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions to stay ahead of the game. Leaders are looking for solutions that revive stagnant markets or completely reinvent the competitive dynamics of an industry. Disruptive thinking is about fostering a culture of innovation leadership that provides the framework and motivation to generate those strategies and execute those solutions. It is an essential skill for any business leader whether driving a small start-up or global corporation. This keynote will provide tools to help senior leaders transform organizational processes and behaviors, and ask, "Why hadn’t we ever thought about our business and culture this way before?"

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Executive Keynote: Simple, Predictable And Profitable: Transform With Dell EMC

In the digital era, technology is advancing at an exponential rate and changing how everyone works and lives. Today, every company in every industry is transforming its business and creating new digital operating models. Dell EMC and its partners are uniquely positioned to help customers through this evolution. Dell EMC possesses the industry’s broadest product portfolio of innovative solutions and the industry’s most desirable partner program. That program is delivering a simple, predictable and profitable experience for partners.  This session will illuminate how Dell EMC enables extraordinary opportunities for partner growth and profitability.

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: How to Make Tough Decisions In Good And Bad Times

Pre-Registration Required

When leaders avoid difficult decisions it wastes time, money, and distracts them from achieving their best.  Now, more than ever in 2017, leaders of IT services organizations and solutions providers need to learn how to improve themselves as leaders and accelerate profitable growth in their organizations. 

Key takeaways include: learning how to better prioritize change, make difficult decisions more easily and overcome procrastination so it is mistake of the past rather than an ongoing challenge in the present.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Business Management--Unlocking the Secrets of Sales Enablement

Solution provider leaders need to master sales enablement to move their organizations forward. Developing a leading-edge sales-enablement program should be a strategic part of every solution provider’s business model to ensure that customer-facing employees are able to engage in meaningful and valuable conversations with customers at every stage of the buying or problem-solving process. In small- and mid-size organizations that sit below the Fortune 1000, there is a quagmire of critical business functions that are frequently neglected. For businesses that do not have vast resources, attendees will learn how sales enablement takes an “everything and the kitchen sink” of functions, calms the chaos and begins driving value to the firm.

Attendees will learn:

  • How to define sales enablement so everyone from senior management to entry-level support is on board
  • A case study of a successful sales-enablement program
  • Sales enablement as role vs. a function
  • Developing teamwork to support a successful sales-enablement program
  • Breaking down the walls between organizational silos to get customers the information they need
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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Capitalizing On Today’s Hottest Security Trends

Ransomware infections, phishing attacks, spyware and web-borne attacks are prompting some enterprises to invest in modern network security infrastructure to support advanced threat detection, according to some of the key findings of a joint The Channel Company-IDC security trends survey. Hear the key findings from this study of solution providers which provides a glimpse into how integrators are responding to the threats their customers face. The Security Trends study examined security sales channel engagements with enterprises to identify enterprise spending priorities, the top threats impacting customers and the top high-risk areas within enterprise environments. IDC security analyst and former CRN security editor Robert Westervelt will illuminate these key findings to help solution providers make the best business moves to grow their security practice.

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:45 pm to 4:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Networking Break
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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments
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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm

Cherry Blossom Foyer

Welcome Reception
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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Hotel Rooms 2000 Wing - Conference Level

Demo Rooms

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Old Hickory Steakhouse

Private Dinners

(By Invitation Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:00 am to 5:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:15 am to 8:00 am

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Breakfast

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.
(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 8:15 am to 9:00 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: Creating Tomorrow’s Winning Workplace

Businesses that are succeeding clearly get what millennials want and expect from their employers and careers.  In this session, solution providers will learn from the companies that get it. All businesses must understand the secrets to leveraging the unique competencies, strengths and value that millennials bring to the workplace and how to guide and empower them to create winning workplaces.

Today there are 2.4 billion millennials, they represent 36 percent of the workforce, control $660 billion in spending and will represent 75 percent of the employee and customer base by 2025.  They grew up differently, view the world differently and are changing the way we run our businesses and sell  products and services. Think of Nexflix’s impact on Blockbuster or Uber’s disruption of the taxi industry or even how Airbnb is changing the hotel industry. IT leaders must ask what their business is doing to create a workplace that attracts, engages and retains the next generation of employees.

In this provocative, interactive keynote, Dan Negroni of Launchbox365 will share what millennials want from their employers and case studies of cutting-edge companies that are getting it right.  Attendees will learn:

  • The positive characteristics and strengths that millennials bring to the workplace
  • What millennials expect and value from their job and employers
  • 6 key steps to engaging the next generation
  • What the most innovative companies are doing to leverage millennials’ strengths and create a connected workplace
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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:00 am to 9:30 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Executive Keynote: Competing And Winning In The Cloud

Digital transformation continues to reshape our industry, redefining how value is created for customers. At Intermedia, we have bold ambitions - we are an empowerment company, focused on enabling our customers to succeed through the adoption and consumption of our technology. In this keynote session, Intermedia’s SVP of Global Sales, Eric Martorano, and SVP of Product Management, Irina Shamkova, will share how partners can increase profitability through unparalleled opportunities to expand their portfolio.  Join us and learn how solution providers can create new business opportunities while driving greater customer value – all under their own brand, backed by Intermedia.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:45 am to 11:30 am

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:45 am to 10:30 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: The Partner Experience: Cultivating Strategic Partnerships to Drive Channel Revenue

With the advent of the Strategic Service Provider, the channel’s supplier-partner relationship has taken on an entirely new shape. As solution providers’ businesses become more services-driven than product revenue-driven, they require more individualized support and active participation from vendor partners across a number of areas, including marketing, thought leadership, finance, technical infrastructure and sales. Dan Dignam, Partner and Executive Vice President of The Channel Company, explains why vendors must take a broader, more holistic view of channel partners, treating them as collaborators and helping strengthen their relationships with end-user customers. He describes how vendors can build lucrative, “true partnerships” by earning partners’ trust and loyalty, bringing new IT value to the table, and aligning their channel organizations with partners’ business objectives.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 10:45 am to 11:30 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: Channel Technology Integration: The Winning Formula For Channel Program Productivity

Channel programs depend on multiple point solutions to manage everyday functions, such as partner relationships, channel marketing or even lead distribution. However, the lack of integration between these applications impedes partner adoption and program progress. Discover why and what types of integrations matter most not just between applications, but across organizations. Learn about the processes those integrations depend on to recruit, enable and generate demand with partners.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Learn How State-of-the-Art SEO Gets Phones Ringing Off The Hook

IT solution providers typically grow their businesses slowly with referrals, but as they get bigger and have more money for marketing they start searching for marketing that can augment referrals. Often MSPs strike out as they try one direct marketing service after another unsuccessfully.  While the factors that cause these failures are many, our focus will be on explaining how implementing a state-of-the-art SEO campaign will cause MSPs’ phones to ring off the hook with easy to close sales lead. This session will outline state-of-the-art marketing strategies including the benefits of thought-leadership content, aggressive on-page SEO optimization, Google reviews and guest blogging.

MSP SEO Factory

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Driving Growth And Making Money With Extreme

Extreme’s newest and most compelling programs, offerings and solutions will be presented by industry veteran Gordon Mackintosh. Attendees will learn how to grow sales and customer engagements with the company’s cloud and switching solutions. Mackintosh will discuss ExtremeCloud and managed service capabilities, white-label solutions and how to use the open API. Solution providers will also gain insight into the company’s economical, high access, L2/3 Extreme Switching 200 Series which features an optimized SMB network OS. Learn why this new series of switches is a good fit for SMB, retail and other organizations with numerous branch locations.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: Distribution For The Cloud Age

The IT channel is changing. According to Gartner, more than $1 trillion in spending will shift to cloud over the next five years. No matter what they say, many traditional distributors would rather sell hardware to solution providers. They are focused on protecting their existing revenue stream and not helping solution providers truly grow. Join Pax8 to learn why traditional distribution is broken, what Pax8 is doing to fix it and how the company is committed to helping solution providers find success in the cloud.

Pax8

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Lunch

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

Brought to you by:

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: Pay Everyone On Performance Not Just Sales

Pre-Registration Required

Competition and economic challenges require that IT leaders develop a more self-motivating work environment for their people. Solution provider leaders must understand they need to have to stop throwing money at key employees. Instead, systematically give all employees more authority to make decisions consistent with the company culture and reward them based on results.  Attend this discussion to learn how leaders and managers can give their people more opportunity based on bottom-line results, rather than simply higher salaries and subjective bonuses.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Improve Your Organization's Culture

Culture is not an issue to be taken lightly or relegated to your human resources department. Solution providers need to understand that employee engagement is critical to their long-term success. They need to know how to develop and manage a culture that fits. Although few organizations would deny that their employees are their most valuable asset, hardly any invest in a sustained effort to measure and improve employee engagement. Attend this session to find out why a leader's most important job is cultivating a highly engaged workforce, how to measure its level of engagement, and how to take action to improve it. Hear from an industry veteran who grew up at his father’s solution provider Circle Computer Resources and how company leaders realized culture was the key to reinvigorating the organizing and putting it back on the path to sustainable growth.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Current And Future State Of Cybersecurity

Information security tops the list of challenges for today’s customers. It is also their No. 1 priority. Solution providers must make IT security a priority if they are going to answer the needs of their customers and keep pace with the demands of the market. In this session, NPD analyst and industry veteran Michael Diamond will offer his perspective on how organizations are dealing with current and emerging threats such as corporate espionage,  denial of service attacks, hacktivism and how resellers and the vendor community can position themselves for these threats.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Connect The Dots For Customers

Service excellence doesn’t stop with a solution provider’s help desk. It is all-encompassing. Customers stick with companies that make them feel like royalty. IT integrators must understand best practices for replicating that model. Join this session hosted by ConnectWise to discover how IT leaders can turn every touchpoint in the customer journey into an opportunity to build trust in their business.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Zyxel Enterprise Networking Solutions

Learn how Zyxel Networking Solutions can be applied to fit the needs of solution provider customers. Zyxel will share success stories and solutions covering hospitality, community Wi-Fi, service provider and event-management deployments that have incorporated the company’s hardware solutions to help achieve its partners’ goals and overcome their most difficult pain points.

ZyXEL

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: How NetApp Partners Become More Profitable With Flash And Hyper-Converged Solutions

In this presentation, NetApp channel executive Mark Conley will cover the “Return to Greatness of NetApp”.  Leveraging its massive installed base, NetApp has built a broad and valuable portfolio of solutions for nearly every situation.  Attendees will gain insight into the market leader’s flash growth, storage management and newly announced entry into the hyper-converged market. NetApp continues to offer partners the best possible combination of market viability, profitability and partner-first culture.  In this presentation, Conley  will review the most important segments of the NetApp portfolio and its commitment to the channel through its partner programs.

NetApp

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:45 pm to 3:15 pm Networking Break
 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: How to Make Tough Decisions In Good And Bad Times

Pre-Registration Required

When leaders avoid difficult decisions it wastes time, money, and distracts them from achieving their best.  Now, more than ever in 2017, leaders of IT services organizations and solutions providers need to learn how to improve themselves as leaders and accelerate profitable growth in their organizations. 

Key takeaways include: learning how to better prioritize change, make difficult decisions more easily and overcome procrastination so it is mistake of the past rather than an ongoing challenge in the present.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Anatomy Of An IoT Practice: Transform And Break New Ground

One of the biggest challenge solution providers face is building a practice around IoT. There are so many variables in terms of skills required, industry verticals, vendor evaluation along with the marketing and sales supported needed. This session will give IT integrators who are considering a foray into IoT a roadmap of how to get started. Hear the views of a first mover who will explain how to focus on IoT opportunities, form strategic partnerships and zero in on the key markets or areas of disruption that can open new revenue streams. This session will also provide details on the profile of an IoT deal.  The session will go through a high level of detail on how solution providers and ISVs should be thinking about value creation and how to transform their business to address IoT in the market.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Business Management--Financing Growth With Private Equity: Understanding The Pros & Cons

The leaders of solution provider organizations today are faced with numerous challenges when it comes to financing their growth. Chief among those issues is how to finance strategic moves into services, cloud, software development and other high-margin opportunities.  Banks, tech suppliers, distributors and commercial lenders have provided traditional means of raising capital but can only take a solution provider organization so far. Private equity firms can provide more than just capital to help a solution provider grow, launch new initiatives and make transformative acquisitions. But business owners and senior management need to understand how to prepare for a private-equity investment, the firms’ different perspectives and how much control they want to give up in order to gain access to investment dollars. Hear from a solution provider leader who has successfully raised private equity along with the advice of two leading PE firms.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:00 pm to 4:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: Lenovo’s Accelerating Channel

The industry is changing and Lenovo continues to positon itself to be at the forefront of that change.  As data moves from the client to the cloud, Lenovo brings cutting-edge technologies to the market. Lenovo’s solutions enable customers to create, secure, manage and consume content in an efficient fashion while accelerating the time it takes to make critical business decisions. A channel-first company, Lenovo differentiates itself by enabling its channel partners with the right solutions delivered through a set of consistent, stackable programs. Those programs give partners the industry’s best opportunity for profit. From the pants pocket to the data center, Lenovo’s goal is to deliver innovation through smart devices, powerful infrastructure and with connected services and applications to drive an exceptional customer experience. 

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:15 pm to 4:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: Breaking the Cycle: Making Obsolete…Obsolete

Time is undefeated.  It catches up with all of us, making what was the fastest and strongest look very ordinary. Find out how the Ruckus division of Brocade is breaking all the rules and helping solution providers defeat time, making networks last longer and stronger. The key message from this session is how solution providers can make obsolete—obsolete.

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Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:30 pm to 5:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: When Disaster Strikes: A Tale Of Two Solution Providers

Behind-The-Scenes Story Of The San Bernardino Attack

The tragedy of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks dominated the headlines last year. But behind the news was a solution provider—tied to the headlines—trying to run his business. Hear an insider’s view of the San Bernardino shooting that took place at the Inland Regional Center, whose chairman also runs solution provider Vistem. The terrorist attack at the center caused immediate disruption, extensive damage to its campus, and the inability to access facilities for an extended and undetermined amount of time. Keith Nelson will share his riveting story and lessons learned.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 5:15 pm to 7:15 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Solutions Pavilion/Reception

Vendors showcase their products, solutions and programs in booths on the show floor.  It is an exciting, interactive setting for your live product demonstrations, face-to-face meetings, and networking.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Hotel Rooms 2000 Wing - Conference Level

Demo Rooms

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Old Hickory Steakhouse

Private Dinners

(By Invitation Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:00 am to 5:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:15 am to 8:00 am

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Breakfast

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.
(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 8:15 am to 9:15 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: The New Era of Digital Marketing

Digital has changed the game for most business leaders especially when it comes to their marketing strategies. The cloud era’s lasting impact will be how it force solution providers to embrace and master digital marketing. Top executives, not just those leading marketing, must make sure their companies are at the leading edge of digital marketing or they will be left behind. They must build sales, marketing, service and operational teams that have the ability to merge technology and creativity. This new era of digital marketing also requires leaders to be in close proximity to the customer to understand how they are evaluating partners and making buying decisions. It is clear that digital marketing is a vastly different discipline today that it was just a few years ago given the rise of social media, the proliferation of mobile devices and the emergence of new operating models. This change is also being driven by tech suppliers—large and small—that want their channel partners to leverage the latest digital marketing techniques to grow sales, engage new customers and build pipelines. The question every leader must ask themselves is whether their organization is ready for the next phase of digital marketing. Join this session to hear from a panel of experts on this topic including voices from outside the IT and high-tech market.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 9:15 am to 9:30 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: SMB And Enterprise Branch Solutions

We will share with you Hewlett Packard Enterprise's offerings focused on SMB and Enterprise Branch solutions.  HPE introduced last year the ProLiant Easy Connect Managed Server.  Coupled with HPE’s Aruba Wireless offering, we offer a set of solutions our partners can sell to their SMB and Enterprise customers with remote branch offices.   This offering offerings are designed to help Partners build services practices and drive the relationship they have with their customers by packaging in a monthly services model. 
 

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 9:45 am to 11:30 am

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 10:00 am to 10:45 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: Why Digital Friction Is Killing Your Channel Ambitions

Recently published research from The Channel Company found that 50 percent of partner relationships do not meet financial expectations. Partner relationship management (PRM) is no longer about transactions such as contract onboarding and deal registration. Something bigger is holding tech suppliers and solution providers back--the quality of the partner experience. The ongoing evolution with partners requires vendors to shift the focus to the individual needs of every user. There is strong demand for a unique experience for each user that today’s PRM systems cannot offer. Find out how a next-generation approach to the partner experience could be a game changer for those managing partners for today’s tech suppliers. A key takeaway from this session will be how vendors can differentiate themselves with a world-class solution that provides a personalized partner experience to optimize partner engagement.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: Transforming IT in the Digital Age with VMware

Join Jesse Grindeland as he shares VMware’s transformational vision of Any Cloud, Any Application, Any Device.  Learn how this vision equates to customer demand and need, and creates business opportunity for solution providers and positions you to lead this transformation.   

Every one of your customers is embracing digital, modernizing their approach to IT from devices to datacenters, and worried about how they manage and secure this new world.  VMware is exceptionally positioned to support this customer journey with and through solution providers.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Rethink Your Cloud Strategy Every Day—Seriously

The pace of change is unrelenting. The customer environments that strategic service providers manage today are fast becoming more complex and distributed. Workloads that are in the public cloud or will be moved there soon must seamlessly connect and interact with legacy systems. Yesterday’s way of doing business is quickly becoming obsolete, forcing strategic service providers to rethink everything they do so they can meet these changing demands. If not, they will get left behind. To stay ahead of the curve, IT leaders must rethink their cloud strategy and constantly reinforce their value proposition to customers. In this engaging session, channel thought leader David Powell will give real-world examples from his experience helping strategic service providers meet the challenges their customers face today and will face tomorrow.

LogicMonitor

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Challenges & Solutions For An Increasingly Encrypted World

Growth in SSL encrypted traffic is in the double digit range and 75 percent of traffic is projected to be encrypted by end the of 2017. Yet, a vast number of organizations do not inspect encrypted traffic. The performance impact on inspection devices can be up to 80 percent. This creates a major visibility problem and leaves organizations open to attack. Understanding the performance impact and optimizing the available network resources to inspect encrypted traffic is critical. This session will discuss how Ixia, in conjunction with its ecosystem of partners, addresses these challenges and how customers utilize the company’s technology.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Lunch

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: Pay Everyone On Performance Not Just Sales

Pre-Registration Required

Competition and economic challenges require that IT leaders develop a more self-motivating work environment for their people. Solution provider leaders must understand they need to have to stop throwing money at key employees. Instead, systematically give all employees more authority to make decisions consistent with the company culture and reward them based on results.  Attend this discussion to learn how leaders and managers can give their people more opportunity based on bottom-line results, rather than simply higher salaries and subjective bonuses.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Creating An IoT Practice


 

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Financial Leadership: Transform Your Business

Solution providers must prepare today for a wave of change that will dramatically alter their business model. The move from product to services then to managed services over the past few years was only the first step along this evolution in IT channels. The next 2-3 years will require a complete retooling of the business causing leaders to rethink their sales, marketing and customer-acquisition strategies. But senior channel leaders will not be able to stop in their tracks to make the sweeping changes necessary. Executives of growing MSPs, IT integrators and strategic service providers must transform the business while it is in motion. They must also carefully manage parts of the business that are cannibalizing others. Veteran solution provider and management consultant Adam Eisman will provide insight into how to shift while growing.

In this session, attendees will learn the following:

  • The hard earned and applicable Lessons from past shifts
  • How you transform while growing
  • What it takes to breakthrough certain revenue boundaries
  • How to plan and shift in an uncertain post-election economy
  • How to forecast revenue and profit from cloud-based services  
 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 4:00 pm

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Solutions Pavilion

Vendors showcase their products, solutions and programs in booths on the show floor.  It is an exciting, interactive setting for your live product demonstrations, face-to-face meetings, and networking.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Exhibitor Teardown
 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

XChange XCellence Awards Cocktail Reception

Join us at the XChange XCellence Awards Reception, as we recognize and honor the outstanding performance of the XChange sponsoring vendors.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

XChange Ultimate Sports Party

Don’t forget to proudly wear your team gear and support your favorite sports team as we end the week at the XChange Ultimate Sports Party. Grab a bite, enjoy a drink, play some games and find other attendees who are fans of the same team as you!

 Download to your calendar 
Sat, Mar 4, 2017 - 10:30 am to 4:30 pm

Depart from Maryland Ballroom Foyer

Channel@Work


At each XChange Conference The Channel Company hosts a Channel@Work event.  Channel@Work is a charitable arm of The Channel Company and is designed to bring the IT community together to connect and give back to the local communities that host our events.  For the past 8 years we have joined together to help organizations such as Soldiers’ Angels, USO, Habitat for Humanity, Wounded Warrior Project, Ronald McDonald House, and many more.   This year we are honored to partner with Food for All DC.  Our partner, vendor, and staff volunteers will come in for the conference early and spend Saturday sorting, packing and delivering food to families in need throughout the D.C. area.   It’s really hard to believe that people are living a stone’s throw from the Capital building in poverty and without food. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to help and to make a small difference while here in D.C.!

Food for All DC is a non-profit charity organization that strives to provide food to those low-income home-bound residents that are in real need. In the past year, volunteers have put in over 4,000 hours of work to provide food to over 500 of DC's most vulnerable residents. These residents include elderly and handicapped citizens, and single mothers with young children. Food for All DC has been entirely volunteer operated with the assistance of private and public grants for over 25 years. Over 3,000 bags of food are continuing to be delivered each year with the help and support from Food for All DC.

Special thanks to all those who are participating!

Program Underwriters:

     Image result for dell emc logo    

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Sat, Mar 4, 2017 - 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm XChange University: IT Security

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:15 am to 12:15 pm XChange University: IT Security


 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 8:00 am to 12:00 pm

Chesapeake 5-6

Pre-event Workshop

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 11:30 am to 7:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration & Attendee Welcome Desk

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 12:45 pm to 1:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Solution Provider Orientation

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 12:45 pm to 1:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Vendor Orientation: XChange Best Practices For Success

Learn the tips and tricks of making the most of your time at XChange with information from staff and advice from previous attendees.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 1:15 pm to 1:45 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Opening Remarks


 

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Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: Disruptive Thinking: Fostering A Culture Of Game-Changing Leadership

To compete today in a fast-changing world, businesses need a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions to stay ahead of the game. Leaders are looking for solutions that revive stagnant markets or completely reinvent the competitive dynamics of an industry. Disruptive thinking is about fostering a culture of innovation leadership that provides the framework and motivation to generate those strategies and execute those solutions. It is an essential skill for any business leader whether driving a small start-up or global corporation. This keynote will provide tools to help senior leaders transform organizational processes and behaviors, and ask, "Why hadn’t we ever thought about our business and culture this way before?"

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 2:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Executive Keynote: Simple, Predictable And Profitable: Transform With Dell EMC

In the digital era, technology is advancing at an exponential rate and changing how everyone works and lives. Today, every company in every industry is transforming its business and creating new digital operating models. Dell EMC and its partners are uniquely positioned to help customers through this evolution. Dell EMC possesses the industry’s broadest product portfolio of innovative solutions and the industry’s most desirable partner program. That program is delivering a simple, predictable and profitable experience for partners.  This session will illuminate how Dell EMC enables extraordinary opportunities for partner growth and profitability.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: How to Make Tough Decisions In Good And Bad Times

Pre-Registration Required

When leaders avoid difficult decisions it wastes time, money, and distracts them from achieving their best.  Now, more than ever in 2017, leaders of IT services organizations and solutions providers need to learn how to improve themselves as leaders and accelerate profitable growth in their organizations. 

Key takeaways include: learning how to better prioritize change, make difficult decisions more easily and overcome procrastination so it is mistake of the past rather than an ongoing challenge in the present.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Business Management--Unlocking the Secrets of Sales Enablement

Solution provider leaders need to master sales enablement to move their organizations forward. Developing a leading-edge sales-enablement program should be a strategic part of every solution provider’s business model to ensure that customer-facing employees are able to engage in meaningful and valuable conversations with customers at every stage of the buying or problem-solving process. In small- and mid-size organizations that sit below the Fortune 1000, there is a quagmire of critical business functions that are frequently neglected. For businesses that do not have vast resources, attendees will learn how sales enablement takes an “everything and the kitchen sink” of functions, calms the chaos and begins driving value to the firm.

Attendees will learn:

  • How to define sales enablement so everyone from senior management to entry-level support is on board
  • A case study of a successful sales-enablement program
  • Sales enablement as role vs. a function
  • Developing teamwork to support a successful sales-enablement program
  • Breaking down the walls between organizational silos to get customers the information they need
 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Capitalizing On Today’s Hottest Security Trends

Ransomware infections, phishing attacks, spyware and web-borne attacks are prompting some enterprises to invest in modern network security infrastructure to support advanced threat detection, according to some of the key findings of a joint The Channel Company-IDC security trends survey. Hear the key findings from this study of solution providers which provides a glimpse into how integrators are responding to the threats their customers face. The Security Trends study examined security sales channel engagements with enterprises to identify enterprise spending priorities, the top threats impacting customers and the top high-risk areas within enterprise environments. IDC security analyst and former CRN security editor Robert Westervelt will illuminate these key findings to help solution providers make the best business moves to grow their security practice.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 3:45 pm to 4:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Networking Break
 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 4:15 pm to 6:15 pm

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments
 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 6:15 pm to 7:15 pm

Cherry Blossom Foyer

Welcome Reception
 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Hotel Rooms 2000 Wing - Conference Level

Demo Rooms

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

 Download to your calendar 
Sun, Mar 5, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Old Hickory Steakhouse

Private Dinners

(By Invitation Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:00 am to 5:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:15 am to 8:00 am

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Breakfast

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.
(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 8:15 am to 9:00 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: Creating Tomorrow’s Winning Workplace

Businesses that are succeeding clearly get what millennials want and expect from their employers and careers.  In this session, solution providers will learn from the companies that get it. All businesses must understand the secrets to leveraging the unique competencies, strengths and value that millennials bring to the workplace and how to guide and empower them to create winning workplaces.

Today there are 2.4 billion millennials, they represent 36 percent of the workforce, control $660 billion in spending and will represent 75 percent of the employee and customer base by 2025.  They grew up differently, view the world differently and are changing the way we run our businesses and sell  products and services. Think of Nexflix’s impact on Blockbuster or Uber’s disruption of the taxi industry or even how Airbnb is changing the hotel industry. IT leaders must ask what their business is doing to create a workplace that attracts, engages and retains the next generation of employees.

In this provocative, interactive keynote, Dan Negroni of Launchbox365 will share what millennials want from their employers and case studies of cutting-edge companies that are getting it right.  Attendees will learn:

  • The positive characteristics and strengths that millennials bring to the workplace
  • What millennials expect and value from their job and employers
  • 6 key steps to engaging the next generation
  • What the most innovative companies are doing to leverage millennials’ strengths and create a connected workplace
 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:00 am to 9:30 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Executive Keynote: Competing And Winning In The Cloud

Digital transformation continues to reshape our industry, redefining how value is created for customers. At Intermedia, we have bold ambitions - we are an empowerment company, focused on enabling our customers to succeed through the adoption and consumption of our technology. In this keynote session, Intermedia’s SVP of Global Sales, Eric Martorano, and SVP of Product Management, Irina Shamkova, will share how partners can increase profitability through unparalleled opportunities to expand their portfolio.  Join us and learn how solution providers can create new business opportunities while driving greater customer value – all under their own brand, backed by Intermedia.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:45 am to 11:30 am

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 9:45 am to 10:30 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: The Partner Experience: Cultivating Strategic Partnerships to Drive Channel Revenue

With the advent of the Strategic Service Provider, the channel’s supplier-partner relationship has taken on an entirely new shape. As solution providers’ businesses become more services-driven than product revenue-driven, they require more individualized support and active participation from vendor partners across a number of areas, including marketing, thought leadership, finance, technical infrastructure and sales. Dan Dignam, Partner and Executive Vice President of The Channel Company, explains why vendors must take a broader, more holistic view of channel partners, treating them as collaborators and helping strengthen their relationships with end-user customers. He describes how vendors can build lucrative, “true partnerships” by earning partners’ trust and loyalty, bringing new IT value to the table, and aligning their channel organizations with partners’ business objectives.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 10:45 am to 11:30 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: Channel Technology Integration: The Winning Formula For Channel Program Productivity

Channel programs depend on multiple point solutions to manage everyday functions, such as partner relationships, channel marketing or even lead distribution. However, the lack of integration between these applications impedes partner adoption and program progress. Discover why and what types of integrations matter most not just between applications, but across organizations. Learn about the processes those integrations depend on to recruit, enable and generate demand with partners.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Learn How State-of-the-Art SEO Gets Phones Ringing Off The Hook

IT solution providers typically grow their businesses slowly with referrals, but as they get bigger and have more money for marketing they start searching for marketing that can augment referrals. Often MSPs strike out as they try one direct marketing service after another unsuccessfully.  While the factors that cause these failures are many, our focus will be on explaining how implementing a state-of-the-art SEO campaign will cause MSPs’ phones to ring off the hook with easy to close sales lead. This session will outline state-of-the-art marketing strategies including the benefits of thought-leadership content, aggressive on-page SEO optimization, Google reviews and guest blogging.

MSP SEO Factory

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Driving Growth And Making Money With Extreme

Extreme’s newest and most compelling programs, offerings and solutions will be presented by industry veteran Gordon Mackintosh. Attendees will learn how to grow sales and customer engagements with the company’s cloud and switching solutions. Mackintosh will discuss ExtremeCloud and managed service capabilities, white-label solutions and how to use the open API. Solution providers will also gain insight into the company’s economical, high access, L2/3 Extreme Switching 200 Series which features an optimized SMB network OS. Learn why this new series of switches is a good fit for SMB, retail and other organizations with numerous branch locations.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: Distribution For The Cloud Age

The IT channel is changing. According to Gartner, more than $1 trillion in spending will shift to cloud over the next five years. No matter what they say, many traditional distributors would rather sell hardware to solution providers. They are focused on protecting their existing revenue stream and not helping solution providers truly grow. Join Pax8 to learn why traditional distribution is broken, what Pax8 is doing to fix it and how the company is committed to helping solution providers find success in the cloud.

Pax8

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Lunch

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

Brought to you by:

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Improve Your Organization's Culture

Culture is not an issue to be taken lightly or relegated to your human resources department. Solution providers need to understand that employee engagement is critical to their long-term success. They need to know how to develop and manage a culture that fits. Although few organizations would deny that their employees are their most valuable asset, hardly any invest in a sustained effort to measure and improve employee engagement. Attend this session to find out why a leader's most important job is cultivating a highly engaged workforce, how to measure its level of engagement, and how to take action to improve it. Hear from an industry veteran who grew up at his father’s solution provider Circle Computer Resources and how company leaders realized culture was the key to reinvigorating the organizing and putting it back on the path to sustainable growth.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Current And Future State Of Cybersecurity

Information security tops the list of challenges for today’s customers. It is also their No. 1 priority. Solution providers must make IT security a priority if they are going to answer the needs of their customers and keep pace with the demands of the market. In this session, NPD analyst and industry veteran Michael Diamond will offer his perspective on how organizations are dealing with current and emerging threats such as corporate espionage,  denial of service attacks, hacktivism and how resellers and the vendor community can position themselves for these threats.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: Pay Everyone On Performance Not Just Sales

Pre-Registration Required

Competition and economic challenges require that IT leaders develop a more self-motivating work environment for their people. Solution provider leaders must understand they need to have to stop throwing money at key employees. Instead, systematically give all employees more authority to make decisions consistent with the company culture and reward them based on results.  Attend this discussion to learn how leaders and managers can give their people more opportunity based on bottom-line results, rather than simply higher salaries and subjective bonuses.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: How NetApp Partners Become More Profitable With Flash And Hyper-Converged Solutions

In this presentation, NetApp channel executive Mark Conley will cover the “Return to Greatness of NetApp”.  Leveraging its massive installed base, NetApp has built a broad and valuable portfolio of solutions for nearly every situation.  Attendees will gain insight into the market leader’s flash growth, storage management and newly announced entry into the hyper-converged market. NetApp continues to offer partners the best possible combination of market viability, profitability and partner-first culture.  In this presentation, Conley  will review the most important segments of the NetApp portfolio and its commitment to the channel through its partner programs.

NetApp

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Connect The Dots For Customers

Service excellence doesn’t stop with a solution provider’s help desk. It is all-encompassing. Customers stick with companies that make them feel like royalty. IT integrators must understand best practices for replicating that model. Join this session hosted by ConnectWise to discover how IT leaders can turn every touchpoint in the customer journey into an opportunity to build trust in their business.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 2:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Zyxel Enterprise Networking Solutions

Learn how Zyxel Networking Solutions can be applied to fit the needs of solution provider customers. Zyxel will share success stories and solutions covering hospitality, community Wi-Fi, service provider and event-management deployments that have incorporated the company’s hardware solutions to help achieve its partners’ goals and overcome their most difficult pain points.

ZyXEL

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 2:45 pm to 3:15 pm Networking Break
 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: How to Make Tough Decisions In Good And Bad Times

Pre-Registration Required

When leaders avoid difficult decisions it wastes time, money, and distracts them from achieving their best.  Now, more than ever in 2017, leaders of IT services organizations and solutions providers need to learn how to improve themselves as leaders and accelerate profitable growth in their organizations. 

Key takeaways include: learning how to better prioritize change, make difficult decisions more easily and overcome procrastination so it is mistake of the past rather than an ongoing challenge in the present.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Anatomy Of An IoT Practice: Transform And Break New Ground

One of the biggest challenge solution providers face is building a practice around IoT. There are so many variables in terms of skills required, industry verticals, vendor evaluation along with the marketing and sales supported needed. This session will give IT integrators who are considering a foray into IoT a roadmap of how to get started. Hear the views of a first mover who will explain how to focus on IoT opportunities, form strategic partnerships and zero in on the key markets or areas of disruption that can open new revenue streams. This session will also provide details on the profile of an IoT deal.  The session will go through a high level of detail on how solution providers and ISVs should be thinking about value creation and how to transform their business to address IoT in the market.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 3:15 pm to 3:45 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Business Management--Financing Growth With Private Equity: Understanding The Pros & Cons

The leaders of solution provider organizations today are faced with numerous challenges when it comes to financing their growth. Chief among those issues is how to finance strategic moves into services, cloud, software development and other high-margin opportunities.  Banks, tech suppliers, distributors and commercial lenders have provided traditional means of raising capital but can only take a solution provider organization so far. Private equity firms can provide more than just capital to help a solution provider grow, launch new initiatives and make transformative acquisitions. But business owners and senior management need to understand how to prepare for a private-equity investment, the firms’ different perspectives and how much control they want to give up in order to gain access to investment dollars. Hear from a solution provider leader who has successfully raised private equity along with the advice of two leading PE firms.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:00 pm to 4:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: Lenovo’s Accelerating Channel

The industry is changing and Lenovo continues to positon itself to be at the forefront of that change.  As data moves from the client to the cloud, Lenovo brings cutting-edge technologies to the market. Lenovo’s solutions enable customers to create, secure, manage and consume content in an efficient fashion while accelerating the time it takes to make critical business decisions. A channel-first company, Lenovo differentiates itself by enabling its channel partners with the right solutions delivered through a set of consistent, stackable programs. Those programs give partners the industry’s best opportunity for profit. From the pants pocket to the data center, Lenovo’s goal is to deliver innovation through smart devices, powerful infrastructure and with connected services and applications to drive an exceptional customer experience. 

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:15 pm to 4:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: Breaking the Cycle: Making Obsolete…Obsolete

Time is undefeated.  It catches up with all of us, making what was the fastest and strongest look very ordinary. Find out how the Ruckus division of Brocade is breaking all the rules and helping solution providers defeat time, making networks last longer and stronger. The key message from this session is how solution providers can make obsolete—obsolete.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 4:30 pm to 5:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: When Disaster Strikes: A Tale Of Two Solution Providers

Behind-The-Scenes Story Of The San Bernardino Attack

The tragedy of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks dominated the headlines last year. But behind the news was a solution provider—tied to the headlines—trying to run his business. Hear an insider’s view of the San Bernardino shooting that took place at the Inland Regional Center, whose chairman also runs solution provider Vistem. The terrorist attack at the center caused immediate disruption, extensive damage to its campus, and the inability to access facilities for an extended and undetermined amount of time. Keith Nelson will share his riveting story and lessons learned.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 5:15 pm to 7:15 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Solutions Pavilion/Reception

Vendors showcase their products, solutions and programs in booths on the show floor.  It is an exciting, interactive setting for your live product demonstrations, face-to-face meetings, and networking.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Hotel Rooms 2000 Wing - Conference Level

Demo Rooms

You’ve never seen a hotel room like this before! Vendors create their own fully customized display and demonstrate their newest solutions and products more personally.

 Download to your calendar 
Mon, Mar 6, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Old Hickory Steakhouse

Private Dinners

(By Invitation Only)

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:00 am to 5:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom Foyer

Registration

Pick up your conference badge and personalized schedule at registration, then stop back any time you have questions that you need answered or feedback that you would like to share. The XChange Events staff is there to help you!

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:15 am to 8:00 am

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Breakfast

It’s a full agenda!  Solution providers start the day off with breakfast and coffee to get energized and take advantage of peer networking time.
(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 8:15 am to 9:15 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Keynote: The New Era of Digital Marketing

Digital has changed the game for most business leaders especially when it comes to their marketing strategies. The cloud era’s lasting impact will be how it force solution providers to embrace and master digital marketing. Top executives, not just those leading marketing, must make sure their companies are at the leading edge of digital marketing or they will be left behind. They must build sales, marketing, service and operational teams that have the ability to merge technology and creativity. This new era of digital marketing also requires leaders to be in close proximity to the customer to understand how they are evaluating partners and making buying decisions. It is clear that digital marketing is a vastly different discipline today that it was just a few years ago given the rise of social media, the proliferation of mobile devices and the emergence of new operating models. This change is also being driven by tech suppliers—large and small—that want their channel partners to leverage the latest digital marketing techniques to grow sales, engage new customers and build pipelines. The question every leader must ask themselves is whether their organization is ready for the next phase of digital marketing. Join this session to hear from a panel of experts on this topic including voices from outside the IT and high-tech market.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 9:15 am to 9:30 am

Potomac Ballroom A-B

Tech Directions: SMB And Enterprise Branch Solutions

We will share with you Hewlett Packard Enterprise's offerings focused on SMB and Enterprise Branch solutions.  HPE introduced last year the ProLiant Easy Connect Managed Server.  Coupled with HPE’s Aruba Wireless offering, we offer a set of solutions our partners can sell to their SMB and Enterprise customers with remote branch offices.   This offering offerings are designed to help Partners build services practices and drive the relationship they have with their customers by packaging in a monthly services model. 
 

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 9:45 am to 11:30 am

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 10:00 am to 10:45 am

Potomac 1-2

Special Vendor Education Session: Why Digital Friction Is Killing Your Channel Ambitions

Recently published research from The Channel Company found that 50 percent of partner relationships do not meet financial expectations. Partner relationship management (PRM) is no longer about transactions such as contract onboarding and deal registration. Something bigger is holding tech suppliers and solution providers back--the quality of the partner experience. The ongoing evolution with partners requires vendors to shift the focus to the individual needs of every user. There is strong demand for a unique experience for each user that today’s PRM systems cannot offer. Find out how a next-generation approach to the partner experience could be a game changer for those managing partners for today’s tech suppliers. A key takeaway from this session will be how vendors can differentiate themselves with a world-class solution that provides a personalized partner experience to optimize partner engagement.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 5-6

Solutions Track Session: Transforming IT in the Digital Age with VMware

Join Jesse Grindeland as he shares VMware’s transformational vision of Any Cloud, Any Application, Any Device.  Learn how this vision equates to customer demand and need, and creates business opportunity for solution providers and positions you to lead this transformation.   

Every one of your customers is embracing digital, modernizing their approach to IT from devices to datacenters, and worried about how they manage and secure this new world.  VMware is exceptionally positioned to support this customer journey with and through solution providers.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 1-2

Solutions Track Session: Rethink Your Cloud Strategy Every Day—Seriously

The pace of change is unrelenting. The customer environments that strategic service providers manage today are fast becoming more complex and distributed. Workloads that are in the public cloud or will be moved there soon must seamlessly connect and interact with legacy systems. Yesterday’s way of doing business is quickly becoming obsolete, forcing strategic service providers to rethink everything they do so they can meet these changing demands. If not, they will get left behind. To stay ahead of the curve, IT leaders must rethink their cloud strategy and constantly reinforce their value proposition to customers. In this engaging session, channel thought leader David Powell will give real-world examples from his experience helping strategic service providers meet the challenges their customers face today and will face tomorrow.

LogicMonitor

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 11:45 am to 12:15 pm

Potomac 3-4

Solutions Track Session: Challenges & Solutions For An Increasingly Encrypted World

Growth in SSL encrypted traffic is in the double digit range and 75 percent of traffic is projected to be encrypted by end the of 2017. Yet, a vast number of organizations do not inspect encrypted traffic. The performance impact on inspection devices can be up to 80 percent. This creates a major visibility problem and leaves organizations open to attack. Understanding the performance impact and optimizing the available network resources to inspect encrypted traffic is critical. This session will discuss how Ixia, in conjunction with its ecosystem of partners, addresses these challenges and how customers utilize the company’s technology.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 12:15 pm to 1:15 pm

Potomac Ballroom C

Solution Provider Lunch

(Solution Provider Red Badges Only)

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 5-6

XChange C-Suite Symposium--The Leadership Challenges: Pay Everyone On Performance Not Just Sales

Pre-Registration Required

Competition and economic challenges require that IT leaders develop a more self-motivating work environment for their people. Solution provider leaders must understand they need to have to stop throwing money at key employees. Instead, systematically give all employees more authority to make decisions consistent with the company culture and reward them based on results.  Attend this discussion to learn how leaders and managers can give their people more opportunity based on bottom-line results, rather than simply higher salaries and subjective bonuses.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

National Harbor 5

MSP Executive Meet Up

Pre-Registration Required

This session is designed to bring together executives from leading managed service providers who want to connect with peers to gain a better understanding of today’s challenges and opportunities. Designed by two leading MSPs, this session will bring leaders together to discuss a wide range of issues from business model evolution to strategic partnerships, marketing and sales compensation and much more. The session will be divided into three major topics. Peer perspectives have emerged as one of the most important sources of information today for solution providers and customers. This session will allow attendees to compare notes in an open, friendly environment. Executives will share their thoughts and gain the perspectives and feedback from knowledgeable leaders. Stelios Valavanis, President of onShore Security, and Sean Ferrel, CEO of Managed Solution, will kick off the session then open it up to a wider dialogue. Space will be limited to the first 30 executives who register.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 3-4

Executive Session: Creating An IoT Practice


 

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm

Potomac 1-2

Executive Session: Financial Leadership: Transform Your Business

Solution providers must prepare today for a wave of change that will dramatically alter their business model. The move from product to services then to managed services over the past few years was only the first step along this evolution in IT channels. The next 2-3 years will require a complete retooling of the business causing leaders to rethink their sales, marketing and customer-acquisition strategies. But senior channel leaders will not be able to stop in their tracks to make the sweeping changes necessary. Executives of growing MSPs, IT integrators and strategic service providers must transform the business while it is in motion. They must also carefully manage parts of the business that are cannibalizing others. Veteran solution provider and management consultant Adam Eisman will provide insight into how to shift while growing.

In this session, attendees will learn the following:

  • The hard earned and applicable Lessons from past shifts
  • How you transform while growing
  • What it takes to breakthrough certain revenue boundaries
  • How to plan and shift in an uncertain post-election economy
  • How to forecast revenue and profit from cloud-based services  
 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 2:15 pm to 4:00 pm

See Personalized Schedule

Interactive Boardroom Appointments

Solution providers are assigned into peer groups of 12-15 based on business focus and technology interests.  Vendors select and meet with the boardrooms for 25 minutes, presenting new products, programs, and opportunities – in an environment conducive to spirited conversation and constructive feedback.

 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Solutions Pavilion

Vendors showcase their products, solutions and programs in booths on the show floor.  It is an exciting, interactive setting for your live product demonstrations, face-to-face meetings, and networking.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Prince George Exhibit Hall D

Exhibitor Teardown
 Download to your calendar 
Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

XChange XCellence Awards Cocktail Reception

Join us at the XChange XCellence Awards Reception, as we recognize and honor the outstanding performance of the XChange sponsoring vendors.

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Tue, Mar 7, 2017 - 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Potomac Ballroom A-B

XChange Ultimate Sports Party

Don’t forget to proudly wear your team gear and support your favorite sports team as we end the week at the XChange Ultimate Sports Party. Grab a bite, enjoy a drink, play some games and find other attendees who are fans of the same team as you!

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Be A Speaker

The Channel Company strives to deliver events rich in content to our audiences. We are always interested in learning about prospective speakers ─ industry experts, inspirational leaders and individuals with unique perspectives ─ for our events. If you would like to be considered, please complete and submit a form to tell us a little about yourself and what you would like to present.