One Startup That Focuses on Channel Development for IT Companies

One Startup That Focuses on Channel Development for IT Companies
Why Google Is Taking a $9.5 Billion Hit on Selling Motorola to Lenovo
10 Best WordPress Plugins for eCommerce
Microsoft Changes Name of SkyDrive to OneDrive
Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest For $500 Prize

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 04:00 PM PST

channel development

By the year 2010, Clark Richter, the founder of Fossa LLC, had spent over 15 years in sales management and marketing roles at IT companies like Check Point Software, Citrix Systems and Websense.

He found it frustrating that there were very few reliable, comprehensive and updated information sources focusing on the IT channel partner market. Professionals like him had to depend on multiple tools and information databases coupled with extensive primary research to zero in on the right channel partner.

Traditional databases were out-dated, used out-dated classification systems and profiled companies incorporated years ago with perhaps different business models. The IT industry had transformed significantly over the past two decades but these databases hadn't kept up with the changes in the industry. Sales intelligence tools at that point had good data on end users but there was a gap in the market for data specifically on channel companies (i.e. resellers, service providers, system integrators, etc.)

Although emerging vendors such as Rain King and DiscoverOrg did provide up-to-date and relevant contact lists and profiles for IT companies, their focus was on IT buyers at Fortune 2000 companies. On the other hand, broader databases like InsideView, NetProspex, and Jigsaw/Salesforce were crowd-sourced, with a lot of contacts but very few details.

The Birth of Fossa

So, to plug these gaps in the market and to make the life of sales and marketing professionals like him easier, Clark worked toward building a comprehensive and up-to-date database of IT channel companies with relevant terminology and vendor relationships.

After working on it for two years, he resigned from his job and launched Channel Navigator in February 2012. A demo is provided in the video below:

Clark founded Fossa LLC with an aim to save customers time and money in executing their channel strategy by providing up-to-date, relevant business profiles, and contacts for IT channel companies. Its database covers 25,000 companies, 80% of which have less than 20 employees.

A majority of its customers are channel sales and marketing organizations that subscribe to its database and online tools. Some of its customers are early stage companies that do not have a channel team yet but want the data. Companies selling SMB solutions, security, cloud services and solutions targeted at managed service providers are its top IT industry target segments.

Specialization in the channel and a smaller or niche target segment allows Fossa to provide superior quality data. Its databases are researched and updated manually after verifying the contacts and company information. Since it deals with only 25,000 companies rather than 40 million, is easier to verify and update the data and be more precise.

Participation in trade shows and Clark's relationships in the channel helped in gaining initial traction. Currently, the company has close to 35 active customers, including Alcatel-Lucent, McAfee, Discoverorg, VAR Staffing, Shuttle and Meru Networks. It was on track to achieve revenue of $100,000 in 2013.

The IT channel space is constantly changing – vendor relationships, employee turnover and industry buzz words evolve constantly. Therefore exists a constant need for updated information that will enrich a company's CRM and help make the sales process more efficient.

Research firm Gartner, in its latest IT spending outlook, projects worldwide IT spending to grow 3.1% from 2013 to reach $3.8 trillion in 2014. Companies like Fossa LLC can help IT vendors tap efficiently into this $3.8 trillion market.

Tuning In Photo via Shutterstock

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Why Google Is Taking a $9.5 Billion Hit on Selling Motorola to Lenovo

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 01:30 PM PST

google complex

Less than 2 years ago, Google caused a lot of puzzled looks when it bought Motorola, the mobile device hardware manufacturer. It didn’t seem like an obvious fit.

And the even more head-scratching news is that Google is now selling Motorola to Lenovo for almost $10 billion less than what it paid. Google purchased Motorola in 2012 for $12.5 billion and is now selling it for $2.91 billion.

But as you look closer, it may be a better deal for Google than it seems — and a good deal for Lenovo.

As part of the deal, Google will retain ownership of Motorola Mobility’s patent portfolio. Lenovo will be granted a license to these patents and other intellectual property still owned by Google after the sale.

Why It’s Good for Lenovo

Lenovo will get 2,000 patent assets and the Motorola Mobility brand and trademark portfolio, said Google and Lenovo in a joint statement.

The acquisition of Motorola Mobility expands Lenovo’s mobile profile. The company will now own the Motorola Moto G, Moto X, and Ultra DROID series of smartphones. Lenovo will also take control of Motorola’s “product roadmap” in the future.

By acquiring Motorola Mobility, Lenovo enters the North and Latin American smartphone markets wit a strong brand. Both companies claim Motorola Mobility is the third largest company in those markets already. Lenovo hopes Motorola will help the company establish itself in the Western European smartphone market too.

In a prepared statement, Lenovo chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing said:

“The acquisition of such an iconic brand, innovative product portfolio and incredibly talented global team will immediately make Lenovo a strong global competitor in smartphones.”

Why It’s Good for Google

For Google this means a boost in the number of phones using the company’s Android operating system on the market. Google CEO Larry Page says selling Motorola to Lenovo allows his company to focus on developing the Android mobile operating system. And as Quartz observes:

“It might seem like Google is taking a $10 billion bath on the sale of Motorola to Lenovo. But Motorola has already helped Google save what could amount to billions of dollars on its taxes, which softens the blow. And there's another way to look at this: Google has created a competitor to Samsung that is headed by an ex-Googler (for now) that will now go to a company, Lenovo, that has proved itself quite capable of succeeding in the low-margin hardware business.”

Image: Wikipedia

The post Why Google Is Taking a $9.5 Billion Hit on Selling Motorola to Lenovo appeared first on Small Business Trends.

10 Best WordPress Plugins for eCommerce

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 11:00 AM PST

wordpress plugins for ecommerce

The WordPress platform makes it easy to set up an online store, either as your primary business or to complement your physical small business. In addition to thousands of templates, there is a massive library of plugins designed to simplify and automate your online sales.

Below are ten of the best WordPress plugins for eCommerce that you can use to enhance your website and create a smooth, hassle-free online shopping experience for your customers.

WordPress Plugins for eCommerce

WP e-Commerce

A popular and long-standing plugin that was one of the first eCommerce options offered by WordPress, WP e-Commerce comes with a wide variety of functions and features. The fully-featured free download works great out of the box and comes with flexible coupon codes, discounts and free shipping options, cross-page promotion, a New Products widget single-page checkout, integration with popular e-commerce payment and third-party platforms and much more.

You can also purchase add-ons and upgrades to customize this plugin and add even more functionality, like extra payment gateways, slider carousels and additional shipping options.

WooCommerce

A fully functional free plugin with a vast library of premium upgrades available, WooCommerce is easy to use for both vendors and customers. Free features for this plugin include complex coupon campaigns, product and inventory management, order management, sales reports, a customer account area, control over shipping and tax charges and more.

Jigoshop

With detailed reporting, widgets and shortcodes, one-page checkout, inventory tracking, product imports/exports, related product displays and more, Jigoshop has everything you need to run an eCommerce store. It's free, with a nice library of free extensions, and you can also purchase premium themes and extensions for added functionality.

eShop

More than half a million people have downloaded the free eShop plugin, an easy-to-install shopping cart that is fully compatible with WordPress and can create product pages from WordPress pages, posts or custom posts. Features include customer accounts, multiple options for products, selling downloadable content, sales data, sales tax, stock control, discount options and more.

Quick Shop

A super-simple, "fast and dirty" eCommerce plugin with a surprising level of functionality, Quick Shop comes with built-in support for PayPal and email, and uses WordPress sidebar widgets to continuously show shoppers what's in their carts. With this plugin, you can add products instantly with a TinyMCE button, create drop-down lists with product options and more.

Cart66

This plugin offers a professional, paid version at $25 per month and a slimmer, free version called Cart66 Lite. Billing itself as the only WordPress eCommerce solution with PCI compliance built in, the Cart66 professional version includes everything you need to run a clean, richly featured WordPress store with no additional plugins or add-ons.

With the free version, you get basic eCommerce features that include promotions, tax and shipping charge control, order management, support for multiple currencies, customizable reports and more. You can use either version to sell products from any page or post on your WordPress site.

Shopp

This popular premium plugin works out of the box with any WordPress theme and comes packed with features. Shopp is built to work with WordPress and includes things like short codes, dashboard widgets for quick views of sales and product histories and theme widgets that let you easily drop products and elements into pages.

Additional features include standard eCommerce tools plus multiple product/variation images, multi-category inventory management, promotional tools, native and plugin support for a wide variety of payment gateways, email notifications, a shipping calculator and more.

Ecwid

A free, full-featured shopping cart, Ecwid is incredibly user-friendly and can be set up in five minutes or less. You can add this plugin to your WordPress site or your Facebook page, and even set it up for use on mobile devices – and the mirror function lets you manage the cart on many sites from one central dashboard.

In addition to free plans with all the standard eCommerce features, Ecwid offers premium plans starting at $15 a month that come with volume discounts, coupon codes, inventory management and more.

Easy Digital Downloads

If your eCommerce store sells digital content like eBooks, audio, video or images, Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress solution. It's also the cheapest at the low price of free.

Features of this simple, powerful plugin include discount codes, sales reports, user purchase history, file download logs, a wide selection of payment gateways and more. There are also nearly 200 extensions to improve the functionality of your download storefront.

WPdeposit

Offering a unique alternative to traditional eCommerce plugins, WPdeposit lets you set up a credit system, similar to stock image marketplaces like Shutterstock and iStockPhoto. With WPdeposit, shoppers buy prepaid credits, which they can use to make purchases on your site.

The plugin supports multiple gateways, with the option to add your own. Widgets and shortcodes show users their balances on your site, and add-ons let users subscribe to or advertise on your site in exchange for credits.

eCommerce Photo via Shutterstock

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Microsoft Changes Name of SkyDrive to OneDrive

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 08:00 AM PST

one drive2

Microsoft has announced the name change of its cloud service from SkyDrive to OneDrive. Ryan Gavin, General Manager of Consumer Apps & Services, made the announcement recently on the new OneDrive Blog.

“Why OneDrive? We know that increasingly you will have many devices in your life, but you really want only one place for your most important stuff. One place for all of your photos and videos. One place for all of your documents. One place that is seamlessly connected across all the devices you use. You want OneDrive for everything in your life.”

Everybody knows though why it’s OneDrive. The company was forced to alter the name of its cloud storage service after a trademark case with UK television broadcaster BSkyB. Up until a few years ago, BSkyB was in the cloud storage business themselves, and they sued Microsoft over the SkyDrive name (in particular, the “sky” part of the name), claiming trademark infringement.

BSkyB won that case and Microsoft decided to rebrand the service, rather than go through lengthy legal appeals. A special arrangement with BSkyB involving Microsoft’s XBox One may have factored into their considerations too. UK owners of XBox One can access Sky’s channels via the game’s console, and there may be further tie-ins planned for the future.

It’s not clear whether there will be any significant service changes coming with the name change. Microsoft also hasn’t announced exactly when the name change will occur.

This isn’t the first time Microsoft has run afoul of trademark infringement challenges. Its Windows 8 system was originally called Metro, and had to be rebranded after a dispute by the German company Metro AG. And who knows? Maybe OneDrive will have to be changed again if anyone objects to the use of the word “one.” Gizmodo has made a list of possible companies who may object to Microsoft’s rebranding.

BSkyB has also not been afraid to defend its trademark before in another case. Back in 2012, Livescribe was forced to change the name of their Sky Wifi Smartpen after the broadcasting company complained.

Since OneDrive is not yet available, you can register your interest on the OneDrive webpage, and you will be notified when all systems are go. In the meantime, SkyDrive will continue to work as usual.

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Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest For $500 Prize

Posted: 30 Jan 2014 05:00 AM PST

There’s a contest going on at our sister site BizSugar.com that we’re excited to tell you about. Now you can showcase your creativity and promote your business all at the same time. And you’ll get a chance to win one of three great prizes.

Brother, manufacturers of printers and related business products, has a free Web tool that can help you use your creativity to design the perfect attention-grabbing, business and marketing materials for your company.

All it takes is Internet access and a bit of imagination. You’ll be printing up your new designs and turning the heads of customers.

Now, here’s the really exciting part!

We’d like you to try the Brother CreativeCenter — a totally free web-based design portal — to add some oomph to your business cards, calendars, posters, brochures and mailers. And we’re offering a whopper of an incentive.

Enter the Brother “Back to Business” Contest on BizSugar and not only create beautiful promotional material about your business and show it off to the world, but you’ll also have the chance to win one of three prize packages worth over $500 each.