The Canadian Channel Chiefs Council (C4) welcomed three new directors at its recent board meeting in Toronto, and outlined ambitious plans for training, education and growth in 2015.
Welcomed unanimously to C4’s board of directors were Mary Peterson, SAP Canada’s head of general business and channels, David Allen, director of infrastructure sales for Intel North America, and Miles Davis, channel director for Avaya Canada. All three are experienced channel leaders with key technology vendors that will bring varied experience to the board of Canada’s first professional organization for the channel chief and solution provider community.
A number of standing committees have been struck, including Nominating/Governance, Audit, Business Development, Professional Development & Accreditation and Solution Providers, and an open call has been issued to C4 members for volunteers to join these committees.
A key tasking for the solution provider committee will be to create a separate, designed strategy for attracting solution provider members, as they join C4 for different reasons than channel chief vendors. The education committee has held its first two successful courses – on cloud computing and CASL compliance – and after a successful initial meeting with Ryerson University is working on accreditation course options.
On the marketing side, it was reported that C4 now has an active presence on Twitter and on LinkedIn, and regular newsletters have begun to be published with Computer Dealer News. Credit card processing for memberships and courses is now available on the C4 web site, and courses are being marketed through CDN and IT World Canada, through social media and via telemarketing.
Looking ahead, C4 has a number of key events coming up. Channel marketing expert Bruce Stuart has teamed with C4 to offer two full-day workshops: Building Successful Cloud Channels on Dec. 3 and Partner Transition Workshop on Dev. 4. And in January, channel veteran Corinne Sharp will present Hiring for Fit: Talent Acquisition Strategies.
