CTG's 2017 Spring Executive Retreat and Conference

By Brandon Samuel

Life is all about relationships. From family and friends to work and beyond, those relationships help shape who you are as an individual. Often, those relationships determine your successes and failures and how you react in either case. Getting started on the right foot in any relationship is just as important as making sure that you don’t burn a bridge if it should come to an end. In the professional world, connections are the cornerstone of any business. Clients want to do business with companies that they get along with and trust and businesses want to work with clients that share the goal of a symbiotic and loyal relationship.

Our sales motto at CTG is “Relationships first, sales to follow.” This mantra shines through at our flagship bi-annual IT executive retreat that we host with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) at The Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. This weekend long retreat is aimed at introducing prospective new clients to the CTG management team and laying the foundation for long-lasting relationships. IT Executives and their guests have the opportunity to spend the weekend at one of the finest resorts in the country and to spend their free time taking in all of the amenities that the property offers. There is something at The Greenbrier for everyone, whether you enjoy horseback riding, sporting clays or want to take a tour through the famous Bunker. At The Greenbrier the food is incredible, the property is immaculate and the service cannot be beat.

Perhaps the most important thing about the weekend is that it is not focused on making a sale. In fact, you will not hear a sales pitch all weekend (unless you want one)! The entire event is an opportunity to get to know your CTG team as individuals and to hear a high-level, industry focused discussion about HPE’s role in the IT landscape. Our guest speaker, Joe Batista, does a phenomenal job of creating an interactive panel style discussion about IT vectors and the changing landscape of the industry. The discussion also includes how HPE and its partners are focused on continuous pivoting to make sure that we are staying ahead of the curve. We encourage the attendees to speak about their experiences in an effort to start a multi-industry conversation about the different impacts that IT has on their markets. The conversation is always hands-on and exciting for everyone in the room. While we are meeting, the guests are enjoying the spa at The Greenbrier. It’s a win-win!

Our focus on building relationships with our clients is what sets us apart in an industry filled with resellers hoping to gain their share. CTG is not just a company that will be there when you have a project. We pride ourselves on getting to know your team, your environment and your goals as an organization. We will be there for the smallest issues or the biggest project and we place the same amount of importance on each. I am proud to say that some of our most cherished client partnerships began at The Greenbrier. If you are interested in more information about the event, please contact events@ctgva.com. We would be happy to discuss the details with you. We hope to meet you there!

Brandon Samuel is Convergent Technologies Group’s Sales Manager.

Aruba Atmosphere 2017

By Jeff Joyner

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my second Aruba Atmosphere Conference from February 26-March 3 this year.  Changing venues from The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas to the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville provided a more relaxed look and feel. Partha Narasimhan, Aruba’s CTO, really acclimated to his surroundings by presenting at the second day’s General Session while wearing a cowboy hat.  There were several great speakers at both General Sessions. The speakers presented new product overviews and customer testimonials.  They even did a demo of Live Upgrade where an automated firmware upgrade was performed on the APs and controllers being used at the conference with no drops in coverage.  That’s putting a lot of trust in your people and technology!

Attending pre-conference ClearPass training was a great way to start the week off.  ClearPass is Aruba’s Network Access Control (NAC) platform which provides wireless and wired guest access management, device onboarding and endpoint posture assessment.  The hands-on training helped to show off the power and scalability of ClearPass.

There were also fantastic individual sessions during the conference announcing new features and products.  Two presenters that stood out were Jussi Kiviniemi from Ekahau and Eric Johnson from Aruba Networks.  Jussi did an entertaining presentation of WiFi network design, comparing wireless design to patrons at a bar.  Funny with a lot of good design nuggets.  Ekahau is a WLAN site survey and planning software and spectrum analysis.  I also had the pleasure of attending two of Eric’s sessions where he breaks down RF technology to its math and science foundation.  It’s hard not to learn something from Eric’s sessions and I am glad I had some caffeine beforehand.  He has an impressive understanding of RF and some of the pitfalls wireless network engineers get into when designing a wireless network.

All in all, it was a great conference.  Ultimately, I’m always looking for new information that I can bring back and use to help our customers work more effectively, be more secure and spend their technology dollars wisely.  For the second year in a row, the Aruba Atmosphere conference did not disappoint.  There’s always more to learn and I am looking forward to next year!

Jeff Joyner is a Senior Network Engineer at Convergent Technologies Group.

Women in Technology

By Caylor Feeley

History exists in the current world around us, not just in textbooks. How we live our everyday lives was crafted by historical figures. If you have flown in an airplane, Orville and Wilbur Wright have influenced your life. If you have a cell phone, Antonio Meucci and Alexander Graham Bell have impacted you. You’ve probably heard of the inventors above, but what about the people who laid the crucial groundwork for computers?

Ada Lovelace pioneered computing through her mathematical expertise. In 1843, Ada created an algorithm that was the first of its kind. It was created to be used on a machine and designed a process called looping. This formula created the foundation for modern-day computers and Ada Lovelace earned the title of “first computer programmer.”

The Common Business-Oriented Language or COBOL, created in 1959, was the first English computer language and is still utilized now. It changed computer programming through decreasing costs and miscommunication with its readability and specificity. The person who lead the team that invented this crucial computer design was Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper.

Ada Lovelace and Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper were groundbreaking women who are often lost in history. This Women’s History month, Convergent Technologies Group would like to extend honor and praise to women, past and present, in technology.

From Ada Lovelace to Meg Whitman, women have a rich and hard-earned place in technology. Even with extensive contributions, women are still fighting for recognition and equality in the field. The numbers representing women in tech are discouraging. According to TechCrunch, only 18 percent of undergraduate computer science degree holders are women and make up only 26 percent of technology positions. Even with the adverse statistics there are actions that can be taken to change the landscape of the industry.

With support, the future for women in IT is promising. Convergent Technologies Group’s employees are comprised of half women and our organization encourages the professional development and work/life balance of all employees. Events such as RVATech/Women create a system of support, influence and inspiration that propel women to the next level of fulfillment. With representation and recognition of women in STEM, such as the film Hidden Figures, and the leadership of Meg Whitman and Sheryl Sandberg, success in IT will seem more possible to girls. Women are crucial to the advancement of the industry and with the backing of businesses and organizations, women can have a seat at the technology table.  

Caylor Feeley is a junior marketing specialist at Convergent Technologies Group.

Charles Fowler's Position Update

By Charles Fowler

As someone who has been in the IT industry for 28 years, I have found the only consistent thing is change. While we may be at the top of our game one year, we may find ourselves near the bottom the next due to changes in the industry. This industry innovates at an exhausting rate. One must not only be in tune with what is coming next, but what is coming multiple iterations down the line. If you are only looking at the next best thing, you may already be two or more steps behind the technology curve. The same can be said about careers. While timing is not everything, it is a big part of the equation when choosing to change careers or companies.

I started off my IT career in 1990 driving a delivery van for a local IT integrator startup. As a recent college graduate paying $75 a month in rent, $8.00 an hour sounded like great pay at the time. A career in IT was never in my plans. My major was Mass Communications which had little to do with IT at the time. Furthermore, I despised my computer programming class in college. A flashing DOS prompt was far from exciting. Like so many others in this business, my college major had nothing to do with IT. Looking back, choosing IT as a career was an excellent choice. I say it was an excellent choice because the timing was right for the industry. The money was flowing like water with the advent of the PC, Intel servers, networks, Windows OS, messaging, and the need for quality technical resources. We had them all and were growing at lightning speed. Fast forward fifteen years, I am now looking for a job change. My company had chosen a new business direction that seemed counterproductive to the changes I was seeing on the horizon. They were operating in the “now” versus evolving for the future. It turns out this was an excellent time to look at other job options. A few years later the company was acquired and has been in a downturn ever since. The company did not look forward far enough to see what industry changes were coming, or simply chose to ignore the obvious for fear of change.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise would become my new employer for the next 11 years. After working on the front line as a reseller, it was a breath of fresh air to be competing with a handful of other manufacturers, compared to the hundreds of other resellers we competed with every day at my prior job. Hewlett Packard was, and still is, a venerable IT manufacturer. Those jobs did not come along every day, and were both desired and respected careers. I saw a lot of changes during my 11 years at HPE. What once had been a small handful of manufacturers (i.e. HP, IBM, Dell, EMC, Cisco, Netapp) battling it out for customer share, had now become a very crowded space, with upstarts popping up every day. It was beginning to feel a bit like I was back on the frontlines of my previous career. In addition to the large upswing in competition, we were also transitioning the bulk of responsibility to the channel resellers to reduce internal costs. This is not a strategy practiced by only HP Enterprise, but all the manufacturers. Even Dell finally had to give in to the indirect model of selling to remain competitive. It was clear to me that this was going to be the go forward strategy and could impact my income, and possibly my employment in the future. I am not one to hold out to the very end, and recognize that change is both inevitable and necessary, so on to my next chapter.

Today I am writing this blog as the Director of Enterprise Sales for Richmond VA based Convergent Technologies Group (CTG). CTG was my go-to partner while employed with HP Enterprise. I chose to work for CTG because they have a culture that appeals to me. They are always open to new ideas and understand looking ahead is imperative for them and their customers. Training is a part of every transaction, not as a billable item, but just part of doing business with our company. We believe empowering our customers is the key to our collective success. What’s next for me? I am hoping palm trees, beaches, and endless cocktails. Cheers!

Convergent Technologies Group (CTG) is a Value-Added Reseller and Integrator headquartered in Richmond VA. CTG is the only HP Enterprise Exclusive Platinum Partner headquartered in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Charles Fowler is the Director of Enterprise Sales. For more information on our company and upcoming events, please visit our website at www.ctgva.com

Charles Fowler is the Director of Enterprise Sales at Convergent Technologies Group.

CTG Expands into North Carolina

By Caylor Feeley

Convergent Technologies Group is proud of our growth over the last decade and our customer-focused culture. And now, we’re moving ahead in a new direction, with our recent expansion into North Carolina. 

Expanding beyond our Central Virginia headquarters will allow us to strengthen our already existing relationships, and will also enhance our ability to effectively serve a new set of clients. Convergent Technologies Group has a tradition of growing businesses in Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland with our IT solutions that fit our customer’s precise needs. Our expansion into North Carolina will not only grow our clientele and market reach but will provide full-service technology solutions to our customers in the region. North Carolina's economy grew from tobacco farming and textiles into a leader in modern industries, such as aerospace, biotechnology, banking and energy. The fast-growing economy and the state's thriving technology-based industries create a strong fit for CTG's presence.

Convergent Technologies Group is dedicated to cultivating positive business relationships in North Carolina and providing organizations with targeted information technology solutions, particularly in the ever-changing digital economy. Technology allows us to connect with clients wherever they are. As we have developed new relationships, we want to ensure that our clients have a local account manager who can better understand their business and market they operate in. With solutions including cloud, collaboration, data center, disaster recovery, managed services and more, we analyze our clients’ specific wants and needs to create a tailored approach that will deliver against company objectives. 

Representing us in the North Carolina region is Bailey Mountcastle, who has joined CTG as a territory account manager. A Virginia Tech business management graduate, Bailey is highly motivated and dedicated, and looks to provide every business with the most effective keys to transform its IT department into a revenue-building department. Whether you need products, services or a mix of both Bailey can recommend and deliver solutions that will benefit both your current and future technology needs. Reach out to Bailey here. 

Caylor Feeley is a junior marketing specialist at CTG.

Customer Engagement Center opens access to HPE Products, Experience

By Brandon Samuel

As an account manager, one of my roles is to make sure that I’m providing the absolute best solutions to my clients that my manufacturer partners can offer. The process of a sale can be as quick as 15 minutes – or a year or more, depending on the project at hand.

When it comes to longer-lasting projects, we often spend much time perfecting the configuration and doing rigorous testing to make sure that whatever solution is purchased will work in the client’s existing environment. This testing can require demo units to be allocated, shipped, installed, configured and tested, all of which can take several months to complete, depending on the scale of the solution.

No one can blame a client for wanting to put this level of effort into making a decision. In fact, we encourage it, even if clients might walk in thinking they already have the answers. To be a valued long-term partner, we believe in investing the resources to make sure that the solutions and products that our clients ultimately purchase will differentiate that business not just today but position them to continue building for the next five years.

Let’s face it, when it comes to IT nobody really gives it much thought unless you work on the IT team. Or worse, when the network is down and you can’t do your daily tasks. CIOs and IT directors must make sure that their staff is comfortable with a solution, both from an implementation and management standpoint. The best way to ensure that confidence is by testing their data on the solution being presented. The price and the pressure are far too great of a risk for the solution to not be fully vetted.

What if there was an easier, less time consuming, but equally thorough way? What if we could tell you that the entire process could take less than half of the normal time? Well, we can – and here’s how!

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Customer Engagement Center: New York City, New York

Located in the heart of Chelsea is the HPE Customer Engagement Center. Aside from the HPE logo on the window, you probably wouldn’t give the building a second look, but once you get inside you are in technology heaven! HPE designed this space to show the latest and greatest technologies that HPE has to offer. The goal is to show the future of both one of our primary partners and the companies we serve. 

The center was designed to allow CIOs, directors and managers to not only see the latest and emerging technologies but also to discuss their bottom line. Discussions cover how each piece of hardware and software is designed to meet a specific need, while keeping ease of configuration, deployment and management at the forefront of the conversation. High-level discussions about total cost and return on investment are always hot topics, as well as conversations about making IT teams from every organization more streamlined and focused on innovation, instead of being reactive and becoming stagnant. 

CTG is excited to be taking guests to the HPE Customer Engagement Center on Jan. 26. Our attendees will get to see products in a production environment, receive a hands-on demonstration and experience a tour of cutting-edge HPE technology. 

Brandon Samuel is CTG's sales manager.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends, and food! CTG has a lot to be thankful for and our employees wanted to express their many different reasons to be thankful:

I am thankful for my husband, son andd our continued blessing as a family, even if we are far apart. - Carley Wessler, SMB Account Executive

I am thankful to be a part of the Convergent family and hope to have a positive impact on the business and employees as we learn from one another. Also, I am thankful to the people of Scotland for their wonderful distilled spirits! – Charles Fowler, Director of Enterprise Sales

I am thankful for my family and friends, and their health. I am also thankful to work for great people. 

– James Kay, Accounting Representative 

I’m thankful for a successful company with enthusiastic co-workers and my health and family (and blogs)! 

– Brandon Samuel, Assistant Manager

I am thankful for the wonderful CTG staff, their dedication and all the wonderful new employees who come on board! You all make CTG what we are today! – John Monahan, Co-founder

I am thankful for my loving husband, my family, and my sweet furbabies. I am also thankful for my job with an awesome company. I don’t know where my life would be without all of these wonderful things. 

– Kristin Harley, Inside Sales Support                     

I am thankful for my first post-graduation job at CTG where I work with wonderful people and I learn new skills. I am thankful for my family who have patiently helped me as I struggle to figure out how to be an adult. 

– Caylor Feeley, Junior Marketing Specialist 

I am thankful for the opportunity I have been blessed with here at CTG. The knowledge that I have gained within this company and the relationships I’ve formed are two of the many things I’m thankful for. I’m also thankful for my home, my health, and my amazing family! 

– Grace SunDance, Administrative Assistant

 I am thankful for love, hugs, long drives on backroads, being a mom, laughter and smiles, oceans and beaches, the way my husband looks at me, kindness, milk with ice, who I have become, family time, music, fire pits and sweaters, my heart- I still see so much good in people, that I have an old soul, long walks, friendships, snow days, flowers, fresh baked cookies. 

– Chastity Loving, Purchasing Manager 

I am thankful for family and friends in my life. Most of all, I am thankful for a loving God who is always with me and for His many blessings in my life and that of those I care for.

 - Elizabeth "Beth" Foster, Inside Sales Reprsentative

I am thankful for my two awesome kids and how much happiness they bring me each and every day. I am also thankful for being able to work with the some of the best people in the world at CTG.  Our services, sales, marketing and finance teams are some of the best I have ever worked with and I am very proud and thankful to have been honored with this awesome opportunity.

– Rod Knowles, Solutions Architect 

I am thankful for my son and the rest of my family.

–Evan Joyner, SMB Technician 

I'm enormously thankful to have two beautiful, intelligent and caring daughters that have changed my life so dramatically for the better. They have plumbed the depths of my heart further than I ever thought possible. And most importantly, I'm thankful for my wife without whom I would be a much lesser man.  Who showed me that the third time really is the charm.”

–Jeff Garell, Co-founder

“I'm thankful for my wonderful family and having a passion for my chosen vocation.”

– Jeff Joyner, Senior Network Engineer

I am thankful for my family - my mother, father, sisters, my [siberian] husky boys. I am thankful for my friends and their children, and for being able to be apart of their life. I am so very thankful for my job, company, my team and CTG family. I love and apprecaite the knowledge, perseverance and views we bring together every day - we work hard, have fun and enjoy life and eachother! I am thankful for my home, my energy, my health - I am forever grateful for being here on this earth.

– Alexandra Suder, Marketing Director