2010 Business Technology Reference Library Overview:

Categorized Buyers Guides, Vendor Directories, Case Studies, Marketing Best Practice Manuals & Member Contributed Documents

Overview   Click here to go to library index now

To assist TA members and their end-user customers understand how to evaluate and choose various business technology solutions, TA is creating a business technology reference library to contain a continually updated series of buyers guides, vendor directories, case studies and marketing best practice manuals written by TA staff and board members with input from TA members and vendors. The purpose of TA's reference library is to update, segment and catalog the content TA has been distributing for 15 years in such a way that members can find exactly what they are looking for exactly when they need it.  The reference library will also contain contributed titles submitted by TA members and vendors that help add value to the library.

To ensure all documents are objective, appropriate and up to date, they will be "peer reviewed" and edited by TA subject matter expert ("SME") board members that have expertise in the subject documents they are reviewing and helping to edit. All documents will be web documents printable and/or viewable by TA members that can be edited online by authorized TA board members and content contributors subject to TA staff review.

Buyers Guides

The end-user buyers guides will provide a vendor neutral checklist of the various solution selection criteria items that would go onto an end-user's "request for proposal (RFQ)" put out to vendors invited to bid on a business technology solution. The buyers guide will prioritize the checklist items, give and explanation as to why the item is important and provide real-world examples of what can go wrong if the item is not properly evaluated. The buyers guides are designed to help an end-user understand the various business technology solution options being presented to them by vendors or partners.

Vendor Directories

Each buyers guide will include two different vendor directories. The first "sponsor" vendor directory will be a list of TA vendors that are sponsoring a specific buyers guide category. The category sponsor vendors will be listed by the longevity of their sponsorship. The second vendor directory is the TA "Members Choice" award vendor directory which rates each vendor by how many votes they received in the most recent annual "Members Choice" award voting. This second directory will help readers know which vendors are doing the best job of satisfying their customers and distributors in the past 12 months.

Case Studies

Verified case studies will be published to showcase business technology solutions so that readers can vicariously experience what others have learned through real-world examples of business technology implementations.

Marketing Best Practice Manuals

Finally, each buyers guide and vendor directory category will have an association "Marketing Best Practices" manual so that TA members can learn the most cost effective ways to market and sell technology solutions to business customers and prospects in a given category.

Contributed Documents

TA members and vendors are invited to contribute relevant documents to the various reference library to help TA members and their customers understand and evaluate technology solutions in any library category

Click here the category titles below to view the documents. The titles will be published in the order in which they are sponsored and then adapted for editing by TA SIG Board members. 

Click here to receive more information about these publications or to become a TA SME Board Member to help review and edit the documents.

Anyone can nominate themselves to be a provisional SME, official SME status will be designated by TA once the provisional SME credentials are reviewed and confirmed. Confirmed TA SME Board Members will receive an annual "TA 'Category' Expert Badge" for display on their marketing materials similar to the TA "Members Choice" award badges that you may have seen.

To suggest an upgrade or for more information about this program please contact Dan Baldwin, TA Executive Director at 951-251-5155 or Dan@TelecomAssociation.com. 

This document last updated 12/9/9