The VAR Conundrum

Are VARs the new “it partner"? You know, the partner everyone wants to get to know, the partner who makes the magic happen like no one else can.

Channel Partners Editor-in-Chief Khali Henderson thinks so. In a thought-provoking article Ms. Henderson posted last week (and that is included in the February print issue of Channel Partners), she discerns that the industry is witnessing the emergence of a “Super VAR," a partner “faster than a speeding Ethernet connection, able to leap the OSI stack in a single bound …"

At the same time, she observes that "as a group, they [VARs] are put on a pedestal as a great hope for the future of information and communications technology sales, but as individual channel businesses, many are struggling with the transformation required to meet those expectations." (Emphasis added.)

This opposition – between the Super VAR and the VAR “struggling with transformation" – may well be the central drama of the channel today.

It is no longer controversial to say that the traditional telecom agent is relying on a flawed business model for the future, or that the “transactional" model is dated. Dangers are known and noted.

But those valid observations beg the question: How, exactly, does channel transformation proceed from here? Even more specifically, how, exactly, are VARs catalyzing that process?

Ms. Henderson’s piece looks at key transition issues in depth and within the context of the industry as-it-is, not by reference to an ideal industry that may exist one day. The methodology she uses is simple, and powerful. She talked in depth to a group of VARs about these key, definitional issues, and supplemented those discussions with complementary information sources from third parties, including research done by the Cloud Convergence Council.

So what is the single big secret to transformation?

As Ms. Henderson’s reporting and analysis demonstrates, the secret is not singular at all. The channel and telecom technology and services are all extremely dynamic. Understanding those dynamics and creating a plan tailored to that understanding and the concrete circumstances confronting each partner’s business are pre-conditions for success. The inverse is equally true: Misunderstanding these dynamics, and therefore failing to create a plan tailored to those dynamics, is a formula for big, big trouble.

For an in-depth, informed and intelligent discussion of this important subject, read Ms. Henderson’s excellent article.

Larry Lannon is group publisher of VIRGO ’s Communications Network, which includes Billing & OSS World , Channel Partners and V2M .