Finding the right balance between seeking profit and providing support to partners is key for vendors.
You know the joke about the voter who says all members of Congress are corrupt but when asked about his own representative says, "Oh, mine's all right." It sounds much like the channel's attitude toward vendors, doesn't it? In August, Ziff Davis Enterprise Research and Crimson Consulting Group polled solution providers on a number of topics, including how they felt about the support they get from vendors. Only 14 percent deemed vendor support "excellent," while 73 percent called it "good" or "fair."
For this month's eWEEK Strategic Partner cover story, we dug a little deeper, asking solution providers to discuss their experiences with vendor-support efforts and what more they would like to see. Not surprisingly, providers as a whole pointed to additional programs and services they want vendors to deliver.
Some groused about vendors falling behind in creating a support system that takes into account the transformation the channel is undergoing into service-based models. Vendors, critics say, by and large remain too focused on products and volume. But solution providers also were levelheaded about the support they receive, and some were only too happy to sing the praises of their favorite vendors and explain what they like about them.
Ultimately, it all comes down to balance. Vendors' priorities revolve around beating the competition in pushing technology into the market. Solution providers, naturally, want to make sure they don't go broke getting those products to market and, of course, demand profit margins that let them stay in business. Vendors that get this balance right can expect their partners to say, "My vendor is all right."
Pedro Pereira is editor of eWEEK Strategic Partner and a contributing editor for The Channel Insider. He is at pedro.pereira@ziffdavisenterprise.com.
