For vendors, winning a channel award is more than a badge of honour, it is a way of underlining what a good job they are doing for UK resellers.

The majority now enter and, as last year’s line-up of winners reflects, both the big names and smaller vendors that do a great job for the channel can and do receive recognition.

As well as HP, Microsoft and Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC), there were awards for Netgear, Email Systems and Entanet in 2007.

Netgear has won the Networking Vendor of the Year category for three consecutive years. It could never be described as a small networking vendor, but it is by no means the biggest in the market, so its success is all the more notable. It proves that it is not sheer sales volume and quarterly numbers that matters most to resellers according to the company’s UK business development manager, Peter Airs.

“We win because we are very active in the channel and present more of a human face. It is all about people at the end of the day,” said Airs. “We have a good team here and we try to help resellers in whatever way we can. I think that is appreciated and stands us in good stead. We are out there doing it for the customer. You can measure everything in figures, and that is important, but this gives us an independent endorsement that shows we are going a good job.”

Gary Fowle, marketing director at FSC, which has claimed the Vendor of the Year and Systems Vendor of the Year awards for three years in succession, agreed. “Winning one of these awards speaks volumes for your credentials with the channel. It endorses the commitment that you make to your partners in a very real and tangible way.”

To win, you have to do much more than pay lip service to being committed to resellers, Fowle added.
“A lot of companies talk about their dedication to their partners ­ but you cannot win one of these awards unless you actually put that into practice,” he said.

“You have to have the support of the channel ­ you cannot win without it. We won last year and the two previous years because we have shown that our commitment is real ­ not just with words but with actions.”

That said, being a good company to work with and showing commitment to partners is still not enough ­ vendors also need great products and offerings that resellers can take to market as well.

“We worked hard last year to show how solutions that involve storage can be implemented in a way that meets the customers’ needs ­ that is why HP won,” said Stephen Watson, marketing manager in HP’s StorageWorks division, which
last year claimed the Storage Vendor of the Year title.

“HP has a wide portfolio and you can build a whole infrastructure to a company’s strategy and that is appreciated by customers,” he said.

Perception and reality

While vendors must already have a strong reputation with partners, winning an award only serves to strengthen this perception and can lead to more positive relationships developing right across the partner community. “It does affect the way that resellers view us,” said Fowle.

“Those who know us and work with us already are genuinely pleased to see us win. It gives them more confidence in us and that helps everyone. Resellers that do not know us may be more encouraged to get in touch and find out what we can offer them.

“Both internally and externally it boosts our confidence and stature in the industry and with partners.”

Another advantage, said Airs, is that the UK operation gets more recognition from the global operation, which helps the individuals who work for the vendor in the UK and it can benefit resellers too.

“It has certainly helped Netgear UK gain recognition from the parent group as it shows we are doing a good job. That gives us more leverage to get what we need to service the channel here. We are listened to more, even on issues such as product development and testing ­ down to reseller level.”

It can also help Netgear win over new partners and new end-user customers, he noted. “It is not such a bad thing to start a PowerPoint presentation with three awards logos, especially as it is an independent view and it is voted for by resellers. It says that we are a good company with which to work.”

HP uses the accolade in a similar way said Watson. “We can offer it to customers that are interested in HP as a means of showing that others appreciate what we have done. Customer opinions are valuable to us, but even more so to other customers who like to see recommendations from their peers. When others praise you then people sit up and take notice.”
For all these reasons and more, it is well worth vendors taking the trouble to enter the awards each year, said Fowle. “Of course it is worth the effort. In fact, I would go further and say that vendors that do not enter the awards are doing themselves and their channel partners a disservice.

“If they cannot articulate the value that they deliver to the partners in this simple way, perhaps they are not actually delivering all that much. Simply entering compels you to think about that and that in itself is a worthwhile exercise.”

But Airs thinks it is not even a question that needs to be asked. “We do not win because we set out to win an award. We win because we put effort into servicing out resellers and because we go out to do a good job.”