VARs in cheap lipstick

Distributors don't deserve their reputation as 'box-shifting tarts'. But VARs might ...

Distribution gets one hell of a kicking. But, without it, most value-added resellers (VARs) would surely drift downstream in a current of their own over-estimation.

The reputation of disties as box-shifting tarts was justified for about as long as an English summer.

Ever since, it's been the unskilled and unaccredited VARs that have been wearing the cheap lipstick, and doing little more than marking up product and shipping it on.

In the early years, when foreign vendors eyed the UK market like a cold beer in the Sahara, distributors offered valuable logistics, warehousing and stock control, and a ready-made network of resellers.

That value has always been there, and encapsulates the hard core of technical and consultancy skills today.

The technical know-how and selling skills that VARs used to have were eroded during the mid-1990s.

What did it matter? They were taking advantage of the IT boom.

As a result, they got fat and some got complacent. Sales representatives became order-fulfillers and technical support were the guys who had a passing acquaintance with a product manual.

The legacy is the skills gap between the tiers. Today, disties are called upon to get technical accreditations and train, understand and deal in solutions.

It makes me laugh to hear VARs calling themselves "vendor-independent".

And if a network reseller has a portfolio of five or six infrastructure vendors, how come it is only Cisco- or Extreme-accredited? Where do the skills to sell and implement come from?

A distributor, however, cannot touch a product until it is vendor-accredited. This 'value-added distribution' extends to a growing number of players.

With extensive portfolios of products and services, these disties cross the skills gap. They offer resellers the best way to participate in emerging markets.

The future offers new technologies and new opportunities.

Distributors are behind the push to provide convergence solutions and applications driven across multi-service infrastructure platforms for networks, as well as providing the skills to put the consultative selling into outsourcing and facilities management.

Value-added distributors are the skillful midfield dynamos of the channel. Alas, VARs have earned a reputation for being mere goal-hangers.

Manny Pinon is sales and marketing director at Norwood Adam Distribution.