The negative impact of arrogance

Arrogance is not an attractive trait in anyone, but in business it can be an especially undesirable characteristic for partners to have to deal with.

IBM once carried the mantle of being the most arrogant of the bigger vendors. Hewlett-Packard has also carried the torch and even Dell has taken its turn. But one vendor has, over the past few weeks, stolen a march on its rivals after creating uncertainty, ambiguity and generally leaving its partners feeling unsettled and nervous, for no apparent reason other than just because it could.

Microsoft announced back in July that it was looking to re-organise the way its products and services were distributed (CRN, 17 July). When a vendor as big and as ubiquitous as Microsoft announces channel changes, there are few companies out there that won’t be affected. And yet, despite undoubtedly being aware of this, Microsoft has let deadline after deadline slip, and proceeded to leave its channel hanging around nervously for weeks wondering exactly what the changes are.

After the hoop jumping, the presentations and the dinner meetings were done by the distributors, the vendor last week finally put an end to the speculation, rumour and uncertainty that could have been potentially damaging to any of the distributors in the fray. And for the distributors themselves, while the good news is that none of them were axed, the sting in the tail is that the number of them now certified to sell Microsoft products has doubled.

This is a margin-slashing move, which could create a channel bloodbath between the distributors in terms of pricing and services, slimming down further the distributors’ already fashion-model-thin margins. But for the broadliners involved, the insecurity is still not over. Microsoft will, it has said, look to axe one of them in six months’ time.

The whole unfortunate affair has, it seems, been almost tantamount to the vendor shooting a gun at its distributors’ feet, while gently encouraging them to dance.