Deal registration, or no deal registration?

With deal registration programmes apparently being abused more than ever, CRN's Doug Woodburn asks whether it's time to ditch one of the staples of the vendor partner programme

Is it time that vendors ditched deal registration schemes, or at least modified their DNA so protection isn't just granted to the reseller who gets there first?

That's a question many in the industry are asking as the deal registration tactics employed by some of the bigger resellers become ever-more cynical and even plain dishonest.

In theory, deal registration is a peerless tool, protecting the investment of the reseller who does the pre-sales legwork and freezing out ambulance chasers, all the while increasing the vendor's visibility into their sales pipeline.

The problem is that some larger resellers now apparently have teams dedicated to registering anything that moves - sometimes even with multiple vendors - to lock out rivals. Indeed, the phrase "deal registering your granny" is fast working its way into common parlance.

Many believe the system is broken and needs reform, as we explored in this week's issue, with one onlooker suggesting that moving to a model which allocates protection based on partners' value contribution could be the way forward.

As the article points out, alongside back-end rebates, deal reg was picked out as the most vital component of vendor partner programmes for resellers taking part in recent Canalys research. Without it, pre-sales investment would be a mug's game many argue.

But it's also clear that it's a tool that's coming under increasing fire from both smaller resellers and from vendors, who want to ensure the most deserving partners, that have actually done the work and aren't just sitting there with a copy of the Yellow Pages, are protected.

You can have your say by voting in this week's poll.