CDG champions VAR underdogs

Distributor's Channel Innovator Programme aimed at helping second-tier resellers land blows on larger rivals

Second-tier resellers have never been better placed to wrest business from larger incumbents by pushing innovative new technology, according to VAD CDG.

CDG recently launched the Channel Innovator Programme, a scheme designed to help its 60 VAR partners access the latest application delivery, data management and security technology.

Under the programme, CDG is offering to showcase technology from the likes of Webroot, Browsium, Certeon and RES at its partners' premises on a quarterly basis, to help them spot market trends and how they can capitalise on them.

CDG sales director Chris Patton said smaller resellers are inherently more entrepreneurial and do not have large revenue streams with traditional vendors to compromise.

"There is a younger generation [of IT professionals] coming through that is much more confident in technology as a business enabler," he said.

"Tier-one resellers are doing a great job but tier-two resellers have a real thirst for taking this new technology to market. A lot of smaller resellers struggle with larger resellers that have incumbency in customer accounts – we are saying there is an alternative they can take to market."

Browsium is designed to help end users move to a Windows 7 environment and solve browser compatibility issues, while Certeon is a software-only WAN optimisation solution, said Patton.

"Webroot is getting huge interest as a different way of securing virtual environments," he continued, adding that CDG has 25 years of taking new technology from the likes of Citrix, RES and Kaviza to market.

"We take away that risk element for resellers who do not have the bandwidth to do due diligence on the myriad of technologies out there."