4 partner leaders reveal their top vendor bugbears
From pointless partner programme refreshes to undue favouritism, which vendor traits do reseller and MSP CEO find most frustrating
The vendor/partner relationship is a staple in the IT channel, and as with most business partnerships, tend to be characterised by a love-hate dynamic.
Each party needs to work with the other in order to be successful in the channel, however vendors and partners can butt heads on how best to achieve this.
From jumping through hoops to contending with a never-ending list of partners, CRN spoke with reseller and MSP bosses to hear what has frustrated them the most this year when working with vendors.
Geoff Kneen, CEO of Content+Cloud
I think it's really important for you to understand who your key partners are.
If you're trying to have relationships with lots and lots of vendors, I think you're going find it difficult to work in partnership with those vendors to get the best for yourselves and get your best for them.
And ultimately, most importantly, get the best for the client at the end of the day as well.
We take more of an approach of having a smaller number of key partners and invest in that partnership to make sure we understand each other well enough and we understand how to help each other become successful.
I'd say that's not a frustration as such, that's more about just understanding how you work, how the vendor might work and then committing to each other to work together for the best outcome.
Read on to find out who feels vexed by vendor timescales and salary increases...
4 partner leaders reveal their top vendor bugbears
From pointless partner programme refreshes to undue favouritism, which vendor traits do reseller and MSP CEO find most frustrating
Simon Chappell, director and co-founder, Assured Data Protection
There can sometimes be a challenge to align timescales with our vendors. As a self-financed MSP we take a very long-term view on our customer relationships as we interact with them daily and hope to keep them in perpetuity.
Vendors often have a shorter time frame as their goals are more likely to be based on quarterly or annual sales targets, goals that are often driven by external funders such as venture capital partners.
4 partner leaders reveal their top vendor bugbears
From pointless partner programme refreshes to undue favouritism, which vendor traits do reseller and MSP CEO find most frustrating
Etienne Greeff, CEO, Flow Transform
The most frustrating thing I hear is put in a very paraphrased way which will resonate with every channel exec I know:
"We are introducing a new partner programme, but don't worry about it, it will be good for you. All you have to do is jump through these new hoops."
After you jump through these new hoops we will give you all these rewards to make it easier to sell our solutions, especially the parts of our portfolio that nobody sells.
4 partner leaders reveal their top vendor bugbears
From pointless partner programme refreshes to undue favouritism, which vendor traits do reseller and MSP CEO find most frustrating
Guy Golan, co-founder & CEO, Performanta
Based on 19 years of doing it…
1. This is our policy. We cannot really change it.
2. I need to get approval from my boss in the US (as if you are trying to buy a coat in a Turkish Bazaar).
3. We have to provide a level playing field (but don't want to share there is one exception and it's not you).
4. Our costs have gone up massively (10-15 per cent). Yet, as a software business they haven't provided salary increases of more than five per cent.
5. We appreciate your great quality of services but to get more discount you must sell in the millions.
6. I can't give you a deal registration because it is a tender (spoiler alert: that we initiated with the client).
7. Your client is super strategic to us (hence why you never address their requests in a timely fashion).