Changing strategies

How many more vendors will dilute their indirect strategy this year ponders Sara Yirrell

Yirrell: At least Lenovo is being upfront and honest about what it is doing

It has been quite a busy start to 2009 already, with the channel holding its own despite all the doom and gloom surrounding the economy.

However, it is inevitable that some vendors that classed themselves as 100 per cent channel through the good times, will start to look elsewhere when things start to get tougher.

Lenovo is the first vendor this year to make such a change to its channel model.
It released news last week that it is planning to bypass its channel in the small and home office space and sell directly to end users looking to buy five PCs or fewer.

This has the potential to end in tears, because VARs that have also set their sights lower down the end-user food chain than normal in difficult times will face unwelcome competition.

Usually, vendors reserve their direct business activities for the top-end enterprise space, which often prefers to deal direct with the manufacturer.

According to Lenovo, which is also planning a full configuration service, this move will complement its channel business, because any leads looking for more than five PCs will be passed onto its business partners immediately.

Lenovo also says it is a way for the vendor to attract new customers from its rivals.

I’ll give Lenovo some credit though ­ at least it is being upfront and honest about what it is doing, rather than introducing the new strategy on the quiet and causing confusion.

Sara Yirrell is editor of CRN