Vendors fuel the device confusion debate

Larry Walsh warns resellers not to rely on vendor perspectives when choosing the right end point for customers

There's no doubt end point consumption among businesses and consumers is shifting from traditional desktops and notebooks to tablets and smartphones. And there's much truth to the notion that power users live in a multi-screen world where they have multiple devices for different purposes.

But which device is best for business implementations? How should tech providers guide their customers' choice of end point? When it comes to answering these questions, vendors fuel the device confusion debate by advising partners on two levels.

On one hand, vendors speak strategically, saying that solution providers should assess their customers' computing needs, understand the tasks that need performing and recommend the right end point for the job.

For instance, a VAR shouldn't recommend a notebook for a mobile point of sales system when a tablet or smartphone would do a better job.

However, vendors aren't consistent in device messaging and activities. While many channel executives and marketing teams speak about devices in the "solutions" or "systems" context, their field sales and channel account managers push specific units and sales targets on their partners.

An example: rather than advising partners to sell offerings that include a device type, channel account managers will push specific models and volumes because they need to achieve goals.

This disconnect was on display last week at Tech Data's Channel Link conference in Connecticut, USA. In a panel discussion aptly named "Device Confusion", representatives of Dell, Lenovo and Samsung provided their perspectives on how providers can and should help customers select the most appropriate endpoints for their use cases.

Lenovo, the world's largest personal computer vendor by volume, touted its notebooks, desktops and growing portfolio of Windows and Android tablets as different form factors that meet various customer needs.

The message: Lenovo can address virtually any use case, which gives resellers the opportunity to build offerings that best suit customers.

Samsung, the largest mobile device vendor, echoed these sentiments, saying its portfolio is broad enough to solve most customer pain points.

However, Lenovo digressed by advising providers to think vertically and integrate various technologies to meet the needs of different industry practices. Lenovo crafted use cases and technology structures to address different industries, such as education, health care and hospitality.

Dell took a different tack by focusing on its broad portfolio of infrastructure, thin client, security and storage offerings.

The company has invested more than $10bn (£5.9bn) on acquiring companies such as Wyse Technologies, EqualLogic and SonicWall to diversify its products and revenue.

The Dell message: think about solutions end to end and make the end point part of a connected, comprehensive sale.

While each of these device vendors spoke about "solutions", they conceded their field sales teams don't always act likewise. Instead, they operate around product sales goals.

If Samsung releases a new ultra-book, the field will operate around its goals and incentives.

If Dell releases a new Windows tablet, it will press those units through direct and indirect channels to make numbers.

And if Lenovo releases a new notebook or desktop, it will create channel rewards to ensure it achieves sales targets.

This disconnect is nothing new. Vendors have been speaking out of both sides of their mouths for years when it comes to "solution selling" and creating "value-add" systems.

Vendors know not one of them is capable of solving all of the markets' IT needs, which is the reason they have technology and reseller partnerships to fill the gaps.

However, they're addicted to best-sellers and unit sales that fuel performance measures and rewards of product units and managers.

The bottom line is that third-party providers have to play both sides and shouldn't always chase the incentives tossed out by vendors to do what's best for their business.

When it comes to clarifying device confusion, resellers need to accept that their vendors won't be much help.

Larry Walsh is president and chief executive officer of Channelnomics

For more US-focused channel coverage, see www.channelnomics.com