"You can't do it all," Palmer says. "[Technology changes are] too much, too fast. And if you tell your clients that you can do it all, they are not going to buy it anyway."
Research data supports this premise. According to VARBusiness' 2004 State of the Market research, subcontracting and partnering is up this year, compared with 2002. The number of small solution providers doing more subcontracting or partnering has increased from 67 percent last year to 72 percent this year. For midsize VARs, the number has increased from 76 percent to 85 percent, while the number of large firms has remained relatively unchanged at 86 percent, the statistics reveal.
Regardless of the company's size, revenue from partnering or subcontracting has increased from last year, up on average less than 20 percent to more than 25 percent, according to VARBusiness' research. For small firms, the average revenue generated from partnering has gone from 21 percent last year to 28 percent this year. For midsize VARs, the number has grown from 19 percent to 24 percent; for large firms, it has jumped from 17 percent to 29 percent.
Brian Okun, director of marketing at Chips Computer Consulting, based in Lake Success, N.Y., is one of many VARs committed to this partnering approach to business. And he is pretty clear about what will happen to those who don't adopt this model soon. "In my mind, they are going the way of the dinosaur," he says.
Okun talks about a recent project that illustrates how this kind of VAR-to-VAR approach benefits all involved. A national solution provider called on Chips Computer Consulting because a Fortune 1000 customer, located in the Northeast, was hit hard by computer viruses that occurred last August. That customer needed some Symantec expertise. Chips dispatched two of its senior-level engineers to do the job, a four-week-long project.
Discover the benefits of scalable backbone and network services for application and cloud providers.
Network automation is gaining momentum. Here's how you can drive this powerful technology to its full potential.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
