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Monday, August 27, 2007
Is the IT Channel ready for a paradigm shift???
Posted by Robert Cohen at
The ChannelLine Advisory Council is about discussing problems, sharing ideas and developing solutions that will make the IT Channel stronger and more effective. After about 2,500 conversations over the past two years, I have come to the conclusion that there are a few things we all agree on and a lot of things that we disagree on.
We all agree that the Channel has some serious flaws & but we disagree as to what these flaws are, what impact they have and what we should do about them. More specifically, a few things have stood out as being universal in nature and agreed on by almost all. These include:
-Lack of trust throughout the industry.
-Inefficient communication between channel members at the Vendor, distributor and VAR levels.
-Insufficient business acumen at the VAR level.
The article I just wrote, The IT Channel's Looming Paradigm Shift http://www.channeladvisornews.com/story.cfm?item=108 immediately brought home the message for me. I received several emails from people telling me that the article was right on and that the ChannelLine Advisory Council had to spread this message. Then, the bubble sprung a leak when I received an email from Steve Wexler, VP and Editor-In-Chief of Integrated mar.com (eChannelLine, Channel Advisor, ConnectIT, etc.). Steve and I have worked together for over 20-years.
Steve said: For some time I have had reservations with how you characterize the channel and the strengths, weaknesses and roles of vendors, distributors and VARs. For instance I do not believe the channel is threatened with disaster, that VARs will die or disappear in record numbers, that the majority of vendors don't understand the channel and that distributors are largely blood-sucking parasites. Yes, there are problems. And yes, we and our partners have an opportunity to smooth out these problems with the various ChannelLine Advisory Council and mar.com initiatives. But, I believe you are taking things to the extreme. I just had a very informative conversation with John Paget. John is a bright, well informed channel executive, who as head of Avnet's distribution business, and former head of Synnex and GE Access, has tremendous experience with both commodity and solution VARs and Vendors. John's comments, and views, are strongly at odds with your positioning. While John believes that there are a lot of Vendors who desperately need help, he does not think this is a very large problem.
As a member of the ChannelLine Advisory Council, I am asking you to read the article http://www.channeladvisornews.com/story.cfm?item=108 and provide your thoughts on the subject matter. In particular, the part about the paradigm change.
Thank-you and I look forward to hearing your views.
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