Recent Articles
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Out of Conflict, Opportunity
On the surface, the move by Brocade to acquire Foundry Systems for $3 billion is a recipe for channel conflict. Brocade has made most of its money by selling products through OEM partners such as Hewlett-Packard and IBM, who in turn rely heavily on their channel partners to move Brocade’s products. Foundry, in contrast, has…
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Symantec Plays Semantics
Symantec screwed up. First the vendor dissed partners, encouraged customers to bypass those partners and signaled an intention to cut distributors out of some business. Then, in seeking to clarify its position, Symantec raised more questions. The mess started with a recent report about comments Chief Operating Officer Enrique Salem made June 12 to analysts…
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FOR ESP: Making the Office Truly Paperless
The paperless environment the IT industry has promised over the years hasn’t quite happened yet but solution provider DIAMP Network sure is trying. From freshly printed Excel spreadsheets, to 50-year-old hand-written notes, DIAMP (Digital Imaging and Management Professionals) transforms paper documents into searchable, digitized images for a range of clients—from large law firms and government…
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FOR ESP: The Quest for Financial Independence
One of the most common complaints from the owners of solution providers is how little they personally make from their businesses. Once they cover operating and capital costs, plus payroll, little is left for the owner. Worse yet, there isn’t much left to invest back into the company. As a result, solution providers are frequently…
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E-Mail Marketing Can Bring Incredible Bang for the Buck
Here’s the business proposition: Your company spends $2,000 a year and adds half a million to your sales pipeline in just six months. It sounds like something straight out of a late-night infomercial, but that’s just what SAP partner Netsirk Technologies was able to do using the IMN e-communications platform. The IMN (iMakeNews) platform combines…
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Symantec Cuts Disties Out of Big Deals, Takes SMB Renewals Direct
Symantec’s changing channel partner strategy could actually end up favoring the company’s biggest partners while eating SMB partners’ lunches. A transcript of Symantec’s executives’ briefing with Wall Street analysts reveals that Symantec plans to cut distributors out of the biggest partner transactions, letting its platinum partners buy directly from Symantec instead. That’s a move that…
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