Don't Be Afraid To Fall

The past two years have been filled with flamboyant flameouts,from the once-powerful national integration channel and e-business integration crowd to the dozens of dot-coms founded with little to actually substantiate their ambitious business plans. Slowly but surely, some are coming back,scarred but focused, humbled but wiser.

Consider MicroAge, a company many of us had written off in recent months, since it filed for bankruptcy protection in April 2000. In many ways, MicroAge was a victim of circumstances: It got into distribution somewhat by accident at a time when many vendors were seeking to reduce their ties, and it relied on revenue from corporate accounts that fell prey to the direct sales and service phenomenon.

Despite its most recent misfortune, however, the MicroAge brand evidently was not really tainted,a fact that CEO Jeff McKeever hopes will prove valuable as he remakes his company yet again.

McKeever's mantra: "Success is never certain, and failure is never final." He's already applied that philosophy at least one other time since he founded The Byte Shop with Alan Hald back in 1976, helping the company move away from PC retailing into solutions sales and renaming it MicroAge along the way.

The high-tech industry has seen some great turnaround stories in recent months. Say what you like about Apple Computer, but Steve Jobs' latest incarnation of the vendor is innovative and profitable, if smaller. With its new focus on the midmarket, MicroAge could also become a trendsetter again in the channel.

What do MicroAge and other reemerging solution providers with a past, such as CompuCom and Siemens Business Services (the former Entex), have going for them? Experience and focus. MicroAge is methodically hiring back its best salespeople, while CompuCom is quietly forging myriad strategic relationships focused on the hottest market around: mobile solutions.

I think you'll hear a lot more from these companies and others like them in the months to come, as the clamor to win midmarket business grows louder. After all, what do they have to lose?

Are you a comeback kid? Share your experience with HEATHER CLANCY at [email protected].