Half Full Or Half Empty?

I attended the Synnex Information Technologies partners conference last Thursday and Friday in Greenville, S.C., where the rising-fast distributor informed and entertained roughly 200 of its best and brightest partners. Synnex chief Robert T. Huang kicked off the proceedings on Friday morning by, among other insights, offering up a bad news/good news scenario.

"The bad news is that the industry is still very competitive," he said. "But a lot have fallen, so that is good news for those who have survived."

Guess that's the way you have to look at it these days. You choose to look at the glass as half-full, appreciate the silver lining, avoid the dark end of the street, and all that. But, in fact, as the day's slate of savvy speakers presented analyses of the recent past and prognostications for the future, I realized a heads-up solution provider could still parse together a strategy that could, in fact, make him or her a lot of money, even in this new grim reality.

It's just how you spin it. Even in a down and disgruntled market like PCs. Pip Martin, Microsoft director of its U.S. Partner Group, told the crowd that PC growth for the business customer will be 3.5 percent in 2003. But compared to what she said was a decline of 6.4 percent in fiscal '02, that's a ray of hope.

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Similarly, while Frank Vitagliano, vice president of distribution channels management for IBM's Personal Computing Division, paced PC growth at less than 2 percent (to underline the point, he put up a slide that said: "Slow Growth in PC Hardware '03-'05"), he also made it clear that the cost of managing and supporting PCs is a whopping 80 percent. That's a strong argument for replacing 3- to 4-year-old PCs and using that business to bridge to other services, which Vitagliano says is growing at a healthy 11 percent.

The numbers got better from there. Janet Waxman, vice president of hardware channels and alliances for IT intelligence provider IDC, told people that opportunities prevail in the server market, which she expects to grow from an estimated $18 billion last year to about $22 billion in 2007. That's a solid number to build a business on. And Steve Dallman, Intel's director of channels and distribution, said a company factory can now reset a fab in one month -- great news for solution providers who need product quickly.

But perhaps even more important than any of the above numbers, Waxman, during her moment in the spotlight, espoused a point of view that I believe every VAR sitting in that room, and those of you reading this, should always remember: The direct model is great for the indirect market.

"Direct sales models can not sell solutions," she emphasized. "Leverage this deficiency to your advantage." Customers want solutions, while suppliers only make parts, she added, noting that customers will pay 10 percent to 15 percent more for a total solution.

Perhaps you know all of this already. Perhaps you don't. In any event, it doesn't hurt to hear it again. As Waxman said in one of her slides "Don't Leave Money On The Table." In fact, it all starts with the attitude you bring to the table.