Doing The Right Thing

It took several weeks for us to actually connect, but I'm glad Wright was persistent, because she had a very specific mission: to tell me about a vendor she thinks is doing things right.

I must admit, it's not often I get calls of this nature, especially given the current state of the market. Most of us are too willing to find fault with everything. But the vendor in this instance, Artisoft, has made it difficult for Wright to complain.

During the course of the past year, Wright's company has experienced a growth rate of almost 97 percent. Granted, the Houston-based company is small, with roughly $1 million in annual revenue, so it was working off a small base. But Wright says Artisoft played a big role in this ramp-up, working with the solution provider to create an effective marketing campaign for the vendor's TeleVantage phone system. The Wright Co. once generated most of its business by word of mouth; now it gets approximately $3,000 in marketing funds from Artisoft. Jennifer Wright also cites Intel as another big channel advocate.

I thought of The Wright Co. last week during a meeting with Lou D'Ambrosio, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing for the IBM Software Group. We were discussing IBM's Top Contributors program, which recognizes solution providers that go the extra mile in terms of generating revenue or investing in training to handle various IBM software technologies or because they specialize in SMB solutions. D'Ambrosio estimates that there are roughly 1,200 partners in this elite bunch, with another 500 to be added this year.

Many vendors are creating exclusive clubs for their best (read biggest) partners, including IBM's archrival in application servers, BEA Systems. My challenge to them all is to not forget the little guys. Value, not just volume, should be a key differentiator of any channel master plan. Or, as D'Ambrosio put it: "We need to go wide and deep." It's the right thing to do.

HEATHER CLANCY, Editor/Strategy at CRN, welcomes your viewpoint at [email protected] or (516) 562-7446.