Government VARs Shout Out For Vendor Support

A contradiction exists among many vendors that claim support of the public-sector channel. While most acknowledge that solution providers targeting government and education face distinctive challenges, relatively few provide the full scope of dedicated programs and resources to serve those partners. Channel chiefs are often shared with all of the other vendor partners, and services fall under the same umbrella program as the commercial channel.

The 2007 GovernmentVAR Partner Programs Guide highlights which vendors support the public-sector channel through services, training and price advantages. The degree of support ranges. Some vendors offer federal-government programs only. Others offer programs for state/local government and education (SLED). Some have dedicated channel chiefs; some have none of the above. For many VARs, that's not good enough.

"When you try to explain how the government market works to [a vendor] used to the commercial space, and how the government price has to not only be lower than anything they offer but also stay locked in for months longer to accommodate sales cycles, their eyes roll," says Augustine Riolo, COO of Virginia Beach, Va.-based Knowledge Information Solutions. He gives kudos to Xerox and Panasonic for their partner programs. "It takes a breed of people that have spent a few years in the public sector to understand and anticipate what the requirements are from [partners] or the government itself."

Of the vendors included in this year's GovernmentVAR Partner Programs Guide, only 19 have dedicated government or public-sector channel managers, and only one--Symantec--has separate channel chiefs for federal and SLED; fewer than 30 claim to have separate channel programs for government or education, 18 specifically for the federal channel, 14 for the state and local government channel, and 14 for the education channel.

A top-rate partner program goes beyond branding. Certainly, the best public-sector partner programs infuse many of the characteristics of their commercial counterparts, including lead generation, presales and postsales support, technical training, marketing dollars and channel-conflict management. Beyond that, the vendors that earned 5-star ratings for their partner programs--30 in all--have support services and dedicated resources in place to help partners combat the long sales cycles, standards of open competition and complex procurement processes that epitomize the public sector.

"All of the companies that provide solutions to government customers are challenged by a very complex environment," says Bill Bockoven, director of government and education sales at APC. "Understanding government contracting issues, large government programs and multiple points of influence can be very difficult if you don't have years of experience in this market."

NEXT: What truly differentiates the best vendor programs.