2007 CRN Channel Champions: Systems & Components

HP finished ahead of Lenovo and Acer in the 2007 CRN Channel Champions survey for commercial desktops, sweeping the three criteria subcategories: technical, program and support, and financial. The vendor finished first in 16 of the 19 different individual criteria considered. Its overall rating was 67.7, compared with 63.6 for Lenovo and 62.6 for Acer.

Dave DelVecchio, president of Innovative Business Systems, an Easthampton, Mass., solution provider, is not surprised.

"HP desktops have historically done very well for us with reliability and performance," he said. "And HP finally is playing to its strengths in relation to other companies. Their Smart Buy program is the smartest thing they've ever done."

HP's Smart Buy allows customers to choose from a few standard configurations, which allows the company—and by extension, VARs—to compete more effectively, DelVecchio said.

"They've built economies of scale that the build-to-order companies can't touch," he said. "For the 90 percent of PC buyers that can count on three or four configurations, it's great. It gives them a solid configuration with above-average quality hardware at a price point the other companies can't touch."

Customers that used to get sticker shock from HP quotes are now considering the vendor's products, DelVecchio said. "The opportunities where HP is a good fit have gone up dramatically," he said.

The solution provider recently closed an 11-system deal, replacing Gateway machines that were built to order, due to HP's supply chain dominance, DelVecchio said. "We got a Smart Buy configuration shipped from Ingram Micro. We'll have them in the end user's hands in less than 24 hours," he said.

Jim St. Louis, sales manager at CC Technology, Highlands Ranch, Colo., also said Smart Buy has been a differentiator for his HP business this year. "It hits the sweet spot of configuration and price for us," he said. About 95 percent of HP systems sold by CC Technology now are Smart Buy SKUs. "They're generally pretty available through distribution, and there's almost always one [configuration] that will work [for customers]," he said.

—Scott Campbell

VENDOR TECHNICAL PROGRAM & SUPPORT FINANCIAL OVERALL HP 82.8 65 52.8 67.7 Lenovo 76.3 63.7 48.7 63.6 Acer 74.8 64.1 46.9 62.6

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