Online Offerings

Among Internet services offered, LAN/Internet connectivity (63 percent), security (61 percent) and e-mail integration (60 percent) were cited most often by SOM respondents. Security, in fact, has experienced the most dramatic rise since the 2000 SOM survey, when it was cited by only 38 percent of SOM respondents. Today, security is the No. 1 Internet service (32 percent), ahead of e-mail integration (29 percent), IP services/connectivity (21 percent), tech support (20 percent) and Web-site design (20 percent).

"Communication networks are merging disparate infrastructures, such as hardware and software solutions, data and telephony%85and Web-based/land-based [systems] into a converged environment," says Bart Bartolozzi, director of strategic development for Net2Phone, a Newark, N.J.-based provider of voice and enhanced services to IP networks. "VARs have a great opportunity to improve existing corporate infrastructure and provide both new [Internet] services and applications," he says. "Seamless communications from whichever access device an employee is using is where most efforts will be rewarded. Voice, data and video over one corporate infrastructure will allow companies to be more efficient and their employees to be more productive."

In times of mass fluctuation, a VAR's clientele wants a sense of consistency, says Ben Reyblat, co-founder and CEO of Quadrix Solutions, a Piscataway, N.J.-based systems integrator and co-location solution provider. "Those solution providers who architect the infrastructure and develop custom application solutions have a distinct advantage," he adds.

In a sense, VARs brand themselves best when they deliver on mission-critical services with a sense of earned trust. And customers are asking many difficult questions.

"What service provider represents what I am seeking?" asks Mike Kahn, an analyst and chairman of Wellesley, Mass.-based The Clipper Group, which provides maritime transportation services. "With whom am I comfortable? Can I trust that they and their sources of technology will be there when I need them and that they will protect my investments?" In his crystal ball, Kahn sees policy-based storage solutions, including storage virtualization, as services to watch in 2002, as enterprises look for highly automated operations based on customized enterprise policies.

The future also depends on those who may not promise the moon, but can at least deliver in full on what they say. "Solution providers who act as business advisers to clients will be hot in the coming year," Eisner's Tsontakis says. "Business process-improvement services, or software solutions that utilize detailed reviews for business improvement, are in higher demand." Other service demands that Tsontakis says to keep an eye out for in 2002: analytics, or information aggregation that provides executives with a virtual report card on how the business is doing.

While the e-business craze has ended, it shouldn't be a surprise that e-business services are still needed. Granted, mistakes were made in the earlier days when businesses were preoccupied by flash over function. Experts say the core concept of e-business is still strong. The smarter services offered take advantage of the Internet as a tool, not a toy.

"All of our partners and customers want to deliver services over the Web," says John Kogel, vice president of critical services management for Candle, a systems management/business integration company. "To be able to do that, we need to offer them critical services management of their entire e-business infrastructure,from the Web-application server to the browser and to the back-end systems and databases."

Applications that help to measure the rate of customer transactions, employee productivity, and the overall business effectiveness of application data will be important factors in evaluating customer service and customer relationships. Tools that facilitate a better understanding of how a business is performing to meet customer needs will be the most successful. As companies strive to do more with less, they will be increasingly focused on understanding how systems and application performance impact customers."

"The new economy is not a myth, and it's not dead," says Craig Miller, CTO of e-business for Dimension Data, a Reston, Va.-based networking, managed services and e-business company. "Internet protocols, the Internet itself and related new technologies are providing ubiquitous connectivity between individuals and applications within enterprises and across enterprises...The failures show that we're not smart enough to understand how the new can play with and supplement the old. Or perhaps we were intoxicated by the heady mix of wonderful, new technology and abundant capital," he says. "Those lessons have been learned. Now we look first at the way a business operates, and then at how our technology can make it operate better, faster and cheaper."

Amid uncertain global times, it all boils down to old-economy fundamentals. "Just two years ago, even turkeys could fly," Alvaka's Thordarson says. "There was just so much demand and so few suppliers. Now the landscape is starkly different. Information-technology owners cannot get a good ROI if their systems do not work right," he says. "Those of us who can quickly recognize the trends and swiftly adapt will be the ones to prosper the most, as we survive this industry shakeout and consolidation."