Trailblazers of Success

ASAP Software is in the business of helping its customers identify their IT needs, building infrastructure and application plans, and implementing solutions. Sounds pretty straightforward, right? At the height of the dot-com bubble, ASAP found that its customers were missing critical pieces of information for understanding their IT needs and making intelligent purchasing decisions.

What ASAP's customers needed was an automated IT asset-management system, an application that would track all of their IT software deployments, utilization rates, version control and licensing. Rather than cobbling together a bunch of disparate pieces of available COTS applications, ASAP set about the task of creating a system from scratch. The result is the eSMART, a powerful suite that provides CIOs with the information they need for managing their infrastructures. Coincidentally, eSMART makes the job of ASAP's sales force easier by providing more information about IT needs, which reduces sales cycles.

ASAP's story is just one of dozens that VARBusiness reviewed for the second annual VARs of the Year awards, which reflects the dynamics of the channel, the ingenuity of solution providers and the innovations--technical and business--that VARs are pioneering to grow and succeed.

This year, VARBusiness revamped its VARs of the Year project to recognize the best of the best in eight categories: Business Ingenuity, Partnership, Sales & Marketing Excellence, Services Delivery, Value To Customer, New Ventures, Custom Systems and Solution Innovation.

These solution providers exemplify what channel success and business innovation mean. These are trailblazers; they push the bounds of what they're capable of and find success where others see only obstacles and dead ends.

ASAP is recognized for Solution Innovation; yes, others have built IT asset-management systems, but this VAR is unique in undertaking the development and maintenance of a complex application where vendor-built software already exists.

Agilysys Enterprise Solutions Group, a division of the distributor Agilysys, earned high marks for Services Delivery, given the success that it's had in delivering IT services and support to key vertical markets--retailers, hotels and casinos. Many VARs leverage their vertical experience, but Agilysys stood out because it serves as an example of applying industry expertise to IT delivery.

Technologent--a company known for data-center infrastructure, storage, Web services, identity management, and desktop and mobile solutions--won VAR of the Year in New Ventures for taking a risk and building a practice that supports only telecom customers. The company built upon its existing expertise to create a new business that serves the unique needs of telco customers. The new business is projected to generate more than $20 million in 2007.

Choosing the VARs of the Year was no easy matter. We received more than 200 nominations, and each category was hotly contested. The editors pored over the applications and scrutinized every detail. Just getting the lists down from dozens of success stories to a handful of semifinalists was a challenge. There were so many companies worth mentioning. For instance, BCSI Mobile Productivity Solutions of Beaverton, Ore., is building an asset-management system that will help the Navy track equipment sent for repairs and refurbishment. Baltimore-based Barcoding integrated a Geiger counter with Bluetooth-enabled handheld devices, creating a solution for first-responders of nuclear accidents and attacks. And CC Communications of Charlotte, N.C., worked with the Wachovia Championship, one of the premier PGA Tour events, to create a user-friendly volunteer-management system that made assignment more efficient and improved volunteers' experiences; the result was a higher volunteer-retention rate.

Success is a matter of choice. Solution providers that make the choice to take risks, innovate with technology and delivery models, and strike out with new ventures will often find the success they seek. The VARBusiness VARs of the Year and all of the nominees show the riches that come from those willing to step forward.