True Channel Savvy Takes Years To Learn

It may not make for great headlines and juicy drama, but there is little doubt that the channel is hot again, and the vendor community is focused on leveraging its advantages.

ROBERT FALETRA Can be reached at (781) 839-1202 or via e-mail at rfaletra@cmp.com.

I admit I like the drama that comes along with the channel. I've spent more than 20 years determining which vendors were really channel-oriented and which were merely channel-opportunistic.

The 1980s and early 1990s were all about building strong channels, but many vendors spent the years from 1998 through 2005 trying to figure out a way around solution providers.

But that debate is over. I believe we are now in an extended period during which the economics and desire to drive worldwide market expansion make the channel the best route and most cost-effective method to achieve this. Heck, all you have to do is look at all the hobbyists who are suddenly hanging out a shingle and calling themselves a channel consultant or a channel media company or a channel research house or a channel blah blah blah. Most of them know very little about what they claim to know. A few of them have even bounced in and out of this organization (with a little help from me) because they just didn't get it. But I can assure you there are some very smart, dedicated, channel-focused people inside the vendor community determined to make something good happen for you and, in turn, their own company.

Hewlett-Packard's Jim McDonnell, who heads worldwide channels, is a great example. He has been involved in the channel for as long as I can remember and just may be its best-kept secret, especially considering he works for the largest high-tech company in the world. He's connected inside and outside his own company. He listens and he reacts to the right things. He also knows when to call bull$%^#.

There are others in positions of channel power that you don't hear much about but who are committed and pushing the envelope. Karen Sigman at Hitachi Data Systems is one behind-the-scenes executive who is more about execution than spotlight. She is quietly building a stronger and larger channel than her competitors at EMC and elsewhere. Frank Vitagliano, who leads worldwide sales at Juniper and has been all but invisible since he left IBM, is hunkering down and quietly building a solid team and worldwide channel sales strategy.

There is more quality work going on right now around indirect channels than I have seen in more than 10 years. I'd like to think the CMP Channel Group is helping this along. There are some very good minds at work across the channel and vendor community. I'm a big believer in hitching your wagon to the smart, dedicated, knowledgeable ones—not the hobbyists who are hanging their shingle until the bad weather blows in and they run along to the next trend.

Which Channel strategies do you find particularly effective?
Make something happen by e-mailing CMP Channel Group President Robert Faletra at rfaletra@cmp.com.