Not so in this interconnected IT universe where everything impacts everything else. These days your expertise in IP telephony, for example, not only requires that you understand how to integrate voice with other forms of data communication, like messaging and live meetings, but also necessitates knowledge of network security and application integration.

I was talking with a VAR about this very topic the other day. The level of sophistication involved in today's solutions and how one product's implementation greatly impacts all others has meant big change in his business. For years a phone system specialist, this VAR now wades in the world of unified communications, where the phone system is just one spoke on a wheel that consists of myriad other applications.

To evolve with the times, this particular VAR hired dozens of data engineers to deal with the convergence tsunami. He has also encountering elongated sales cycles brought on because solutions are more complex and require presales technical assessments upfront.

Which brings me to how he's altered his business: He's charging for presales work, including things like performing a full network and security assessment before putting an IP telephony system in. And if the customer balks ("Oh, don't worry, our network is just fine"), he makes them sign a waiver. If the phone system degrades in performance due to bandwidth issues on their network, for instance, it's not his problem if they don't let him assess things first.

The positive in all this? Sophisticated, multidiscipline solutions give you a chance to provide real value-add and also gets you on the coveted consulting and services bandwagon.

How has the interconnectedness -- and interdependency -- of IT impacted your business? Write to me at capril@cmp.com.