3Com: Onus Is On Us To Regain Partner Confidence

Kobuszewski said before the recent changes, he'd been in discussions with 3Com about becoming a national partner, but noted that it requires more dedicated technical resources to achieve that. Overall, Kobuszewski said he feels CXtec and 3Com are both at a rebuilding point. He said over the years his 3Com relationship became strong, but now he feels 3Com's direction may inhibit his ability to scale CXtec's business as much as possible.

Kobuszewski's biggest worry is that 3Com is hanging its largest partners, like CXtec, which is a Gold Partner, out to dry. "Prior to this, we were finally making strides," he said. "We were going in a really great direction. Now we're back to, 'You guys are just a VAR Period.'"

Regardless, Kobuszewski said CXtec's 3Com business remains strong. He said his overall 3Com sales have been increasing marginally, with VoIP solutions like the VCX and NBX going up and switching business remaining consistent.

Despite growth, Kobuszewski said he's looking into alternative vendors as a possible backup plan, but it's tricky because of the significant investment his company has in supporting older 3Com gear, like CoreBuilder. And customers are relying on that support.

3Com's Dechant, however, said 3Com is working to right its wrongs. He said John Bazzone, 3Com's vice president of North American Channel sales, is traveling and meeting with partners, trying to put a face on the partner program and hear concerns in person, directly from them. Bazzone has taken over Tidd's channel chief role in North America.

"At a very high level, what we are trying to do is get back to the basics," Dechant said. That plan involves putting more investment into the channel and putting stronger solutions into the market. The goal, he said, is to make both 3Com and its partners more effective. He said channel partners, for their part, must become less transactional and more solution-oriented.

Jeffrey Schmidt, president of SOTA Technologies, a Coshocton, Ohio-based solution provider, agreed that saleswise, 3Com has been a strong partner. He added that so far, SOTA hasn't seen much impact from 3Com's missteps, but noted it still "could go either way." Schmidt said SOTA's 3Com business has been growing steadily over the past few years. He said 3Com's IP telephony solutions, like the VCX systems, have been selling briskly. For now, he said, he's going to keep things "business as usual."

"As long as our customers are happy, we're happy," he said, later adding "We're always aware of the risk points, and we're always aware that we need to plan ahead in case something happens."

But Kobuszewski said he wonders how to plan ahead, when even 3Com doesn't appear to know which direction things are going. "I'm a betting man and I wouldn't even try to predict that one," he said. Schmidt added: "3Com itself I don't think knows what's going to happen."

Gulling agreed. He said he's had the nagging feeling that 3Com is going in the wrong direction, a pang he's felt for years and has started to come to a head more recently. He's hopeful that Tidd's departure will remove some of the "flawed strategy" of 3Com's partner programs. "I think his approach to the channel was the wrong approach," he said.

Next: Partner Communications Becomes Key