VARBusiness 500 Preview: Customers Want ROI Solutions

In the face of a lackluster economy, VARs' clients are clamoring for way to do more with less. Budgets are shrinking as customers hedge their bets in an uncertain economy. VARs are finding that providing IT solutions that address projects with discernable return on investment are most popular with potential customers. Discretionary spending, for the time being, is on hold. Real, tangible solutions to in-your-face problems are what's selling today.

In fact, at Everything Channel's Midsize Enterprise Summit in Orlando, Fla., last week, a Gartner analyst said that companies need to change their IT philosophy and modernize their technology infrastructure, even if that change requires a significant change in corporate thinking. That's the kind of thought that has the top executives of the VARBusiness 500 solution providers smiling.

To bring perspective to those economic issues will be Todd Buchholz, economist and author of numerous books used in universities such as Harvard, Brigham Young and Princeton. Buchholz is a contributing editor at Worth magazine, where he writes the “Global Markets” column, and he has written articles for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and Reader’s Digest. The extent to which the current market will continue to correct itself could have an impact on the event's attendees, whose companies enjoyed an annual average growth rate of more than 20 percent.

Top solution providers are often interested in benchmarking their own companies against others. For example, as energy costs continue to skyrocket, many VARs are finding that environmentally friendly technology is becoming increasingly popular with their customers as a means of cutting utility bills. The event's agenda will offer a couple of sessions devoted to the topic of green alternatives.

Another hot topic among solution providers is the difficulty in finding qualified employees. At the Orlando conference, Gartner's Dale Vecchio, research vice president, said that 70 percent of the IT work force across federal government agencies are scheduled to retire in the next three years and 60 percent of IT workers at the state government level are on the same retirement schedule. The private sector faces similar challenges. A Think Tank discussion will focus on how companies are facing those dire predictions.

Once the workforce is hired, successful businesses know motivating employees is crucial. Offering ideas and inspiration at the dinner at Gotham Hallwill be keynoter Rick Pitino, head coach of the University of Louisville men's basketball team. Pitino, known for getting his players to believe in themselves, has a knack for instilling the desire to succeed and driving his players to overachieve. He has compiled a 470-172 record, a 732 percent winning percentage that ranks him 12th among active coaches and 30th all-time as he entered the 2006-07 season. An award presentation will follow the keynote.

The conference, which is sponsored by Everything Channel, honors the top 500 revenue producing solution providers with a headquarters in North America. The selection of the VARBusiness 500 companies was the result of an exhaustive research project, in which nearly 1,000 companies were vetted during the selection process. The list of 500 will be made public later this month.