Is Your Business 'Asleep At The Wheel?'

Some solution provider executives say the difference between the haves and the have-nots in the business has less to do with President Obama and more to do with delivering high-impact solutions in quick engagements with superior ROI .

Research from Everything Channel's Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED) shows that as there is a rise in the number of solution providers rated as "in trouble," there is also an increase in the number of solution providers rated "best in class." (IPED defines "best-in-class" solution providers as those expecting to grow their business from 20 percent to 30 percent.) IPED says that the number of partners rated "best in class" jumped to 17.4 percent in 2010 from 14.4 percent in 2009.

Len Couture, managing director of Bluewolf, a New York solution provider specializing in cloud computing, said the company is experiencing robust growth as a result of its focus on "agile business transformation." Its Bluewolf Beyond service is "white-hot," Couture said, because of the dramatic payback customers are seeing. One Bluewolf client, for example, saved hundreds of thousands of dollars for a six-week engagement that saved mobile workers from being deployed to sites where the company did not have coverage.

As "best-in-class" solution providers are on the rise, there are also thousands of new solution providers cropping up in the wake of failed businesses or layoffs.

"Corporations have laid off a lot of good talent," said Michael Healey, president of Yeoman Technology Group, Portsmouth, N.H. "If you are a managed service provider, you can expand your managed services. If you are just selling IT solutions, you can expand your solutions business."

The technology choices now facing businesses are greater due to the advent of cloud computing and virtualization technologies, Healey said. "There are more options now so if you are moving up that stack, there are more opportunities," he said. "The technology that a business uses has evolved. The solution provider market has to evolve with it." Healey says Yeoman focuses on taking technology out of the equation and on business process changes that can dramatically improve a business' prospects. Many firms, he said, are "asleep at the wheel" with regard to how the Internet has changed business. Yeoman, for example, taught one company how to place online bids in a highly specialized supply chain. That customer is now a finalist on a $9 million deal. "For me it's not about technology," said Healey. "The bigger question is: How do you change your business?"

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