Solution Providers Defend The Channel Against Allegations of 'Moving Too Slowly' At Women Of The Channel

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In today’s IT market of rapidly changing technology and business, the last thing anyone wants to be called is slow. But at this week’s Women of the Channel event in New York, Tiffani Bova -- distinguished analyst and vice president of market research firm Gartner -- said vendors she talks to ’feel that the channel’s not moving fast enough.’ A panel of solution providers quickly responded.

’We’re moving as fast as our customers need us to move, OK?’ said Felise Katz, CEO of Suffern, N.Y.-based PKA Technologies. ’That’s really it. That’s why we’re in business. We’re in business to service the end user, and we have a lot of problems sometimes with the OEMs.’

Other solution providers agreed that OEMs were often responsible for slowing down efficiency. Co-founder and CEO Julie Haley of Framingham, Mass.-based Edge Solutions said ’waiting for that quote’ is a stressful slowdown of operations.

’I’ve got gray hair to show it,’ she said.

’It’s a challenge,’ Katz agreed.

’[On] 4:30 Friday, we need the quote, and we have Fortune 500 clients. Whether we’re a small business or a large business, this is a very important client that needs an answer,’ said Susie Galyardt, founder and CEO of Las Vegas-based XIOSS.

’As business owners, we do live this 24/7 -- it’s our passion,’ she added.

PUBLISHED DEC. 4, 2015