Ups And Downs: The Two-Decade Journey Of An Apple Partner

iCorps Technologies President and CEO Mike Hadley remembers the days when Apple made up all of his business.

Boston-based iCorps Technologies has been an Apple partner for 21 years. Yet over the past five years revenue from Apple products and services has shrunk from 100 percent to less than 10 percent of its overall business, according to Hadley.

"I think Apple makes good products, and they could be integrated into businesses very well, but they need to embrace the channel," he said.

[Related: Bad Apple: An Inside look At The Rotting Relationship Between Apple And Its Partners]

Increased pressure from Apple retail stores and the vendor's changing partner program strategy impacted iCorps' business so dramatically that

Hadley said he knew he had to make a shift.

Subsequently, he said, iCorps started partnering with other vendors, particularly Microsoft, Dell and VMware. The company is now a Microsoft Gold partner and has been certified to resell Microsoft Surface Pro tablets.

iCorps Technologies, which was named Microsoft's 2015 Northeast SMB Influencer of the Year, provides support for SMBs in Boston, New York and Philadelphia.

Hadley said he thinks Apple products have the potential to gain traction in the enterprise market, but Apple needs to step up to the plate and take advantage of its channel partners.

"I'd love to see Apple embrace the channel and move more into a model on the business side that's driven by the channel … we can help them a lot," said Hadley. "Other vendors like Dell are making that move to invest heavily in the channel, and I'd like to see Apple join that and really embrace its resellers."

PUBLISHED OCT. 12, 2015