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Keith Norbie, vice president of sales at Nexus Information Systems, a Minnetonka, Minn.-based solution provider and EMC partner, said focusing on competencies is a great way for EMC to get its solution providers to differentiate themselves.
Vendors have partners like CDW and others who focus on phone sales, but customers need more than phone calls, Norbie said.
"Customers need expertise behind the sale," he said. "The sales volume will follow. Specializations will give local VARs a better ability to compete on their own against the CDWs, or against national VARs or VADs (value-added distributors)."
However, Norbie said, he was surprised that EMC's new specializations cover such a broad range of products. For instance, he said, Nexus does great business with Data Domain, but not with NetWorker, which he called a very complex product.
"My revenue from Data Domain products is larger than from my core EMC business," he said. "If you are going to force us away from Data Domain because of the other products, well, shame on you."
Next: What About Competencies?
