Renewed Optimism Over Revenue

What technologies will perform well? Based on our research, those expected to progress in 2004 include wireless and mobile devices (77 percent), networking printer servers (77 percent), antivirus and firewalls (76 percent, respectively) and LCDs (73 percent). Additionally, a considerable majority of VARs (more than 60 percent) expect to sell VPNs, ERP, IP telephony, e-mail access and RAID as part of their 2004 solutions. What's more, fully half of the surveyed solution providers in VARBusiness' research expect their Microsoft business to grow in 2004, and approximately two-thirds (63 percent) are increasing their focus on new and/or emerging technologies. With all that growth, you can bet on one thing: Someone soon is going to start head-hunting your staff. After all, that's the price of a recovering economy. In fact, more than one-third of the solution providers polled say they will hire more staff this year.