VAR500: Accenture On BPO Potential; CDW Examines Government IT

VAR500 Solution Providers In the News

This week, VAR500 solution providers, North America's largest IT solution providers by revenue, made headlines, one by refreshing products, one by introducing new cloud solutions and one for earning a vendor's channel partner of the year award. See what Accenture, CDW, Dimension Data, Unisys and Logicalis cooked up in the past few days.

Accenture Report: BPO Benefits Still Elusive

The major benefits of business process outsourcing have not yet been realized, according to a study released this week from Accenture. Only 20 percent of respondents are considered BPO high-performers, those that have succeeded in obtaining greater business value from their BPO relationships than their peers. The research found eight common traits among BPO high-performers, including focusing on benefits that extend beyond cost reduction and taking a holistic approach to managing the scope of the BPO relationship.

CDW Study: Government Benefits From Server Virtualization

Nearly 80 percent of state and local governments' IT departments have found ways to save money in the past two years, according to CDW Government's "The Efficient Agency Report." For example, the report found that state revenue in fiscal 2012 was well below levels in prerecession 2008 -- by nearly $20.8 billion. Respondents that used the specific technologies of server virtualization, document management, storage virtualization and cloud computing saw a return on investment ranging from 134 percent to 269 percent. If implemented in the above order, agencies could use the savings generated by server virtualization to fund almost all of the remaining three solutions.

Adobe Gives CDW Kudos

CDW was named Adobe's 2011 Channel Partner of the Year. The vendor gave the solution provider the award at Adobe's annual sales conference in Las Vegas. It is the first time Adobe has named a Channel Partner of the Year; CDW was recognized for being a top-performing partner and for supporting and helping to increase Adobe's business.

Dimension Data Expands Cloud Services

Dimension Data's newest technology suite is a three-pronged approach aimed at helping customers accelerate cloud computing adoption. Dimension Data's Cloud Services streamline the planning, design, deployment and management of private, public and hybrid clouds. In addition, the solution provider introduced its Managed Cloud Platform, a global delivery platform for all its cloud services, as well as Dimension Data CloudControl, a cloud management system that automates provisioning, orchestration, administration and billing.

Unisys Solution Aimed At App Modernization

Unisys unveiled new services this week that aim to assist customers in reducing the challenges involved in app modernization projects. The new solution complements Unisys' subscription-based Application Modernization Platform as a Service (AMPS) SOA Core offering, and is called AMPS COE (Center Of Excellence). The services initially were launched to the U.S. federal market last year and are now also available to commercial and public sector organizations globally.

According to Unisys, the offering features a prebuilt software platform that lets companies jump-start their application modernization plans without the need for up-front software licensing, hardware and systems integration investments.

Logicals Earns Cisco Gold Star

Logicalis again achieved a Customer Satisfaction Excellence Gold Star from Cisco. The award distinguishes Logicalis as an IT solution provider that delivers outstanding customer service to U.S. customers. Logicalis has received the Gold Star a number of times during the past five years, rewarded for its depth of product knowledge and its skilled customer service.