Vendor University: Is It Getting Better?

For smaller VARs, that is certainly a big plus. "The online training tools, in terms of efficiency, have increased threefold. Whether it's Microsoft or VMware, they're all doing a pretty good job," said Ron Kramer, president of All Computer Solutions, a small-business solution provider in Portland, Maine. "The resources on the Web are just extraordinary."

NetApp University, which like most corporate training units operates on its own P&L, also increasingly is working with marketing and sales units in what Kelly called a "coalition model" to help those units create workshops, Webinars, boot camps and free online course content. "Right now, one of our metrics is success through empowerment of others," Kelly said. "Everybody is struggling with, 'I've got to do more with less because partners aren't going to pay for it.' "

Not everyone is equally happy with the state of training and certification. In infrastructure software, only 26 percent of solution providers said they received any form of free training, and satisfaction levels were low compared with those of solution providers in networking and systems areas.

"I think it's gotten better in the business applications world, but on the infrastructure side, it's still the same," said Alex Solomon, president of Net@Work, New York, which sells CRM and accounting solutions from Sage Software. Solomon praised Irvine, Calif.-based Sage for accommodating larger partners by not requiring all of his consultants to go through certification training, providing training rebates and delivering new programs in sales and consulting training.

"On the infrastructure side, it's very difficult," he added. "Everybody wants you to get authorized on their products."

Training also remains a concern among security specialists. While 37 percent of solution providers in the security area received some form of free training, they also reported the longest return on investment in training and below-average satisfaction in the amount of training subsidies they received.

"You're seeing a rising need for more and more certifications. What's also happening with the bigger ones is you think you have it down and they keep changing things and you have to do more," said Pat Grillo, president and CEO of Atrion Communications Resources, a security specialist in Somerville, N.J. "That's when you question what you're doing."

By bigger ones, think Cisco Systems. According to Grillo, Cisco alone could keep his guys in class full-time. One upshot for Atrion is that it may start focusing on fewer vendors. As Cisco's security product line matures, Atrion is liable to drop vendors with overlapping point products. "You have no choice," Grillo said. "You can't have our guys going to school everywhere."

For major vendors, that's not a problem. They are using training and certification programs as a way to cement partner loyalty and improve attach rates, solution providers said. Distributors also are getting into the act. Atrion, which buys most of his Cisco gear through Ingram Micro, was recently approached by Tech Data with an offer to receive free Cisco training credits in exchange for buying products through Tech Data. "That's fairly new," Grillo said. "I think you'll see more of that going forward."

While Cisco perhaps has sparked more angst than any other vendor recently for changing its certification requirements as it adds product lines and pushes partners into specialty areas, it also has won widespread applause for the quality of its training and the benefits it delivers.

An analysis of CRN's annual Channel Champions partner satisfaction survey shows that Cisco consistently earned the highest satisfaction ratings for training in networking categories, an area where solution providers also indicated they were most likely to receive vendor-subsidized training.

The survey results pointed to other channel training leaders as well. Microsoft's satisfaction ratings for training in business software suites was the highest in the survey. IBM took high marks in storage among the major vendors, while Sun Microsystems showed strength in the systems categories.

In the stories that follow, CRN takes a closer look at the training issues in each of these categories and at programs from the training leaders.

John Longwell