Partnerships That Pay Off

VARs often steer clear of providing software licensing to their customers because of complexity, low margins and the trend away from product sales and toward services. In the past, to provide the proper licensing to customers, VARs had to partner with a Large Account Reseller (LAR), which often competes with them in some business segments.

Now there are LAR-VAR partnership programs available under which both the VAR and the customer benefit. As the customer's trusted adviser, a VAR can leverage that relationship to help the customer obtain the licensing necessary to implement an overall solution and often increase the VAR's services revenue at the same time.

Here are some tips for selecting the right LAR partner:

• Choose a LAR that offers a well-established partner program, outlining in writing the benefits the VAR receives, the tasks for which the LAR is responsible and the VAR's fees.
• The LAR should be committed to doing what's best for the VAR and the customer to assure customer retention and ongoing service opportunities.
• Consult with the LAR on every opportunity. Even a small company can qualify for volume licensing savings, leaving the customer with more funds to pay the VAR.
• Involve the LAR as early as possible in the engagement. This will enable the LAR to investigate additional revenue opportunities based on the customer's overall needs.
• Be sure the LAR understands the customer's business needs so that it can make a valid license-program recommendation.
• Expect the LAR to evaluate several licensing options and present a detailed recommendation to the customer backed with viable reasons and ROI justification.
• The right LAR will remove the pain of license tracking for both the VAR and the customer through proactive account management for current licensing, renewals, upgrades, promotions and new product offerings, creating higher customer satisfaction, retention and future business opportunities.
• The LAR should understand and be able to explain the benefits of Software Assurance as it relates to the customer's business efficiency and employee benefits, as well as encourage benefit activation.
• Engage a LAR that can accurately and consistently report your company's sales influence on licensing revenue to the publishers.
• Mike Quinn is the president of New Berlin, Wis.-based Software ONE.