Government VARs Shout Out For Vendor Support

The 2007 GovernmentVAR Partner Programs Guide highlights which vendors support the public-sector channel through services, training and price advantages. The degree of support ranges. Some vendors offer federal-government programs only. Others offer programs for state/local government and education (SLED). Some have dedicated channel chiefs; some have none of the above. For many VARs, that's not good enough.

"When you try to explain how the government market works to [a vendor] used to the commercial space, and how the government price has to not only be lower than anything they offer but also stay locked in for months longer to accommodate sales cycles, their eyes roll," says Augustine Riolo, COO of Virginia Beach, Va.-based Knowledge Information Solutions. He gives kudos to Xerox and Panasonic for their partner programs. "It takes a breed of people that have spent a few years in the public sector to understand and anticipate what the requirements are from [partners] or the government itself."

Of the vendors included in this year's GovernmentVAR Partner Programs Guide, only 19 have dedicated government or public-sector channel managers, and only one--Symantec--has separate channel chiefs for federal and SLED; fewer than 30 claim to have separate channel programs for government or education, 18 specifically for the federal channel, 14 for the state and local government channel, and 14 for the education channel.

A top-rate partner program goes beyond branding. Certainly, the best public-sector partner programs infuse many of the characteristics of their commercial counterparts, including lead generation, presales and postsales support, technical training, marketing dollars and channel-conflict management. Beyond that, the vendors that earned 5-star ratings for their partner programs--30 in all--have support services and dedicated resources in place to help partners combat the long sales cycles, standards of open competition and complex procurement processes that epitomize the public sector.

"All of the companies that provide solutions to government customers are challenged by a very complex environment," says Bill Bockoven, director of government and education sales at APC. "Understanding government contracting issues, large government programs and multiple points of influence can be very difficult if you don't have years of experience in this market."

NEXT: What truly differentiates the best vendor programs.

The best vendor programs are differentiated by such benefits as special rebates to bolster margin, deal registration to reward those that track opportunities and price protection to ensure support throughout the duration of a contract. Furthermore, while many vendors hold a GSA Schedule, those that let resellers act as agents on their behalf provide the extra bit of flexibility that can win contracts. Vendors that ensure their product portfolios are compliant with the federal Trade Agreement Act equip partners to better meet government requirements, and those that offer peer-to-peer networking services drive opportunities for small-business partners that can fill set-aside provisions included with contracts. These characteristics are what set apart public-sector programs from commercial ones.

In contrast, vendors that don't dedicate bandwidth to the public-sector channel handicap partners and, ultimately, restrict their own indirect public-sector sales revenue. Bob Laclede, vice president and general manager of Ingram Micro's government and education business, points to the IT commodity purchasing vehicle FirstSource as a typical example of how VARs need vendor support and understanding; the Department of Homeland Security just recently awarded contracts, after accepting bids more than a year ago.

"[Solution providers] needed vendors to lock in special pricing to avoid changes when the quarterly review came around," Laclede says. "Saying 'Vendor XYZ didn't renew pricing' doesn't sit well with the government contracting officer."

Laclede points to Motorola's Bill Hartwell and Apple's Ron Police as individuals that understand the finer points of the public-sector market, and Symantec as a vendor that understands the advantage of dedicated resources. Microsoft and Cisco Systems also earn positive reviews for their federal programs.

Of course, many vendors augment their services through distribution. That strategy works when the vendor wants to expand the number of resellers that can take advantage of an already solid program. Panasonic, for example, began offering its Toughbook portfolio to federal solution providers through Synnex and Tech Data last year, having previously used GTSI only.

But distribution can't act as a substitute for internal vendor resources. Laclede works with only about 300 vendors for Ingram Micro's government and education resellers, despite the 1,500-plus that the distributor counts as partners. "I work with vendors because I have the necessary people and programs in place, and they understand the government and education markets," he says. "When a vendor can't offer that, it scares me."

NEXT: Which 5-star vendors do and don't provide their public-sector partners with point people.