Independent VAR Council Seeks Recognition By HP

The effort, led by about a half-dozen regional HP VARs with a strong Digital Equipment heritage and collective annual revenue of close to $500 million, stems from a frustration that their business issues and concerns aren't being addressed in current HP VAR council meetings. Specifically, the group says, HP appoints enterprise VAR council members and tilts the membership toward larger, national players.

"[HP's VAR] councils are good, but in reality, they are one-size-fits-all," said Don Richie, president of Sequel Data Systems, an Austin, Texas-based solution provider involved in the independent council effort.

"Companies that come from the Digital heritage are different than ones that come from the HP or Compaq heritage. We're typically very value-added and do a lot of services," he said. "Our needs get overshadowed by guys that are strictly commodity players."

Compaq acquired Digital Equipment in 1998.

Solution providers stress the effort is in its infancy.

"We are scattered all over the country, and it's very hard to organize this," said one solution provider, who requested anonymity. "We are trying to find people who still have a passion for the [HP] product."

The solution providers said they hope to be recognized by and work with HP, so that the VARs and the vendor can mutually benefit from the council's input.

An HP spokesman said the company has not been approached by the solution providers and declined further comment.

Another solution provider acknowledged that the grassroots effort is driven by a sense of urgency because HP is set to reorganize its enterprise and commercial channels into a single channel organization by May 1. The VARs seeking to organize the independent council fear that this move could further dilute their voices within HP.

"When you're a regional VAR, you're not viewed the same as a national VAR," the solution provider said. "On top of that, [HP is] now going to combine their volume and their value channels into one organization. We have always had very different businesses."

According to some solution providers, the current HP-sponsored VAR council is a means for the vendor to present its agenda to solution providers rather than to address channel conflict issues.

"The way the typical VAR council meeting goes is that HP presents its agenda and then gets our feedback," said another solution provider involved in the independent VAR council effort, who requested anonymity. "They don't start out by asking us what we think are the hottest issues in the field. Our issues may or may not get addressed."

Specifically, the reseller pointed to circumstances in recent months when HP has strayed into and taken direct Tier Two enterprise and SMB accounts that are supposed to be reserved for the channel.

By presenting a collective voice to HP, the regional solution providers say they were able to quickly resolve some of those issues.

"When we ran into a problem, we spoke with a collective voice, and HP listened and did the right thing," Richie said.

In the past, he said that when VARs raised issues with HP individually, it was more difficult to resolve problems.