VARs of the Year Methodology

What constitutes best in class? Financial success? Technical aptitude? Business acumen? An unrivaled dedication to customer service?

Truth be told, all of the above. Those were the qualities VARBusiness decided to honor this year when it created the inaugural VARs of the Year competition.

This summer, VARBusiness invited VARs, integrators and IT solution providers to vie for recognition among six categories: Homegrown Technical Innovation; Sales Excellence/Demand Generation; Advanced Technology Deployment: Security; Advanced Technology Deployment: Mobility; Customer Return On Investment; and Business Ingenuity.

Nominations were accepted on the VARBusiness Web site from mid-September to mid-October. Overall, VARBusiness received more than 300 entries from more than 170 solution providers. The editorial staff reviewed all nominations, selected semifinalists, and then finalists for each category. Finalists were thoroughly reviewed and vetted before winners were chosen.

VARBusiness editors paid close attention to several aspects of solutions that VARs created for customers. To be eligible, VARs were required to answer a short series of questions for each of the categories they entered. For example, for the Homegrown Technical Innovation category, VARs were asked to:

• Describe an innovative solution your company has created.

• Where applicable, list the products, tools and/or technologies used to build this solution.

• Explain why the solution is innovative and/or unique.

• List the vertical markets or customer types this innovation solution is developed for or sold to.

VARBusiness e ditors also analyzed the data and looked for creative solutions that pushed products to their limits while still delivering reliable, reusable solutions for customers.

In the category of Sales Excellence/Demand Generation, VARBusiness asked applicants to detail the following information about their own companies:

• Describe a unique or differentiated way in which your company creates demand for its solutions.

• Explain how this approach and/or initiative improved your company's business.

• Describe the efforts your company has taken to improve its sales practices.

• Detail how your company is marketing its products and/or service offerings.

In this case, VARBusiness editors paid particularly close attention to the metrics VARs provided to describe how various initiatives propelled their organizations.

As for the Advanced Technology Deployment: Security category, VARBusiness probed solution providers about their most innovative and/or competitive security product or security service offered, what problem or need the solution addressed, and the types of products used to create the given solution.

In the Advanced Technology Deployment: Mobility category, VARBusiness asked similar questions about mobile and wireless solutions that broke new ground for customers.

In the Customer Return On Investment category, nominees were asked to provide a description of a customer solution that resulted in significant ROI for a client. They had to specify how the solution benefited a customer, how long it took for a customer to recoup its investment and if the solution is repeatable for additional customers.

Finally, in the Business Ingenuity category, VARBusiness asked partners to describe their most ingenious business strategy created in the past 12 months. They were also asked whether VARs could claim the ideas as their own, and if they could legally protect any intellectual property that resulted from the idea or strategy. VARs also were asked how the strategy impacted their businesses, which, at the end of the day, is really the only thing that sets the best in class apart from their peers.