Annual Report Card: Worst And Best

The VARBusiness Annual Report Card provides insight into the best and worst aspects of vendors' channel programs. Thousands of solution providers are polled; those names are provided by each vendor represented in our 18 categories. A minimum of 70 VARs must answer a single vendor's survey in order for that vendor to be included in the ARC. Solution providers rate vendors on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100 being the highest and 1 the lowest. That score is multiplied by a weighting factor that varies per criterion, and may result in a vendor receiving a score of more than 100.

The survey provides valuable information not only for the channel, but for manufacturers as well. While the top performers gain accolades, the worst performers gain information that they can use to turn this year's lemons into next year's lemonade. Following are the companies that earned the lowest -- and highest -- scores throughout the overall survey.

Acer earned the dubious distinction of having the lowest scores survey-wide in:

- Presales (49)

- Market support criteria (42)

- Services opportunity (41)

- Training (36)



Its 36 in Training was the lowest score in the entire survey, in any category or criterion. In Display Technology the PC maker scored dismally, finishing in last place in every criterion. In notebooks, it finished last in the category, pulling up last in every subcategory (Partnership, Support and Quality).

HP finished at the bottom of a number of criteria.



- Solution provider program, (46)

- Communication (48)

- Return on investment (52)

- Post-sales support (53)

- Revenue and Profit Potential (53)

- Technical Innovation (56)

- Richness of Product Features (61)





All were the lowest scores for those criterion in the entire survey, not solely in Workgroup Printers. HP's overall average in the category was, predictably, the worst in a field of six: At 54, it was 12 points lower than the category average.

The lowest score in the entire survey for Partner Portal was Oracle's 44.

Solution providers seem unimpressed with most vendors' performance in Partner Portal, however; the highest score for the criterion was EMC's 75.



Oracle tied for second with Microsoft in the Data and Management Software category; IBM came in first in this three-way race. Despite its disappointing placement in the Partner Portal criteria overall, within the Data and Management Software category it placed first in the product innovation subcategory.

Sun's 54 in Marketability was the worst in that criterion across all 18 categories.



The vendor also pulled many of the lowest scores within the Network Storage category, The average for Marketability in Network Storage was 68. Overall, the vendor finished in last place out of seven in Network Storage with a score of 59; the category average was 68.

Symantec earned lowest marks surveywide in the following criteria:



- Quality and Reliability (66) The company received the score in the Client Security SW category ; the average for that criterion in that category was an 88.

- Compatibility/Ease of Integration (60). Symantec got that mark in the Network Security Software category; the average for that criteria in that category was 73.

In all but two criteria, EMC finished at the top of the survey overall:



- Richness of Product Features / Functionality (96);

- Technical Innovation (95)

- Marketability (92)

- Services Opportunity (86)

- Pre- Sales Support (86)

- Post-Sales Support (88)

- Quality of Field Mgmt. (87)

- Marketing Support (78)

- Training (83)

- Partner Portal (75)

- Solution Provider Program (84)

- Communication (86)

- Managing Channel Conflict (86)

- Revenue and Profit Potential (98)

- Return on Investment (92)

- Ease of doing business (90)



EMC's overall number of 89 compared with last year's 70 in the Network Storage category was the largest jump within the entire survey from 2007 to 2008.



EMC also earned 105 for Quality, but lost first-place overall to Intel.

Quality and Reliability was the crown jewel for Intel. Intel scored tops in that criteria -- the score of 108 was the survey's highest this year. The chipmaker also came out on top in Compatibility/Ease of Integration, scoring 95.

The display maker turned in the second-best performance (105 tied with EMC and Panasonic) in Quality throughout the entire ARC survey.

Within the Display category, NEC barely lost to Samsung (edged out by one point). The vendor seemed to lose ground in the Partnership subcategory, particularly in Partner Portal and Communication.

All that dropping, spilling on and abusing PCs has paid off: Panasonic's ToughBook propelled the vendor to a three-way tie for second place in the Quality criterion. Panasonic, along with EMC and NEC earned the second highest scores (105) in quality among all the categories and vendors in the ARC.

This was the first year Panasonic was represented in the survey. Additionally, its VP of Channel Sales Sheila O'Neill was named a Channel Executive of the Year.

This newcomer to the Annual Report Card had a stellar finish in richness of product features/functionality, finishing only behind EMC. Kaspersky made its mark in the Client Security Software category, earning fourth place overall in the Product Innovation subcategory, and fifth in the Partnership subcategory.