VARs Debate Impact Of Financial Bailout

ChannelWeb asked solution providers attending Synnex's 2008 Partner Conference in Charlotte, N.C., if they thought the federal bailout of the financial markets sector will impact their own fourth quarter outlook. Will the bailout help keep IT spending projects on the calendar, or is the economy in such bad shape that budget or credit issues may delay expenditures in any case?

"We've got a robust pipeline. Our services business is up 30 percent to 50 percent. My analogy is that it's an economic earthquake. You're expecting a tsunami, but it's not here yet and you don't know what is going to happen. We're in a $1 trillion industry and we're such a micro part of that. My biggest fear is credit. If we start to get cash flow problems from customers, that's really hard."

"Bailout? If it can shore up the economy like they expect it can, I think it will help. But I don't think it will have any real effect on us because most of my customers are big companies and they don't have foreclosed homes and have money in the bank."

"In the first quarter this year, there was other bad economic news and people stopped spending their money for a couple of months. But in the second and third quarters they realized that it wasn't as bad and it all averaged out. I imagine the same is happening now. People will take a wait-and-see approach. But if the business is going to continue, they need to spend some money just to maintain. I'm not worried and I think by the beginning of the year, it'll be back [to normal]."

"Our guys need financing before they can buy from us. In the short term, for three to six months, I think we'll feel a lot of pain. The only thing we can do is try to extend more terms to our customers. We've got some cash and we can try to spread their payments out a bit. We'll do everything we need to take care of and hang on to customers. "

"No concerns. None whatsoever. The budgets are set. The money is allocated. I don't think it will have any impact. We are big in health care, retail, and the money is already allocated. Financing is not an issue. We have outstanding credit."

"I'm cautiously optimisitic. We're big into managed services so what we say is when the economy is bad, managed services is hot. And when the economy is good, managed services is hot. We're about making businesses more efficient, which should be an easy sale now, but I wish I had a crystal ball."

"I hope so because the majority of my customers lease and the only way they might get approved is for the bailout to go through."

"Most of my business is government related. I'm afraid government funding will be pulled if the bailout doesn't happen. If that's the case, We'll definitely be in trouble."

"Yeah, I do [think it will impact us]. Short term will be a positive but long term will still be a negative because of the debt. If it doesn't go through, it'll be even worse."

"Financially, I think the effect will be on the fourth quarter. I'm lucky I have a major account that is good. Our business is steady so it hasn't affected me. Our credit line is good. I'm sure most businesses will be affected but I feel lucky."