Elliot Markowitz

Boy, what a difference a year makes. Make that six months, rather. It wasnt that long ago—the end of last summer, as a matter of fact—that I was harshly criticizing Hewlett-Packard for strong-arm tactics when dealing with its channel partners and giving them what appeared at the time to be ultimatums regarding committing more business […]

I know I have been guilty of this in the past: dividing the technology universe into three oversimplified buckets of vendors, channel partners and end-user customers. I never identify an end-user organization—the ultimate stop on the technology bus—as just a customer because in my mind, the channel of VARs, integrators, VADs and solution providers are […]

I know I have been guilty of this in the past: dividing the technology universe into three oversimplified buckets of vendors, channel partners and end-user customers. I never identify an end-user organization, the ultimate stop on the technology bus, as just a customer because to me, the channel of VARs, integrators, VADs and solution providers, […]

The company that has been giving the resellers, VARs and every PC manufacturing company fits and starts for the last 20 years appears to have a chink in its armor after all. Dell has made a living out of being more of a box pusher and highly efficient distribution machine than a cutting-edge technology company. […]

Sometimes even editors need confirmation. Every once in a while I have an initial harsh opinion, or a positive one, on a vendors channel strategy and I always try to run my thoughts by a handful of trusted VARs to keep myself in check. Such was the case when I first heard about Googles grand […]

Hewlett-Packard is touting its planned acquisition of Peregrine Systems as a major step forward in its overall business software evolution strategy, which will strengthen its OpenView offering and add configuration management database technology to its arsenal. If HP executives really keep their eye on the ball, however, one of the most important components of this […]

CRM sales in the SMB market are exploding. This is good news for VARs. Enterprise-level CRM vendors, as well as pure plays in the midmarket, are slugging it out for a slice of this pie with various versions of their customer relationship management suites, making their application offerings more affordable and more easily customizable. Combined […]

For small and midsize businesses, everything comes down to productivity, efficiency and the bottom line. This specifically rings true for technology adoption. SMBs are the backbone of todays economy. Through technology innovation and advancements, these businesses have been able to break down some of the invisible lines between themselves and Fortune-level corporations. They appear bigger […]

I am a big believer in companies having unified messages to their channel partners and end-user customers alike. Mixed signals from different parts of an organization breed contempt and confusion. And all good intentions can wash straight down the sewer if a company is sending different messages to its VAR base. This, in my view, […]

Computer Associates has launched a channel plan—in the midst of a company reorganization—that will effectively give CAs direct-sales force preferred access to more than 12,000 corporate accounts. Im here to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly parts of this strategy. And, believe me, there is plenty of all three to go around. […]