The Tide Is Rising. Is Your VAR Swimming Or Sinking?

“A rising tide lifts all boats” is a saying associated with President Kennedy. His point was that an improving economy helps everyone across all strata of wealth.

As we’ve been speaking with clients over the last few months, that saying is taking on new meaning. The US economy has grown over the last year, and this growth has benefitted companies across many sectors. With unemployment down, companies are having a more difficult time filling openings, and competition overqualified applicants is increasing.

The B2B service industry is no different. As client businesses expand, the companies that serve them are struggling to hire qualified, experienced people to keep up with demand.

So, what are we seeing at SYTE? We have a lot of experience helping companies select and implement enterprise software—especially ERP systems—and we’re getting feedback from our clients and partners that many software providers and Value-Added Resellers (or VARs) are struggling to meet their needs. What’s happening?

The VAR Experience Teeter-Totter

Business expansion can prompt hiring more people, and optimizing or upgrading business processes and technology. If an upgrade is needed, a software provider or VAR is typically necessary to support the effort.

The VAR, just like the businesses it serves, is growing as well; hiring new people and upgrading their own processes and systems. This is where things get sticky because it is very rare that a VAR can hire someone who has both industry experience in a particular vertical—food and beverage manufacturing is one example—and the specific solution experience needed by the clients they serve. Most often, new hires have one kind of experience or the other, not both.  In our experience, it can take 12-to-18 months for a VAR to fully prepare a new hire to serve clients effectively.

As a result, service levels are suffering in every area of implementation; configuration, training, development, integration, and post-implementation support.  Requirements are not being clearly or thoroughly defined, underqualified or under-available resources make errors, as more mistakes are being made, more time is necessary for base implementations, and development is taking more iterations.

So, what’s a company to do?  You need the VAR for their solution expertise, and you can’t have projects dragging on and on—the disruption to your business and strain on your people is just too great.

Filling the Gaps

At the risk of sounding self-serving, this is where third-party, independent consulting firms like ours can play a role. However, VARs have traditionally been slow to choose this route. We speculate that VARs fear losing control of the client relationship—a very old-school and dated way to view consultation and collaboration. However, maintaining the status quo has led to high turnover at many VARs as their people experience burnout from long hours and are frustrated because they do not feel valued.  You need your VAR to be transparent regarding these issues; to be creative, open-minded, and to over-communicate. In short, this is about establishing the best possible relationship between you and your VAR, so that you are working together towards a successful outcome.

Changing your enterprise solutions in a growing economy makes sense. It’s easier to spend money on enterprise software when your business is growing and the need is pressing. Just keep in mind that your software provider is probably growing as quickly as you are! The economic growth that is floating your boat is floating theirs as well.

Are you having difficulty with an enterprise software implementation project that’s stalled? Give us a call. We can help get things re-started and going in a good direction.