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With data growing in ever-increasing volumes across a broad spectrum of businesses and industries, the market for information and data management technologies is at an all-time high. VARs are aiming to gain cutting-edge data management and storage competencies in order to grow their own businesses, as they see the benefits of moving away from hardware-only sales to an approach where they deliver complete storage solutions.

Tarmin's Shahbaz Ali explains: "Rather than simply throw disk at the problem, resellers often find that a unified approach to storage ultimately yields a higher sales margin today. This includes a metamorphosis from being a reseller of a single product to one offering a combined solution of hardware, software and services; adopting a sales model that provides recurring revenue streams instead of one-off opportunities; and gaining competitive advantages through the provisioning of differentiated unstructured data management approaches as a service."

Andy Hill of Nexsan agrees: "While there any number of new storage technologies competing to provide 'the next million IOPs,' very few users can afford it. And even fewer need it. Instead, the majority of users (with whom the channel plays its most important role) are looking for ways to balance their needs at a cost they can afford. They're looking for more than hardware too. As storage options become increasingly complex, end users need more from their solution providers than products; e.g., ensuring they are selecting the right storage products and solutions for their needs; and configuring and tuning those products for optimal performance in their data centre environments." As such, argue Nexsan, those solution providers that are 'stuck in the product business' are quickly seeing their market opportunity shrink. And those storage solutions that leverage partners' value-added services to shine with end-users are finding a more receptive channel market.

NCE's John Greenwood has almost 20 years experience of the channel in IT, and concurs that customers are actively seeking out partners who can really add value: "The online search engines and opportunists who know how to exploit this mechanism have confused more than helped the customer, with the vendor or product that come top of the list not always the best fit for what they need," says Greenwood, "This is where consultancy and engagement with an impartial ally provides huge value. Some Vendors have their own customer facing representatives tasked with 'fitting square pegs into round holes' and the churn of personnel is high, however many who serve this purpose simply jump off the merry go round from one Vendor and back onto it with another. Others work on the basis that having a critical mass of partners will breed success and exposure; it's fair to say that this is a short-lived and often messy approach as reactive selling creates conflict and undermines the true value of the product portfolio. It creates a commodity and often a poor reputation."

Nexsan's Hill takes a similar view of some of the problems facing the market: "The storage business is filled with channel conflict. Many suppliers in our industry are hedging their bets - by reducing channel investments and competing with their partners situationally. Just about every solution provider in the storage business has a tale - or ten - about being burned by a supplier taking a deal the partner developed, direct. Whether it's short term pressure for profits, or direct sales teams that don't understand (or care to acknowledge) the channel's value, it's simply way too common."

John Greenwood says it comes down to what the end user really wants: "Some need the engagement and appreciation of what they require, others merely need a fulfilment layer. The challenge is when one proclaims to deliver the same as the other and this, unfortunately, is where the customer can fall victim. Pedigree, reputation and install base - essentially peers - can often prove to be the key to answering this puzzle. If the person who claims their business meets all of the relevant pre-requisites in an initial engagement cannot back this up (excuse the pun in a Storage Magazine!) with people to endorse this, then you have every reason to look elsewhere for someone who can."

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