Cut The Spiel!

Q Channels and Kaseya Software recently held the SP CEO Conclave at Colombo,
which saw the participation of the country's top 25 solution providers (SP) and
few partners from Sri Lanka as well. The event went off well, but what really
hit the mark with the present audience was that while they were warily expecting
a lot of hard selling from Kaseya, they were treated to a briefing on the
managed services business instead.

Once the assembled partners realized there isn't any reason for them to worry
about being compelled to sign the channel sales agreement, they were very open
with their questions about the subject. It was evident that they wanted
information about managed services, how they could pitch it to their existing
clients, and what challenges they were likely to face.

The reason I am writing about this is that the format of the event was a
refreshing change from most vendor sponsored events, where the scope of the
discussion is largely about that vendor's products and why the assembled
audience should sell it.

Most partners now prefer to give these events a cold shoulder, but vendors
continue to persist in creating similar events for them nonetheless. And when
they have little participation from the invited delegates, they are at a loss.

It is about time vendors should try and have more industry specific topics at
their events, to garner better attention from the attending channel community.
Only if they show how the industry is likely to grow, will partners be equally
encouraged joining the game.

Software chaos continues

The woe of the software community seems to know no bounds currently.
According to some partners, the price of software has gone up over 35 percent
since May 2008. It is said that almost 30 percent customers have either
forestalled or foregone their decision to buy certain software.

The biggest culprit for this is the confusion is about the taxes that can or
cannot be levied on the software. With no clarity from the government, partners
are going about their business, applying taxes as per their perception of the
laws, but hoping that they will not be caught in the legal dragnet.

On one hand, vendors are pushing for adoption of genuine software and on the
other hand, the price of software is scaling upwards. Partners are, needless to
say, caught in the middle. Is it then any wonder that several software partners
are now looking at exiting the business or moving into other areas where
software is not the onus?

ISODA continues to knock on the doors of various courts for clarity but none
has been forthcoming so far. In this David and Goliath fight, who will be the
winner?

Vinita Bhatia

vinitavs@cybermedia.co.in