The eighth annual REDucation - Novell`s sales conference held in Swaziland over the weekend - had one clear message for the channel: move faster than your competition or die.
Christian Malissard, Novell`s regional VP, used the event to encourage distributors and resellers to outperform their competitors or face extinction, with the warning that, statistically, only one out of every five companies represented at the conference will still be profitable in three years. Smaller, faster start-ups not even on the radar screen are the ones that are going to make it in the new economy, he said.
Novell wants its resellers to sell solutions, and its new in-house consulting business is designed to help the channel up-sell those solutions to customers looking for more than a box-dropper.
Christo van Rensberg, Novell`s consulting director for Novell Professional Services, said the vendor grew its consulting services by 280% last year. "It`s not a question of us taking over, it`s a question of you working with us," reassured Van Rensberg.
"Why sell full solutions?" asked Marius Agenbag, branch manager for the Cape Town office. "It provides one-stop shopping for the customer; you can deal with your customer on multiple levels, and thus strengthen partnerships; and you leave no money on the table."
The key to competing in this new environment is relationships, said Novell, and the enablers to creating these relationships are technology and intellectual capital. Resellers are encouraged to view staff as an investment rather than a cost, said the company, and free them from bureaucratic tasks through automation.
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