The VAR Guy

If “Black Friday” is an indication of how the retail industry is going to fare in 2012, we all have reason to be optimistic. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), sales were up for both brick and mortar stores and online merchants. NRF President and CEO, Matthew Shay, said the results were a promising sign for the economic recovery.

Many organizations today are beginning to expect more from their solution providers. Topping the list of IT partner qualifications these days is a thorough understanding of the end-user’s business and industry—and they’re willing to pay extra for it. Here are 8 tips to adding industry-specific solutions to your portfolio.

When you think about data centers, what usually comes to mind are large Fortune 500 companies—with lots of business-critical data to process, share and store. But another big owner of data centers is the federal government. For government VARs, now is the time to bring your “A-game” to the federal marketplace, and here’s why.

A few months ago, I shared ideas with you on how to find the right partner to help you establish sales in cloud services. Now, I’d like to expand on the cloud opportunity by relating three specific actions you can take now to help your organization profit from the cloud computing revolution.

Most of my monthly guest blogs focus on vertical market strategies for VARs and MSPs. In this blog, I’ll focus on the banking and financial vertical. We’ve all lived through some tough economic times lately, but for those in the banking and finance community, business has been especially challenging. If you’re a growth-minded VAR, you’ll want to pay close attention in the coming months to news from the financial services world, as it could mean big profits for you. Here’s why.

What did you do this morning when you woke up? I’m guessing one of the first things you did—perhaps without even thinking about it—was flip a switch, press a button or plug something in. And what do all of these morning rituals have in common? They rely on energy—and lots of it. As a solution provider, our energy dependence can be your ticket to accelerated growth. Here are three reasons why you should be plugging into the energy and utilities vertical.

It seems these days you can’t turn on the TV, read your email or browse the Web without seeing the word “Cloud” somewhere. Oh sure, sometimes it’s actually a reference to the weather, but for problem solvers in the IT channel like you and me, it’s all about opportunity. But for VARs, you need to explore at least five key questions as you formulate a cloud strategy. Here’s why.

The healthcare press continues to buzz about HIMSS11—the recent Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society conference. Organizers say it was a record-breaker, with more than 31,000 making their way to the Orlando, Fla., convention facility and 1,042 exhibitors showing their stuff. The HIMSS event has always been a big deal for the IT industry, but this year’s conference drove home two key learnings for me: the expanding opportunities in the healthcare vertical for solution providers and the need for specialization to ensure success.

Most solution providers probably would agree that specializing in one or more vertical markets is a great way to build their business. After all, the more you know about how another business operates, the more qualified you are as an IT partner to recommend and implement the right solutions. The real heavy lifting is in determining which verticals are right for your business, which have the highest profit potential and how to get started. One potential opportunity: The retail vertical. Here’s why.