There are plenty of articles about how badly Symantec has been handling this situation and I am not going to get into that. You can go on crn.com to read all the articles about what Symantec said or is doing (or not doing) to the channel, etc.

I want to focus on the obvious that just doesn’t seem to be part of anyone else’s analysis.

Here’s the big lesson: vendors (HW/SW folks) will go direct at the first possible moment they can. Given, of course, they have an efficient mechanism to do it. Or another way of saying it is, if they can squeeze you out without losing future sales, etc., then they will do it.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not cynical here. I am just being realistic. I am a business owner and if I figured out a way to make more margin, provide the same quality of service and not have employees or vendors or whatever, then you’re damn right I would do it. This is business, people.

Why would a Symantec or an HP or a Sun, or whoever be any different. Please don’t be naïve. In the old days when I worked for others I sat in mid-level management meetings with HW/SW vendors where their whole focus was how they could use the Internet to efficiently sell to the end-user client and take out the middle man (that’s you Mr. VAR, Solution Provider, SI).

So here is the takeaway: now that you know this, what are you going to do about it?

In my opinion, I would build up my services, expertise and, as I posted about yesterday, I would become your existing and potential client’s trusted advisor. Believe me; clients by and large will engage someone they see as unbiased, someone who is working in their best interest before listening to a vendor.

Following this advice, you’ll be in a position to influence what products/vendors are used within your clients’ environments.

Sound good?

Let me know what you think. Send me an email at RVela@StreetSmartVAR.com.

You can also get more specific info by subscribing to our online marketing course go to www.StreetSmartVAR.com or if you are reading this on our Blog site see the right hand side of the page for a web form.