Broadening the suite of current product and service offerings for the office technology reseller requires a serious look at the network technology product line as a potential source of expansion. Some of the key elements in making this consideration are as follows:

Value Delivery Model
The impact of a down network can create serious issues for a business. In making this transition to selling mission critical services, you will have to be able to sell your credibility.  Why should a customer believe that you are now a technology expert when you sold office products previously?  How can you provide services that are different from your present capability set and where is your experience delivering them?  How can your sales people tell a story about your business to their IT decision makers that will give your credibility and differentiate you from the rest?

The office technology reseller will have to make a smooth transition in the mind of the customer from office to network technology.  This can be overcome with the acquisition of the right technical expertise. 

Competitive Landscape
What does the competitive landscape look like in the area you have targeted?  Are the current competitors IT value added resellers (VARs) that are boutique firms that have been delivering these services in the geography for some time or are they simply branch offices of a larger reseller.  What does the scale of each of these mean as competitors and product pricing?

The office technology reseller will have to take on the competition by establishing a foot hold in the geography through prior customer relationships and differentiation through service and price.

Broad or Basic Technology
There are major differences in the kinds of services to deliver.  Consider where your sweet spot in the IT industry will be.  Will it be in delivering a boutique product that is only within one “hot” IT area such as Voice, Security, Unified Communications, Wireless?  Will you only concentrate on only one or two of these services? Will you concentrate on a specific vertical market type of customer and deliver expertise that is beneficial to customers of a given industry such as health care, banking, education?

The office technology reseller will have to explore the current customer base and determine where are the strongest customer “cross-overs” in terms of products?

Buy or Build
Should you acquire an existing technology reseller or build your own delivery model.  The pros and cons of each are great.  Buying an existing technology reseller can provide customers and technical capability that compliments your current business. Building out your own delivery model can require time and investment. Having a strategic direction about what you are buying or building will help to streamline this process.

Selection of Technology
Differences in reseller technologies can be overwhelming to consider.  Do you want to deliver broad based, high end services with current name recognition and respect in the IT industry? Are you interested in delivering networking managed services which are much like managed print solutions?   Or do you want to deliver low end, low cost, turn key solutions?

What are the suite of add on services you can sell which compliment high end or low end?  Will you provide far reaching Cisco solutions that comprise over 90% of networks world wide or boutique solutions such as 3 Com, Shortell, Microsoft Small Business?

What level partner will you become?  Premier, Silver or Gold?  What are the qualifications and cost of these levels and why should you consider them?  What pricing discounts do each bring and margin opportunities?

What will comprise your total package of partners?  Who will be associated services and how will you select them? For example; will you sell APC power or Emerson,  Fortinet or Checkpoint security?  What are the factors to determine the right mix of partners? 

The technology partner selection is a major determination of the direction you take your company.

Engineer Capability
One of the most important considerations you have to make is the type of engineers needed to deliver the technology.  Given the type of technology you want to sell, what are the engineer requirements that are needed to deliver and maintain services?

Qualifications: What are the engineering qualifications that are necessary to deliver these solutions?  What are the certifications that needed and what are the training requirements?

Utilization rates: What is expected in terms of hours of engineer utilization necessary to pay for productive engineers; and how busy do they need to be in order to be cost effective?

Is there a way to use outsourced engineers as a back end instead of making the investment?

Summary
Once you have given these issues proper consideration, the strategy can take direction.  A transition will take time and resources.  The move upstream to networking can be a lucrative one and one that can give you a solid foundation for the future.  The tech industry remains an incredible opportunity and the depth increases.  Now is the time to take advantage of the marketplace and position yourself for the future.

Susan Muth  is president of Strategic Business Solutions, Inc., based in Cincinnati Ohio. Susan has consulted with many technology partners across the country in developing a successful sales & business growth strategy. She has deep experience in the technology sector and helping companies transition. At susan@susanmuth.com or www.susanmuth.com.