Consider How Channel Driven The Vendor Truly Is

Very few channel provider wants to be a beta for a vendor's transition to a channel model, said M&S Technologies' Stenovitch. M&S will move forward with a vendor if the technology is great and it is crystal clear that the vendor is transitioning to a 100 percent channel driven model, he said, and even then it is not an appealing decision. 

At OPUS Consulting, when executives weigh whether to extend a relationship with a vendor, they consider how much they like the technology, how it would impact other vendor relationships and whether the technology supports the company's vision going forward, said OPUS Consulting Group's Berezan The technology needs to support and strengthen the company's managed services and cloud business, he said. "If they are 100 percent committed to the channel and have a strong, integrity rich channel program, there better be a really good reason to business with them outside of that," said OPUS Consulting Group's Berezan. "It's really important."