Ask Steve

On top of these woes, the wireless channel partners are not engaged with their service providers and vendors, which only exacerbates underperformance through the channel. This underperformance leads to disgruntled channel partners and service providers less willing to invest in partner success. Only 46% of wireless channel partners participate in co-op funds; 40% in vendor/service provider-sponsored seminars and workshops; and 25% in lead generation programs with their service provider and vendor partners. And even when the wireless channel partners participate in those programs, they find the programs marginally effective (see Exhibit 2).

My recommendations to you, Troy:

1. Compare offerings and support offered by the big 4 wireless service providers. I like AT&T’s SMB focus these days -- not perfect by a long stretch -- but their heart is in the right place, and I think their wallet is also.

2. If you’re dismayed by almost everything you hear from the wireless service providers (in comparison to the IT/technology vendors), you aren’t alone. Try not to compare the apples and oranges, because if you do you’ll make no decision at all.

3. Choose the vendor who has the most progressive offerings/products/solutions in the market today, because I believe all 4 service providers will shore-up their indirect channel programs within the next 18-24 months. Failure to do so will leave them vulnerable to losing valuable SMB and enterprise sales in our future mobile-enabled applications world.

Thanks for the great question, Troy. Keep ‘em coming.