var

Salesforce.com on Wednesday announced a VAR (value added reseller) program for its Force.com development platform, in a bid to spur wider adoption of the on-demand CRM (customer relationship management) vendor's homegrown technology.

Maximizing every customer means getting the most out of them every time. It means suggesting more ideas or products before they check out. It means collecting as much data about your customers as possible. And it means getting your salespeople focused on saying and doing the right things every time. While this article is geared for retailers, there is some tried and true advice for VARs, and others selling in the channel.

Google launched on Wednesday a reseller program for the paid version of its Apps hosted collaboration and communication suite.

Success during an economic downturn hinges just on VARs being VARs. Steve Ferman, President of Compunite, suggests that part of the role of a good VAR is to ease the panic and help customers through times of uncertainty. "The reality is people want someone to tell them what to do, and they look to MSPs or VARs for that guidance.

In addition to what they're buying, resellers are also paying more attention to who is buying. On the lowest end of the market in the SOHO segment, there is some unexpected growth, particularly as more people are thrown out of work and launch their own small businesses.

Economic upheaval is upon us, and regardless of rescue plans, bailouts and motivational speeches by politicians and political candidates, we are in for a long and deep recession. Companies are already implementing layoffs, while others are being bought out, going bankrupt, or going out of business completely.

You know you have to make the switch to SaaS, but where to begin. These 10 tips will get you off on the right foot.

Moving from selling on-premises solutions to SaaS is just one in a never-ending series of industry changes. It means resellers will have to change the way they do things, but it won't be the first time. To be sure, there are going to be lost revenues, but that's inevitable. VARs that want to stay in business will look at ways to replace those lost revenues, and when you look at the big picture, there are benefits from the SaaS sales model as well.

We won't be re-playing "Death of a Salesman" to the tune of SaaS any time soon, but traditional VARs that refuse to accept the SaaS model are in for a hard time. This is a game-changer, and will alter the very nature of what it means to be a reseller. The "sweet spot" for VARs will be the small and midsize business market, although if it is marketed right, there could even be growth potential in the Small Office/Home Office market—especially with standard productivity applications from Google and Microsoft hitting the SaaS world.