Value added resellers: VARs help you get the right technology at the right price.

Value added resellers, or VARs, are businesses that repackage and improve hardware manufactured by an original equipment manufacturer. Like a consumer walking into a Best Buy looking for a personal computer, large corporations and companies look to a VAR to place hardware orders that will fit their needs. As a resourceful business professional, you may already utilize a VAR, but could be overlooking ways to maximize the relationship.

VARs are increasingly becoming the resource of choice for securing hard-to-find items that a traditional vendor can have difficulty finding. If you're looking for a VAR, or considering whether to reengage with your current VAR, it is important to understand the factors you should consider when making a smart decision.

What do I need to know before working with a VAR? In general, more knowledge transfer, project planning and pre-qualification of a vendor's ability to meet project specifications need to occur before projects ever get off the ground.

Using a VAR at the beginning of the procurement process will prove extremely valuable. The expert insight a VAR can provide will save you time and labor down the road. While not essential, it does help to pick a VAR that focuses on a specific solution. Since technology moves at such an incredible speed, it is difficult for a VAR to excel in every possible solution. For this reason, most VARs pick an area of expertise and thrive in it.

Once you have decided on the right VAR for your business, how can you ensure that it will deliver the expected services in a timeframe that is suitable for you and your customers? This is where you may want to consider an SLA, or service level agreement. Set up like a contract, this ensures that the VAR will deliver the services promised. The addition of non-performance penalties is one step toward making sure your company received the services promised in a timely fashion. Failure to establish the clear requirements of the users and solidify the scope of the original plan is a commonly overlooked step in the process.

With consumer demand at an all-time high level of complexity and urgency, VARs are beginning to diversify into new technologies and vertical markets, making the market a very crowded arena.

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RELATED ARTICLE: Top 5 ways to get value from a VAR

1. Require clearly defined dollars, deadlines and deliverables before onset of work.

2. If engaging in a project of protracted length, request regular touch points throughout the process to gauge status, mitigate problems and deliver feedback.

3. When working with a VAR that's new to your company, request an SLA (service level agreement) to level set project parameters and manage expectations.

4. Does your organization have a standardized format or process through which bid submissions must pass? Ask your VAR questions regarding its technology capabilities and willingness to comply with your company's bid standards.

5. Don't hesitate to ask your VAR to do, source or research something, just because you're unsure if they can. Smaller VARs. in particular, can be quite flexible in the solutions and service they're willing to provide. Regardless of size, any reputable VAR will tell you just as readily what they cannot do, as well as what they can do.

Farida Ali is vice president of Dynamic Computer Corp. Inc. in Farmington Hills, a member of the Detroit Regional Chamber.

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