Resellers' Perspective 

We spent a good bit of time talking with resellers from all sides of the Microsoft Business Solutions group.  There was a lot of talk about how much business has changed and some residual concerns about the economy. Everyone has been changed by the events of the last year and many priorities have shifted. Overall though, this group of entrepreneurs seems to be a resilient bunch.  

There is still competition between the various product lines but everyone seems to want to learn more about Axapta.  The Attain resellers (now returning to the name "Navision") seem a little concerned that this product is not getting the attention it deserves.  The Great Plains resellers seem concerned about pricing and margin changes but seemed pleased with feature enhancements and product positioning. (A single Great Plains product has to make their lives easier.) We didn't hear much about the Small Business Manager.  In general, successful resellers had either found their niche or had succeeded in working with other members of the channel to extend their reach. 

We talked with some larger resellers about the margin changes and learned that there was some  revenue impact for deals that were already in the pipeline.  Since the Great Plains pricing changed effective 9/18, eEnterprise deals already quoted had to be adjusted downward.  This meant some major revenue loss in the month of September for some resellers as well as some confusion on the part of the buyers. The resellers did expect increased numbers of opportunities in the future to make up for the lost revenue. 

Reseller consolidation efforts continue on some fronts, while others have "un-consolidated".  Some organizations and individuals seem to have learned that it is not always easy to take a talented entrepreneur and make them into a functioning member of a corporate bureaucracy.  

One item of interest, many of the Navision resellers who offered industry verticals had stopped working through a sub-channel of resellers, stating that it was too expensive to work through others.  They said their piece of reduced margins did not cover the additional costs they had to incur to support sales calls.  

What is it about Canada?  Other than Atlanta, GA many of the top performing resellers seem to come from Canada.  They also seem to be younger than the rest of us (well, everyone is younger than me) and well versed in technology.

One interesting item that came up during the Q&A session with Doug Burgum was from an ISV who talked about his dissatisfaction with an item he knew about but was under an "NDA" (Non-Disclosure Agreement).  He tried to get Doug Burgum to address his concerns with this unidentified change but Doug was at a loss to figure out what he was talking about.  I spent the remainder of the week trying to locate a change that would adversely affect an ISV but failed in my mission.  Can anyone unravel this mystery for me?  Send me an e-mail if you know what this ISV was worried about.