spotlight
Raising the VAR
BY SETH FINEBERG
Top resellers see a bright future in
the cloud and selling services,
rather than just software
Clients First Business Solutions has accomplished this task and more. The firm not only
increased its already rich product line over
the past year with the addition of Epicor, but
saw its overall revenue rise by 10 percent to
$14.1 million.
Clients First, which also represents ERP
products from SAP, Microsoft Dynamics and
Sage, claims that its ability to simply remain
focused on its clients’ individual business
needs has been the key to its exceptional
growth, according to chief executive Shel-don Kralstein.
“Our strength lies in understanding the
challenges and issues facing medium-sized
enterprises. We believe in building relation-
ships for life and in giving all our clients the
undivided attention they deserve as we’re
also building success for our clients, and we
do it one project at a time,” said Kralstein.
“The challenging economic environment
has been felt by the entire industry, and Cli-
ents First is no exception. We have focused
our efforts on identifying opportunities with
real and tangible business pain, and worked
on showing the business value for a new or
upgraded solution in terms of ROI, improved
efficiency, improved customer service, and
gaining a competitive advantage.”
our client base.”
McGladrey’s tech consulting group is still
positive about ERP sales and overall growth
in this area of its practice, but is also seeing
further attention from clients wanting cloud-
based solutions, and its alliances with most
of its key vendors are growing in importance
as well. McGladrey has long represented
products from Sage and Microsoft, adding
in Deltek and, more recently, SAP, Intacct
and NetSuite.
RSM McGladrey
Minneapolis
There are more accounting software re-
sellers performing well of late than over the
past few years, but the ones that continue to
excel are doing so more through the range
of services they offer, rather than via straight
software sales or even acquisitions.
What’s more is that the true “Killer VAR”
— the one that continues to outperform most
others and exceed their own numbers regardless of economic conditions — may not even
want to be referred to as VARs.
These days, many of the top performers in
the accounting software world see themselves
as business consultants with technology
expertise, rather than as sellers of licenses
and products.
This isn’t to say that software sales do not
factor in to making a Killer VAR, nor does
it necessarily preclude a top ranking in the
Accounting Today VAR 100 (released last
month). But increasingly what is defining
the exceptional resellers is their ability to
adapt, expand their offerings, seize acquisi-
tion opportunities where applicable, and sell
services as well.
Adding products, services
Clients First Business Solutions
Holmdel, N.J.
It’s never easy to represent competing ac-
counting and ERP brands, especially with
companies hesitant to make any new tech-
nology investments, yet Holmdel, N.J.-based
Another firm that saw dynamic year-on-year
growth, and is no stranger to carrying mul-
tiple accounting and ERP product lines, is the
tech consulting group of national accounting
firm RSM McGladrey.
All about the cloud
Demand Solutions Group
Los Gatos, Calif.
There is little doubt that the cloud, or Software-as-a-Service, is the future of accounting
and ERP products for businesses and CPA
firms alike, and many of the top resellers
have already begun to take advantage of it.
In the case of Demand Solutions Group, the
firm built virtually its entire practice around
representing SaaS products — NetSuite in
particular — and over the past year has seen
its revenue grow to $4.7 million in 2010, up
from $2.8 million in the prior year. The firm is
clearly seeing a shift in businesses’ thinking
when it comes to ERP, particularly among
technology-centric clients and companies
simply looking to reduce IT overhead costs.
“There seems to be an increase of activity
in the high-tech sectors and the medium-to-
large-sized companies are definitely showing
a lot of interest in the cloud,” said DSG prin-
cipal Todd Fitzwater. “The concept of ‘cloud’
has also matured. Where once we had to con-
vince customers that they should consider
the cloud, we are now regularly being asked
to come tell them about our solutions. It is
rare anymore for a search to be done and not
include at least one cloud-based solution.
In fact, in the CRM market no one looks at
anything except cloud. The ERP market is
now showing significant signs of acceptance
as well.”
Fitzwater added that larger software ven-
