Accounting Today

VAR 100: Reaching for more
The top accounting resellers expand into the cloud, new products

BY sEth finEBERg

With more than a third of this year’s top value-added resellers now carrying cloud accounting and/or ERP products, and most of the remaining firms adding to their existing product lines, it is clear that the VAR 100 are starting to see better times and, at the least, are interested in changing some of their business.

Many of the existing top accounting and ERP VARs have represented products from the same publishers since they themselves went into business 20 years or more ago. But economic factors and client needs have caused a shift in what most firms now represent, and this was no more evident than over the past year. What’s more is that those that have not made a change are either considering the possibility, or are at least adding services that will help retain current clients or bring in more business.

For firms that chose to embrace offerings from cloud vendors, many felt compelled do to so simply because clients were expecting pure Web-based products at a time when the publishers they represented were not yet offering them.

Laguna Hills, Calif.-based Blytheco has represented Sage’s family of products for three decades, but has been feeling pressure to expand beyond what the vendor offers, and recently made moves to do so. Within six months it picked up Software-as-a-Service-based products SugarCRM and NetSuite, and is considering offering more SaaS options to its customers.

“Significant changes in the vendor policies and direction
have increased the urgency of making changes within Bly-
theco to address these issues and diversify our product and
service offerings and restructure our organization to be more
nimble to react to these outside influences,” said Blytheco
founder and chief executive Stephen Blythe. “We see a sig-
nificant opportunity to meet customer demands and make a
market impact with cloud solutions proven to improve busi-
ness efficiency and visibility while allowing businesses to
scale on demand.”
Other firms with longstanding roots in representing on-
premises accounting and ERP products took a chance adding
cloud products to their mix, as they too want to be prepared
to meet client expectations, while satisfying current interests
in the platform as well.

St. Paul, Minn.-based InterDyn BMI — the largest of the InterDyn brand of firms with $12 million in reported revenue — has traditionally carried Microsoft Dynamics products, and still does. However, over the past year it saw the need to add Intacct, and BMI CEO John Hendrickson said that the move was generally about offering options, rather than

2010
GETTING CLOUDY
Members of the VAR 100 carrying
cloud accounting/ERP products
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35

just the cloud. “Accounting software is becoming more com-
moditized, so we are differentiating ourselves with unique
technology solutions. [We are finding that] businesses are
outgrowing manual processes and/or entry-level financial
packages like QuickBooks,” said
Hendrickson. “Businesses are also
using outdated technology and our
customers now have a choice be-
tween a traditional on-premise or
cloud-based solutions.”
Another example of the appar-
ent cloud shift can be found in
Akron, Ohio-based BCG Systems,
which has long represented prod-
ucts from Microsoft Dynamics and
Sage. Over the past year, the firm
became a NetSuite partner to keep
up with customer demand and what
the firm sees as increased compe-
tition between on-premises-based
and SaaS products.

“Over the past several months,
cloud competitors were being men-
tioned in half of our sales opportu-
nities. Our goal has always been to
ensure our clients maintain their
competitive advantage through the most advanced technol-
ogy solutions available on the market,” said BCG president
Mark Goodson. “Cloud solutions are not a fad; they are here
to stay. We feel that in the months and years ahead, the mo-
mentum of the cloud will only continue to grow, and this has
prompted us to make cloud computing a major component
of our business.”
The shift to cloud-based offerings was not as recent for
some, especially those who have been experiencing demand
for such products for years.

Irvine, Calif.-based Sererra Consulting Group has been building a business around SaaS offerings since its inception nearly a decade ago. It has now grown to a $4.2 million business and earned a VAR 100 position. The firm has a handpicked roster of cloud products that includes Intacct, NetSuite and SAP Business ByDesign, which it added a year ago.

“We’re focused on cloud-based ERP and CRM software
and wouldn’t consider on-premise applications — we’re con-
stantly evaluating new products as they mature,” said Sererra
president Nik Puni. “We’re very careful not to take on new
products unless they add value to our product mix. New prod-
ucts should also be able to differentiate themselves from the
products we already carry, and we don’t want to carry new
products just for the sake of carrying them.”
Meanwhile, further up the state, Simi Valley, Calif.-based

2012
2011

Arxis Technology has seen enough cloud-based business that it formed a new business unit to focus on cloud consulting and applications for its SMB customers. Arxis, which had historically represented the Sage family of accounting and CRM products, picked up SAP Business ByDesign a couple of years ago, and since then has added SugarCRM and — most recently — Intacct to its range of cloud products.

“The increasing demand for cloud applications will con-
tinue to have a significant impact on our business and we are
working hard to ramp up sales, marketing and consulting for
cloud applications, but still maintain a robust pipeline of con-
sulting for our on-premises customers,” said Arxis co-founder
and principal David Cieslak. “The shift in demand from on-
premises to cloud requires our business to shift as well.”
But expanding product lines consisted of more than just
cloud offerings, or even products from different publishers,
as there were a portion of this year’s top VARs that chose to
add software from vendors they’ve long represented, as many
saw the increased demand and the potential for significant
revenue for them.

To name a few, Aztec Systems and Clients First Business Solutions each added NAV-X to their existing Dynamics line of products, while ISM and Southeast Computer Solutions became Sage ERP X3 VARs, and long-time Dynamics SL reseller SIS Software now carries AX. For these and several other VARs that chose to grow their product lines, they are beginning to see better times and have either chosen to expand into specific verticals like distribution, or into new geographic markets.

“We’re diving deep into X3 because its multi-language, multi-legislature capabilities and Web-enabled offering are in line with our last year’s focus on continuing a global presence,” said Sonia Ferrera, owner and CEO of Miami-based Southeast Computer Solutions. “This is a restructuring year and an investment year for our company. We have added additional personnel, spent efforts on training them on Sage X3, focused our marketing and sales process, opened an office in Mexico City to better serve our Latin American market, and much more. We hope that these efforts will produce much success for us down the road.” AT