Ingram to VARs: Economic Stimulus Dollars Await You
According to an Ingram Micro press release:
Uncle Sam, show me the money. In a move designed to lead VARs to economic stimulus dollars, Ingram Micro has launched a demand generation service that focuses on funds, grants and business opportunities tied to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
According to an Ingram Micro press release:
Available next month [July 2009], the new IMStimulus is a complete, value-added services offering which includes end user needs assessment, grant availability and tracking, as well as grant writing and sales expertise to help IT solution providers and vendors succeed in competing and securing Stimulus funds.
Plenty of vendors are trying to connect VARs with stimulus dollars. But Ingram Micro’s press release attempts to different the IMStimulus initiative from generic partner programs focused on the government vertical.
Elsewhere, Avnet Technology Solutions and CompTIA (the Computing Technology Industry Association) both made some moves related to the stimulus dollars back in March 2009.
Proper Perspective
Now, The VAR Guy’s spin: Stick with the verticals you already know. If you’re already in the government vertical, take your business from good to great. But if you’re not in the government vertical, don’t expect instant ROI from the stimulus dollars. Pick one or two key technologies you already know — such video over IP or wireless — and see if you can apply them to government applications like public safety.
Follow The VAR Guy via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; Twitter; and via his Newsletter; Webcasts and Resource Center.
As someone with years of experience selling to the government, I know how difficult using grants can be. But, at least from their press release, it looks to me that Ingram Micro has developed one heck of a program for their re-sellers.
It’s certainly not unusual to see a company announce that they offer grant resources, but I’ve seldom seen a program like this. Hats off to Ingram Micro. I have no affiliation to them or their grant program; I don’t even know what they sell, but they sure got my attention. http://sellingtogovernment.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/grant-support-program-announced/
Rick: Thanks for the link, and the perspective. Ingram is a classic distributor… though the company also has a fast-growing program called Ingram Micro Seismic for aspiring and established managed service providers.