VARBusiness 500 Finds Sweet Spot In Midmarket

In retail, the customer is king. It's no different for solution providers. Without customers -- new and existing -- you might as well call it a day. What's interesting is the diversity among the customer base of the leading solution providers.

Among the elite VARs rounding out our soon-to-be-revealed 2007 VARBusiness 500 list, their customers range from shops with five employees and possibly even fewer desktops to the largest enterprises out there. The sweet spot for VARs seems to nestle between businesses with 500 to 999 employees and those with between 1,000 to 9,999 employees, a demographic where more than 90 percent of VARs top to bottom on the VARBusiness 500 list plan to sell in the coming year.

It's no surprise that the midmarket and lower enterprise space is a prime target of major technology vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft, all of whom are enlisting the channel aggressively to penetrate that space.

Also not surprising, companies between 500 and 9,999 employees generate the most revenue for today's solution providers, according to the VARBusiness 500 survey. Many of these customers seek sophisticated solutions, but on the smaller end of the spectrum these companies also have concerns about price and ease of use. Solution providers that can best meet those needs will prosper there.

On the low end, solution providers on our list are selling into the SOHO market and to companies just above that level.

To learn more about what customers constitute the hot opportunities today turn to this site June 11 when VARBusiness releases not only the names of the distinguished solution providers on the 2007 VARBusiness 500, but also exclusive research culled from this upper echelon of the VAR ranks.

Until then, come back daily for previews of what's in store, including: a rundown of which technologies VARs are adding; a sneak peak of who's new to the list; hallmarks of the fastest growing VARs; and what makes a successful VAR ecosystem. Register now for the VARBusiness 500 conference, June 11-12, at the Marriott Marquis in New York City.