Vendor University: Is It Getting Better?

The ongoing tension evident in recent years between vendors and channel partners over the proliferation of training and certification programs, rising costs and constantly changing requirements appears to be waning.

Solution providers' satisfaction with vendor training is on the rise, thanks to a number of factors, among them a solid economy, rising return on training investments, more flexible and streamlined programs, improved Web-based training and greater willingness by vendors to invest in training loyal channel partners.

"Keep it coming," said John Riddle, president of Information Networking, a Cisco and IBM networking integration partner in Irvine, Calif., echoing the view of a number of solution providers. "Keep the tests expensive and difficult [in order] to weed out the flakes."

Riddle said he's tired of hearing complaints about training and certification costs. Yes, he's paying a lot more than he was a few years ago, and his need to get people trained is growing in areas such as security and telecommunications. But he added: "I'm all for that. I truly believe in the long-term benefit."

This year's CRN Certification and Training Report—based on an analysis of three major CRN surveys assessing solution provider satisfaction, channel compensation and profitability—indicates there are key differences in the way solution providers view training and certification issues (see charts) based on their area of focus. Software partners are not quite as happy as network infrastructure solution providers, for example. But the surveys, along with CRN's interviews with solution providers, indicate that Riddle's view reflects attitudes across the channel.

In general, solution providers are experiencing a relatively quick return on training investments. In the 2006 CRN Profitability Survey, solution providers indicated their return on investment ranged from 7.3 months in network security to 4.8 months in mobile technology. In the 2006 CRN Channel Compensation Survey, solution providers not only placed above-average importance on vendor-paid training but expressed above-average satisfaction with the vendor-paid training they receive.

Some suggest one reason for that may be because the distinction between training, education and communications is blurring as vendors use Webinars, podcasts, online training tools and other methods to deliver training in smaller, more digestible segments.

"I think the industry is building more short-chunk modules, and you hear less and less grousing because nobody is spending five days in Chicago to get trained," said Tom Kelly, vice president of NetApp University, the corporate training arm of storage vendor Network Appliance, Sunnyvale, Calif. "The destination training is kind of evaporating. The classroom training is still going on, but it's more selective."