Christopher Franey, vice president, commercial sales and marketing, Samsung

Chris Franey took the helm as vice president of commercial sales at Samsung in 2006 after a 12-year run at ViewSonic Americas, where he reached the rank of president. Since then, he has been hard at work restructuring the company's channel program. In 2007, Samsung launched a redesigned Power Partner program.

"There wasn't really channel team in 2006, something that was organized directed at the VARS, so we put more people in the channel to communicate with our partners, and to help them make money selling the products," Franey said.

That strategy has paid off, but Samsung along with everyone else has to figure out how to stay at the top of their game in the current harsh economic climate. Franey believes that as competition increases and everyone fights for a slice of the pie, VARs need to be able to react quickly to win customers.

"Everything will become a commodity at a quickened pace," said Franey. "In order for solution providers to be successful, they must find ways to sell on "how to solve problems" with technology solutions that really alter the bottom line for the customer. This is key to true differentiation and success for both of us, Samsung and our channel."

As a whole, he believes that vendors will see a lot more consolidation in the sector.

"You will see some of the major players disappearing, while some grow larger through acquisitions, while others need to reinvent themselves or face extinction," he said.

Franey also believes that in 2009, the sector will see a convergence of connectivity and mobility, both in business and consumer areas and the channel needs to react to these conditions.

Towards that end, Franey stressed that vendors need to be nimble and help VARs market relevant products. To accomplish this, Franey believes that it is vital for vendors to "be in the conversation." Listening to what the market wants and offering help and assistance to solution providers, he said, not only helps sell the products themselves, but builds channel loyalty as the same.