A way to become an entrepreneur in IT.
Article Content-
- Entrepreneur Mindset
- Value Added Resellers (VAR) or Software Resellers
- India’s IT Market
- Checkout SWIL’s Program for VAR
Entrepreneur Mindset
As a young entrepreneur, trying to get started in the industry after college, it can be challenging to identify your forte. In this digital age, everyone knows technology is the most attractive field of business, everyone wants to find the IT way of solving a problem.
Evolution of IT
We’re in an age, where an idea that one morning you thought was unique, most likely would have already been explored by other like yourself. The ideology of being first in the market is overrated, the first one to enter was the magician who broke through the barriers of adaption but the second one in was the one who gave the customer the most usable product. The first one to enter just ensured adaption & fought through stubborn mindsets.
If you want to be a mind changer – great! But if you want to make profits, you need to build upon something which is already mature. More money is made in reselling an existing product than in developing a new one.
IT way of solving the problem
We’re not all developers but that doesn’t mean we can’t all be entrepreneurs in IT. You might be unaware but there is a very large industry of software resellers. Software resellers are similar to retailers of Lenovo laptops in your city. You are not just buying laptops and reselling them to the consumer but at the same time, you’re going to be the customers’ service provider in the city: the company’s link to the customer.
The way of solving your problem to get into IT might be not creating something new but reselling that mature product you’ve been considering making. The new IT way is not to keep trying to press delete & make something new, but to press edit or duplicate & make it better.
Value Added Resellers (VAR) or Software Resellers
A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that resells software, hardware and other products and services that provide value beyond the original order fulfilment. VARs package and customize third-party products in an effort to add value and resell them with additional offerings bundled in.
VAR works with IT companies to provide software to its customers & does multiple partnerships with other complementary services like with POS hardware manufacturers to sell barcode printers, computer hardware, SMS packs & more. Even in a few cases, we have seen partnerships come from unique places like store designers.
Benefits of working with a VAR
Working with a value-added reseller can provide the following benefits:
- Organizations provide the best quality support to their VAR Partners to ensure quality in the market as well as relationship building.
- Each VAR develops their own portfolio and expertise. Most VARs doing significant business is known to be specialized for example there are VARs working particularly in India’s Pharma industry because of the sheer size of the market. Expertise brings them a lot of referral business.
- A VAR can act as a single point of source for customers to get multiple services & products. VAR are a package deal for the customer as one can usually get discounts getting multiple services/products.
- VARs are frequently referred to as trusted with long-term relationships & strong hold on their customers. Most companies can’t work without VAR because of those relationships.
- VARs only mark up a product; their revenue often comes from additional value additions if margins on products are not too high.
India’s IT Market
Even though IT is evolving towards SAAS, India’s SME market is made of millions of small businesses which are adapting it but cautiously. The biggest requirement for an SME isn’t the product but relationship & service, Indian buyers’ mindset is honed to service at the doorstep with a single call. This is where VAR & Software Resellers become most important to software selling in India. Locally present resellers are able to give additional value to customers by being physically present in the region & are more favoured than the software company itself. The value addition reseller brings to the table is going to be a key business opportunity, along with margins offered by companies.
Checkout SWIL’s Program for VAR
Like most B2B software companies in India like ours – Softworld India Pvt. Limited – SWIL also works throughout India through channel partnership( a network of value added resellers). Learn more about SWIL’s channel partnership program & SWIL’s offerings on its website. Make sure to ask which market SWIL addresses & inquire about business possibilities.