IT VARs

The IT value-added reseller channel is shifting from product distribution to managed services, cloud subscriptions, and recurring-revenue bundles. That shift brings more demanding vendor programs and a different kind of financial complexity. 

Most VARs are running systems that weren’t built for it. Service delivery, ordering, and finance often live in separate platforms, so rebate tracking, chargeback reconciliation, and profitability analysis end up done by hand. 

Caravel builds technology systems around the way VARs operate: how they bill, how they manage vendor programs, and how they run customer relationships.  

Where VARS Systems Fall Behind

The shift to recurring revenue changes what the technology has to handle, and most systems weren’t built for the change: 

• Managed services revenue posts and defers differently than a hardware sale, and needs a system configured to recognize it on schedule 
• Multi-vendor orders, distributor lead times, and mixed procurement models create order-to-cash complexity most systems weren’t built for 
• Vendor rebate programs across distributors and manufacturers each carry their own tracking and accrual logic 
• High SKU counts and RMA workflows complicate accurate inventory costing and profitability analysis 
• Quote-to-cash workflows, renewal tracking, and account data living outside the ERP create visibility gaps for both sales and operations  

Supporting IT VARs Across the Technology Lifecycle 

Caravel’s IT VAR practice is built on EDI and marketplace integration capability and fluency in mixed product-plus-service accounting and channel compliance, depth that comes from working the channel specifically, not applying a generalist playbook. 

Related Insights