I have one question for you: Dell, where have you gone?

Obviously we follow the company and your earnings very closely. And while your stock has been moving in a positive direction lately, what are your plans with the channel and with future product innovations?

Let me back up and give credit where credit is due. The idea of the netbook was genius – an inexpensive laptop that is small, lightweight, and is perfect for general computing and accessing Web applications. And the demand for netbooks grew rapidly – in fact, sales reached an impressive 641 percent increase last year. No doubt Dell helped lead that charge. Unfortunately, sales have dropped significantly since that time – and it was a smart move to exit that category and focus on your core business.

However…Acer and HP are a formidable challenge to you in terms of global PC sales. What happened?

What are they doing differently to increase their sales and their bottom-line? And on top of it, Apple is leading the mobility space by a whopping 80%. It is still up for debate whether Apple gave the final blow with the iPad introduction as some pundits are still arguing that the tablet and netbook categories appeal to different types of consumers. Only time will tell.

I enjoy healthy competition. I think it is good for the economy and for the consumer to have choices. So I hope to see positive earnings from your company today – I think it would help us all out.

The sky is falling. At least that’s what the talking heads all seem to be saying.

No doubt, times are tough, and the channel is suffering as credit markets tighten and IT spending for consumers, SMBs and enterprises tighten. Companies are cutting back on capital expenditures and hiring, which means shrinking budgets for hardware and software alike.

As Al Senia from IT Channel Planet writes,

“IT companies are no longer able to compensate for the weakness in the U.S. market by seeking refuge overseas. National economies in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Spain are tanking. In Asia, slowdowns in growth are occurring in South Korea, China and Japan and stock markets have been decimated. The channel simply is not going to get any more “bounce” by playing the overseas card.

So overseas isn’t the answer, even for global IT firms. Maybe the answer’s here at home…

Things aren’t a whole lot better in this country, where consumers and businesses are watching credit evaporate. Without sufficient credit, there’s no capital investment, business expansion or hiring. “It’s a bleak picture,” Andy Golub, says ChangeWave Research. “There doesn’t seem to be any immediate catalyst on the near horizon that will lift spending.”

Ok, maybe not. Well, hardware and software sales can’t look that bleak…

In its August survey, ChangeWave reported 30 percent of enterprises cut their IT spending in the third quarter and 29 percent say they will cut it or stop it in the fourth quarter. Only about 12 percent say they will spend more than expected in those quarters. Couple these statistics with the credit crunch impacting small and medium businesses, and you can project just how bleak things suddenly appear.

Well IT Channel Planet is just full of sunshine, aren’t they?

The good news – and there is some – is that if channel partners can hold on through the current turbulence, there are likely to be smoother skies ahead. The financial sector is in an economic nosedive, but as thousands of IT (and other) workers get laid off, there’s going to be a skills shortage that the channel is going to have to fill. You can bet IT outsourcing will be on the rise.

Ah, there’s the rub. You have to survive the bad times to thrive in the good times. Wondering if your firm will weather the storm? Trying to figure out how to actually gain marketshare in a shrinking economy? Here’s a quick litmus test to identify who will win and who will lose:

* Those firms who contain costs, while keeping their promises to clients…
* Those firms who reduce fixed costs, while maximizing flexibility…
* Those firms who find ways to win new projects and fulfill them profitably…
* Those firms who take advantage of their competitors’ fumbles to win new clients…

These are the firms that will survive these tumultuous times and come out the other side of this dark tunnel. We’re seeing VARs, solution providers and IT firms of all shapes and sizes who are living this every day. They’re embracing a contract labor force to fulfill their IT services without spending on travel or the hiring and training of W2 technicians.

As you’re brainstorming about how to lean up your operations and fatten up your financials, I invite you to use OnForce the next time you need to find a contract service pro. We’re so confident you’ll have an exceptional experience that we’ll even pay for your 1st work order.

The team at OnForce has been working for months to launch our first international expansion into Canada. As of today, buyers can begin creating and routing work orders to the growing population of approved service providers. We already have nearly 100 active service providers, with an additional several hundred close behind.

The “Canadian marketplace”:1 has all of the great features our buyers and providers have grown to depend upon in the United States:

* Task-based work orders that clearly define the required activities for each work orders
* Clear pricing definition (all prices are in US$ for both Canada and the U.S.)
* PowerMatch to help find the right provider for each work order
* Work order notes, sub-statuses, custom fields and all of the other important components to managing service events
* The OnForce rating system and other feedback tools to share information after the service is completed

In addition, we have taken into consideration the elements that are unique to Canada. Most notable are the complexities of tax for both buyers and providers. GST and PST are both fully calculated within the product to enable our users to more easily conduct business in Canada.

We are thrilled to be making the move north – many thanks to all that helped it happen. And a hearty welcome to our newest members of the OnForce community!

[1]http://canada.onforce.com

After a significant amount of work and lots of research, OnForce has opened its doors to Canadian service providers. With v4.2 of our platform, providers in Canada can now sign up and fill out service profiles. We are now actively recruiting providers in Canada, working to have a significant number of them signed up within the coming months.

Later in 2007, we will be launching “OnForce Canada”:1 (after much demand from existing and new buyers). Only providers who reside in Canada will be eligible to perform service in Canada.

Please encourage your friends and colleagues in Canada to “sign up”:2. We will be offering special live trainings over the course of the next month to streamline the sign-up process.

[1]http://www.onforce.ca
[2]http://www.onforce.com/signup