What is a Value-Added Reseller (VAR)?

In the IT industry, a VAR is a company that buys third-party products – hardware, software, networking – that “adds value” to the product through additional features, software, integrations and professional services, and resells them as an integrated, turnkey solution to end-user organizations. A VAR buys third-party products from distributors or original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). 

Distributors and OEMs use VARs as a sales channel to get their products to the end user. The VAR buys the product from the third party at a discount, which helps improve the VAR’s profit margin. The VAR makes additional revenue by adding new features – such as out-of-the-box integration, software, consulting, training and other professional services, and then selling the product to the end-user at a higher price. The goal of the VAR is to provide a “one-stop shop” to support all their customers’ IT needs.

VARs typically offer the following features and services:

• Customized hardware and software systems. Many VARs specialize in certain industries and can provide highly- customized, industry-specific solutions.
• Integration and networking services. These services tend to be too technical in nature for many small- to medium-sized businesses, or too complicated – even for an enterprise. This is why these end-users look to a VAR to provide these services.
• Consultation services. Smaller organizations and larger enterprises can rely on a VAR to assess their business needs in order to develop requirements for a custom solution. 
• Installation, configuration and implementation. Providing these services speeds up deployment.
• Onboarding and training. A VAR can fast-track implementation by providing these services as well.
• On-going support for a custom system. If the custom system or solution was developed by the VAR, many customers will also look to them to provide the support.
• Custom documentation. Whether the VAR or its customer provides support of a custom application, the customer will always need customized documentation.
• Technical support. Many end-users prefer to engage a VAR for on-going technical support even if the solution is not customized.
• Hardware/software upgrades. Some upgrades can be exceedingly complex, which is why many end-user customers engage a VAR for this purpose.

Many VARs specialize in different industries – whether they be financial services, healthcare, insurance, etc. They know the industry and technology business challenges and understand how the operations work. For this reason, many businesses and managed service partners (MSPs) engage VARs because of VARs’ industry knowledge as well as their ability to offer one-stop shopping. 

Value-added resellers often design solutions for:

• Internet and mobile data services
• VOIP services
• Email and office productivity apps (e.g., Microsoft 365 or Google Apps)
• CRM apps
• Finance apps
• ERP/HCM apps
• Marketing apps
• Endpoint management (mobile and desktop/laptop)
• Windows computers and Macs
• Cloud software and storage
• Cybersecurity
• Data centers
• Network design
• Mobile workspaces
• Point-of-sale apps
• Printers
• Big data

Many VAR organizations are evolving to incorporate cybersecurity into their offerings, including solutions such as Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office, Acronis Cyber Protect and Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office

Formerly known as Acronis True Image, Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office features efficient all-in-one cyber protection designed for both consumers and prosumers. It includes quick backup and recovery, advanced cybersecurity and easy management – and protects everything on a user’s computer, including the operating system, applications and data. 

The unique integration of cybersecurity and backup into a single solution not only makes protection simpler and more affordable, but also delivers advanced capabilities that standalone solutions cannot — such as the automatic restoration of any data damaged during a ransomware attack. Its advanced anti-malware is proven to detect and stop the latest cyberthreats in real time, including zero-day attacks that have never previously been seen. Protection is extended across popular software, including videoconferencing applications like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, preventing attackers from accessing data in transit.

Acronis Cyber Protect

Acronis offers VARs a cyber protection solution that natively integrates cybersecurity, data protection, and management to protect endpoints, systems and data.

Acronis Cyber Protect provides VARs with a solution that can be customized to meet the specific needs of their customers and includes:

• Business cybersecurity and endpoint protection management, vulnerability assessments and patch management, remote desktop and drive health
• Full-stack, next-generation machine intelligence (MI)-based protection against malware, including URL filtering and automated backup scanning
• Fast and reliable recovery of your apps, systems and data on any device, and from any incident

Acronis Cyber Protect utilizes a revolutionary approach to cyber protection. By integrating data protection with cybersecurity, these solutions eliminate complexity, deliver better protection against today’s threats and maximize efficiency by saving time and money. 

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud

Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud provides integrated backup, disaster recovery, next-generation anti-malware, email security, endpoint protection management, vulnerability assessment, and patch management capabilities to detect and eliminate threats before they damage an organization’s environment. It is the only managed service solution that natively integrates cybersecurity, data protection, and endpoint protection management to protect endpoints, systems, and data. This synergy eliminates complexity to mitigate/eliminate risks for a VAR’s clients better while keeping costs down. It provides:

• The industry’s best backup and recovery with full-image and file-level backup and recovery to safeguard the data across more than 20 workloads – with near-zero recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RTOs).
• Essential cyber protection at no additional cost with a next-generation behavioral detection engine that stops malware, ransomware, and zero-day attacks on your client’s endpoints and systems.
• Protection management that enables thorough post-incident investigations and proper remediation.    

VARs that want to improve their business metrics and grow from both a mid- and long-term perspective are bulking up their managed cloud services portfolio and evolving their business model to include managed services like Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud. Building a service management platform is both a complex and daunting software development effort, which is why a VAR is better off working with a technology partner that provides a robust and tested pre-packed solution such as Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud.

VARs that want to stay their present course are also purchasing Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud on behalf of an MSP or business and relinquish the management of services to the partner or business as applicable.

Whatever your business needs may be, many VARs can meet those needs to ensure that whatever solution you require includes cyber protection to keep your systems, applications and data protected and secure.