I shouldn’t be surprised. I recently read that small business owners interested in NCR Silver could pick up the bundle at Staples for $499. According to the company’s press release, “The bundle includes a receipt printer, credit card reader, cash drawer for NCR Silver, and the NCR swivel stand for an iPad. The cost also includes a free 30-day trial of NCR Silver.”
I guess that answers the question I originally posed in my article How Big A Threat Is NCR To Retail VARs? In that article, Christian Nahas, VP of NCR’s small and medium business team, said “NCR Silver is specifically designed for small businesses with up to five separate locations, so yes, NCR Silver’s sales force will be marketing towards these individuals, but NCR’s sales force will continue to focus on large businesses.”
I see now exactly what he meant. NCR’s direct sales team can freely focus on large businesses because with this Staples deal, the SMB space was effectively wrapped up.
Where does this leave VARs who focus on the SMB space? How does NCR’s reseller channel feel about this? Are OfficeMax, Costco, SAM’s Club next? With this announcement, one question was answered, but now I’ve got many new ones. None of which are fun to think about.
November 14, 2012 at 11:53 am
Mike, I have seen vendors engage Staples, OfficeMax, and Office Depot for sales efforts and fail. There is a vast difference between a sales clerk and a knowledgeable salesperson. There is one strong message from NCR’s action and that is for independent resellers to establish a business plan for their future. Daily reacting to changes will not work.
December 3, 2012 at 1:52 pm
We evaluated NCR Silver in detail, just to know what we might be selling against. It seems a great replacement for the old Casio adding machine register, but offers little depth or customization for particular verticals. It may evolve into something competitive, but if the SMB VAR is offering something this generic, then they’ve already been in trouble – from the Intuit solution and others. I really don’t see what coolnes NCR Silver offers other than BYOD iPad support (which could be big – time will tell) and their name. IMHO.