What is a Value Added Reseller? IT Manager's Guide To VARs in IT Procurement

If you’ve ever had to wrangle multiple vendors just to get a handful of laptops delivered and configured across the world, you’ve probably thought about working with a value added reseller. The idea is simple: one partner to handle procurement, bundling, support, and maybe even a bit of strategy.

But for information technology managers overseeing distributed teams, the reality can be more complicated. Delays, vendor lock-in, limited product choices, and opaque pricing structures often create more problems than they solve.

This guide breaks down when working with a VAR actually makes sense, where the model tends to fall short, and how newer solutions like Deel IT offer the kind of global scale and flexibility the modern teams need.

What is a value added reseller (VAR)?

A value-added reseller (VAR) is a company that purchases products or services from manufacturers. It then adds additional service or customized solutions, and resells the complete package to end users. In IT procurement, VARs usually bundle hardware and software with other services like installation, configuration, customization, training, and ongoing technical support.

Unlike when you buy directly from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), VARs bring together multiple products, but also offer extra expertise. The "value-added" part of the name refers to any enhancement that increases the original product's worth, which makes it more suitable for specific business requirements.

The core elements of a value-added reseller model include:

• Product bundling: Combining hardware, software, and services from multiple vendors into integrated solutions
• Technical expertise: Providing specialized knowledge about implementing and optimizing technology
• Customization capabilities: Tailoring solutions to address specific customer requirements
• Support services: Offering installation, training, maintenance, and troubleshooting assistance
• Vendor relationships: Maintaining partnerships with manufacturers to secure competitive pricing and priority access

Value-added resellers operate as go-betweens in the IT supply chain, simplifying procurement by serving as a single point of contact for multiple needs.

Value added reseller companies and IT procurement

The traditional IT buying model gives you several options for getting your tech..

Organizations can buy directly from manufacturers (OEMs), work with distributors that sell third-party products, or use VAR partners to make vendor management easier. So why do organizations actually make use of this option?

Why companies use VARs

There are four main reasons to work with a VAR partner:

• Single point of contact: Instead of dealing with many vendors, you can buy everything through one reseller. This makes IT departments’ jobs easier and cuts down on emails and calls.
• Bundled solutions: VARs bundle products offered and services together for you, so you don't have to figure out what works together. For example, a VAR might give you servers, software, setup help, and support all in one package. This saves IT managers from sorting through complex options.
• Specialized expertise: Some VARs know a lot about specific fields. A healthcare VAR, for example, knows both the tech needs and the compliance rules that hospitals must follow.
• Potentially better prices: VARs buy in bulk from vendors, so they can often get you better deals than you could get on your own. This is especially helpful for smaller companies. Many VARs now let you pay monthly instead of all at once, which helps you get good tech without spending a huge amount upfront.

Challenges of VAR procurement

Despite the benefits, there are some drawbacks as well. The downsides you might encounter can include:

• Limited product choices: Most VARs only work with a few manufacturers, so you might not get the best technology solutions for your needs.
• Vendor lock-in concerns: Once you’re deeply integrated with a VAR, it can be tough to change to a different one.
• Margin stacking: Each step in the buying chain adds to the price. When products go from maker to distributor to VAR before reaching you, the price often goes up a lot.
• Geographic limitations: Some VARs work well in certain regions but can't help much with global needs. This is a big problem if you have team members in different countries.

Types of value-added resellers and their services

Value-added resellers have grown to handle many different tech needs for different markets..

Let’s look at some of these distinctions to help you find the right partner.

Hardware VARs

Firstly, hardware-focused VARs focus on physical technology including:

• Enterprise infrastructure: Servers, storage systems, and networking equipment
• End-user devices: Laptops, desktops, tablets, and mobile devices
• Specialized hardware: Point-of-sale systems, industrial equipment, and IoT devices

Many hardware VARs provide specialized IT asset management solutions (ITAM) to help you track and manage your hardware.

These resellers often set up, test, and check everything works together. Many prepare your equipment in their own facilities before sending it to you.

Software VARs

Software VARs focus on programs and platforms, like:

• Enterprise software: ERP, CRM, and business intelligence platforms
• Cybersecurity solutions: Endpoint protection, device management, network security, and compliance tools
• Cloud infrastructure: Public, private, and hybrid cloud deployment services

These partners can customize products, connect it with what you already use, move your data, and train your team. They might know a lot about specific systems like Microsoft or Salesforce, or focus on teaching cloud skills.

Software VARs often build special add-ons for specific industries. They know both the software and your business needs, so they can solve your specific problems.

Industry-specific VARs

Some VARs are experts in particular fields with special tech needs, like:

• Healthcare IT: Patient record systems, medical device integration, and medical privacy compliance
• Financial services: Trading platforms, regulatory compliance tools, and secure transaction systems
• Government and public sector: Solutions that meet specialized security and procurement rules

These specialized VARs understand your industry's rules, workflows, and best practices. They can provide:

• Connections to standard systems in your field
• Workflows for specific business processes
• Help with reports and regulatory documents your industry requires

End-to-end IT lifecycle VARs

End-to-end IT lifecycle VARs provide a wide range of support.

With these, you’ll find services covering the entire technology adoption journey, from planning through retirement. They work almost like an outsourced IT department.

Their service portfolio typically covers:

• Getting started: Procuring, setting up, and installing equipment
• Daily support: Monitoring, maintenance, and helping users
• Refresh and disposal: Replacing old hardware, wiping data, and responsible recycling

These partners handle both day-to-day tasks and long-term planning. They can manage vendors, set up services, provide tech support—pretty much everything you’d need throughout a device’s life.

Their complete approach ensures your tech strategy stays connected rather than being handled in pieces.

Beyond traditional VARs: The Deel IT approach

While traditional VARs business model aims to simplify procurement and provide support services, they often fall short in today’s distributed, compliance-heavy, fast-moving environments. Manual coordination, regional limitations, vendor lock-in, and limited visibility are all common issues.

Deel IT is built to solve these problems, but without relying on the traditional reseller model.

Instead of reselling third-party hardware with added services, Deel IT functions as a platform for global IT operations. It brings together procurement, deployment, lifecycle tracking, compliance enforcement, and 24/7 customer service in one system that works across 150+ countries.

What sets Deel IT apart:

• No vendor lock-in: Choose the best tools and devices for your business
• Global-first logistics: Deploy hardware anywhere, with local compliance built in
• Automation built-in: Eliminate manual workflows with integrated HR, IT, and finance systems
• Transparent pricing: No margin stacking or surprise fees
• Complete lifecycle visibility: Track, maintain, and decommission devices from a single dashboard

Think of Deel IT as the modern alternative to end-to-end VARs. It offers the same benefits like centralization, support, and lifecycle management, but delivers them through software, automation, and global infrastructure.

Bottom line? Deel IT delivers what VARs promise, in a faster, more scalable, and more secure way.

When IT managers should use value added resellers

Despite their limitations, VARs can be seriously helpful in certain situations. Knowing when these partnerships make sense helps you choose the best IT procurement approach (without overcommitting to a single sourcing model).

You need bundled IT solutions with extra services

When you need more than just hardware or software - like installation, setup, training, and ongoing support, VARs can be really useful. You can benefit from cohesive solution packages where a single provider handles everything from start to finish.

Imagine a financial services company setting up a new trading platform. Instead of dealing with separate companies for equipment, software licenses, setup, and training, they could use a specialized VAR to do it all.

This makes the whole process simpler and ensures everything works together.

You want a long-term partner for ongoing procurement

If your company needs the same kind of IT equipment over time, having a long-term VAR relationship can make buying much easier.

You'll work with a partner who knows your systems, security needs, and how you operate - so you don't have to explain everything to new vendors repeatedly.

This works especially well when your technology doesn't change much and you buy in predictable patterns. Having this ongoing customer relationship cuts down on paperwork and helps keep your technology consistent across your company.

You need good prices for standard equipment

Speaking of consistent tech standards—how about standardized low costs to go with them?

If you need the same setup across many locations or departments, VARs can use their bulk buying power to get you better prices.

You'll often find that bulk procurement through a VAR saves money compared to buying directly, especially for common hardware and regular software licenses.

Want to Reduce IT Costs? Try These 5 Device Reconditioning Strategies

Your internal IT team is stretched thin

If you don't have many tech staff or lack certain expertise, VARs can effectively extend your team's abilities. Having a VAR handle specialized projects lets your team focus on strategic work instead of getting stuck in technical details. This gives you access to specialized skills without hiring new people or developing knowledge you'll rarely use.

You need to meet strict industry rules

Your regulatory environment might make specialized compliance expertise essential. If you work in healthcare, banking, or government, you might need specialized IT compliance expertise.

Partnering with a VAR that knows your industry's regulations can greatly reduce compliance risks. These partners have ready-made frameworks that meet complex regulatory requirements without you having to develop them yourself.

You need local, hands-on support

Some technology needs people on-site for installation, setup, or ongoing support. If your project needs significant in-person work, VARs with local technicians offer clear benefits. Having someone nearby means faster help when hardware problems occur or when physical access is needed - something remote-only support can't provide.

When VARs may not be the best choice

Despite their benefits in some cases, VARs have important limitations that make them a poor fit for some modern IT needs. Consider avoiding VARs::

If you need to track and manage global IT equipment

When your team works across many countries, traditional VARs often can't provide the visibility and flexibility you need. Most VARs focus on specific regions, creating blind spots when you try to manage technology worldwide.

This global procurement challenge isn't just about logistics—it affects your ability to maintain security standards, follow regulations, and give all employees a consistent experience. Without the ability to track assets across borders in real time, you'll have trouble keeping tabs on your global technology.

And organizations that switch to global-capable solutions often see dramatic improvements.

Sastrify experienced this advantage when they brought in Deel IT for their international team. They successfully delivered equipment to 130+ team members across 24 countries with 97% on-time delivery.

If you want to avoid vendor lock-in and markups on third-party products

Most VARs make money by adding fees to the products they resell - creating extra costs that can significantly impact your budget. This pricing approach becomes especially problematic when buying standard equipment in large quantities or when needing various technologies from different makers.

Beyond just higher costs, the limited partnerships most VARs maintain restrict your choices. Your teams might have to settle for less-than-ideal tools simply because they're not offered by your VAR - leading to inefficiency and potentially limiting your team's effectiveness.

If you want automated asset tracking and compliance monitoring

Modern IT environments need real-time visibility and active control throughout your technology’s lifecycle—abilities that go far beyond what most VARs offer. When your company must meet strict security requirements, poor asset tracking becomes a serious problem.

Companies that implement automated procurement solutions often see dramatic efficiency gains.

Filtered achieved an 80% reduction in onboarding time after switching to Deel IT, transforming what had been a multi-hour process into a 10-minute task.

Without automated systems that show you device status, setup, and location immediately, you'll struggle to maintain proper oversight and operational efficiency.

This visibility gap creates special challenges for companies with remote workers. Without automated tracking and compliance monitoring, you'll struggle to manage security risks and make the best use of technology across your company.

Key trends shaping the VAR landscape

The role of value-added resellers continues to evolve in response to fundamental shifts in technology buying and management.

Digital transformation is driving VAR evolution

Today's VARs are moving from simply selling products ("VAR 1.0") to becoming digital transformation partners ("VAR 2.0"). This big change helps them stay relevant in today's tech world.

Your most effective VAR partners now focus on building special expertise, learning about specific industries, and offering services that go with their products. Instead of just filling orders, these modern VARs help plan your overall tech strategy and guide you through complex digital projects.

Cloud computing is changing how VARs deliver services

Cloud technology has completely changed how VARs run their businesses and offer services. Your VAR partners are switching from old systems (like email and spreadsheets) to scalable cloud platforms that make operations smoother and service delivery faster.

Instead of competing with cloud providers, smart VARs now include cloud services in their complete solutions. They help you move from on-premises infrastructure to hybrid and multi-cloud setups.

Cybersecurity becomes a core offering

With security concerns affecting every aspect of technology deployment, cybersecurity has become the top priority for VARs, with nearly half (49%) now focusing on security solutions.

You'll see more unified security platforms that combine previously separate tools into complete solutions. This helps manage the growing complexity of security products while addressing the shortage of cybersecurity experts.

VARs are expanding their security capabilities to handle new threats, including deepfakes and AI-driven attacks. This ongoing development helps you stay protected without needing specialized security experts in every area.

Subscription-based models are changing the business side of VARs

The shift from one-time sales to recurring revenue models is perhaps the biggest business change in the VAR world. Industry experts now say that "for the successful systems integrator, growth and subscription selling must go hand-in-hand."

This move to subscriptions offers several benefits when working with a VAR:

• You gain more predictable operational expenses instead of irregular capital outlays
• Your technology stays up-to-date through regular updates rather than big replacements
• Your relationship becomes an ongoing partnership focused on long-term results

This matches broader business trends that favor regular operating expenses over large capital investments, especially for companies that need flexibility.

Globalization expands what VARs can offer

As your operations spread across more locations, you need partners who can support team members wherever they are. Traditional VARs with regional limits face challenges when deploying technology to international teams.

Forward-thinking VARs are developing truly global capabilities, delivering devices worldwide while handling customs requirements, import rules, and regional compliance. This global reach is especially valuable when managing remote and hybrid teams across multiple countries.

How Deel IT solves VAR procurement challenges

Modern IT needs a buying approach that overcomes traditional challenges and goes beyond traditional VAR limits.

Deel IT is a platform built specifically for today's business needs:

• Global equipment delivery - Unlike regional VARs, Deel IT provides the same procurement experience across more than 150 countries, letting you deploy standard technology regardless of where employees are located.
• Freedom to choose any vendor - Deel IT removes vendor lock-in by giving you access to many technology options without limiting partnerships. This means you can pick the best solutions based on what you need, not what your VAR offers.
• Clear pricing without hidden markups - No more layers of middleman fees. Deel IT's transparent pricing shows you exactly what you're spending, helping you manage costs more effectively.
• Automated processes and system connections - Unlike traditional VARs using manual methods, Deel IT provides full automation throughout the procurement lifecycle. This dramatically reduces paperwork and speeds up deployment times.

Book a demo today to learn how Deel IT can transform your global procurement strategy.