Closing the Engineering Gap: How VARs Can Deliver Technology at Scale

The technology rollout landscape has shifted dramatically in recent years. What used to be a handful of sites and long lead times has become national, multi-site projects that need to be delivered quickly, reliably, and at a competitive price.

For Value-Added Resellers (VARs), this brings both opportunity and risk. End clients want faster deployments across EPOS, ATMs, WiFi, end-user compute, kiosks, and converged IP, but at the same time, sales margins are tightening, engineering talent is scarce, and expectations around quality are higher than ever.

So, how can VARs adapt to thrive in this new environment?

Rising pressures on rollout delivery

Today’s VAR project delivery teams face overlapping pressures that make technology delivery more complex than ever:

• Talent: Attracting and retaining skilled engineers is becoming increasingly difficult.
• Scale: Multi-site, multi-country rollouts require sophisticated project management and robust field engineering resources.
• Speed: End clients expect go-live dates within weeks, not months, shortening sales cycles.
• Consistency: With rollouts under scrutiny, completion rates of 99%+ are becoming the benchmark, every aborted visit or missed milestone risks client satisfaction and contract renewal.
• Margins: Competitive pricing pressures make cost-effective delivery critical.

These pressures can delay deals and squeeze margins, and they bring the risk of missed deadlines, aborted visits, and frustrated clients.

Why Internal Engineering Teams Alone Aren’t Enough

Relying solely on internal teams is no longer enough. While in-house engineers bring expertise, many VARs find themselves constrained by:

• Limited capacity, leading to slow mobilisation and restricted flexibility.
• Coverage gaps meaning national and international rollouts are hard to bid for confidently.
• High internal costs squeezing profitability.
• Inconsistent availability creating uncertainty for clients.

Often, VARs find themselves forced to use reactive, generalist engineers or to deploy high-cost specialists for routine jobs — neither of which is cost effective at scale.

The result? Lost opportunities, delayed rollouts, and reputational risk if projects don’t meet client expectations.

A joined-up approach to technology and people

The VARs thriving today are those leveraging both the latest technology and the right engineering talent. That means bringing in partners who understand the practicalities of large-scale rollout, while delivering engineers who can unlock the full potential of the technology.

With a trusted managed service partner, VARs benefit from:

• On-demand scalability: Access to hundreds of vetted engineers who can be deployed from 10 to 2,000 sites across multiple countries.
• Faster mobilisation: Reduce time-to-deployment with engineers who are fully briefed and swiftly onboarded.
• Cost-effective delivery: Boost margins by meeting client demands without overspending on fixed internal headcount.
• Quality assurance: High completion rates, minimal aborted visits, and strong KPIs reduce delivery risk.
• Centralised scheduling and shared service pools – ensuring that the right level of engineer is deployed for each task.

This is more than outsourcing, it’s a strategic partnership that ensures both technology and people are working together seamlessly to deliver outcomes.

Future-proofing rollout success

As 2026 approaches, VARs that thrive will be those who rethink their approach to technology delivery and resource management. A future-proof approach combines internal expertise with the flexibility of managed service support.

Key principles include:

• Blended resourcing: Combining in-house expertise with flexible, skilled partner engineers for optimal coverage.
• Outcome-driven delivery: Track and optimise key rollout metrics – first-time fix rates, on-time completion, client satisfaction.
• Transparent reporting: Providing full visibility across projects builds trust with clients and reduces management overhead.

By combining technology with experienced people and operational transparency, VARs can take on more ambitious projects, respond faster, and consistently deliver results that clients demand.

Embracing managed service partnerships

The future of technology rollouts will be defined by scale, speed, and quality. VARs that rely solely on internal teams will find themselves constrained, while those who embrace managed service partnerships, combining their own expertise with a partner network of skilled engineers, will be able to deliver at scale and maintain the reliability that clients demand.

If you’re planning rollouts in 2026, discover how our managed service network helps VARs win bigger deals and deliver them with confidence.