Been doing some year-end interviews with channel executives that I know, to get a sense of the trends that I should be covering or at least watching in 2010. Had a particularly enlightening conversation with Janet Schijns, vice president of global channel programs for the Motorola enterprise mobility solutions group.

My discussion with Janet reminded me again of the serious potential for disconnect between the people running channel programs at massive high-tech companies and the people running day-to-day operations at those companies’ channel partners. This disconnect is nothing intentional, mind you, it just happens.

This one is a biggie, though. Janet, who used to run a small channel consultancy before joining Motorola, realized that many (almost all in fact) of Motorola’s business partners were NOT performing simple credit checks on potential account prospects before launching into full-blown sales campaigns.

Sounds really basic, huh, especially as many SMB VARs grapple with ballooning accounts receivable? But the fact is, many partners get so excited about the potential within a particular account that they often fail to overlook the true potential of that account to pay their bills on time.

So, if you want to add value to your channel program heading into the New Year, make it easier for your partners — of all shapes and sizes — to figure out if a customer prospective has the money to back up their technology buying intentions.