Skip to main content

Channel Partners Focus on Cloud and Managed Services

Most business technology vendors are already in the process of revamping their traditional marketing organizations to better support their IT channel partners. The ongoing shift to a progressive digital marketing methodology has challenged many leaders, due to the difficulty in re-training their legacy employees.

Moreover, demand for marketing talent that is skilled in the development of digital business transformation projects has increased over the last year, yet the available talent pool remains somewhat limited. As a result, the competition for recruiting (and retaining) digital polymaths is intense -- particularly for those marketers that possess knowledge of hybrid cloud and IT security technologies.

Market Development in the Channel

The global information technology (IT) channel remains optimistic -- despite predictions of a challenging 2016 -- according to a recent Canalys survey of 260 IT channel partners around the world. 75 percent of partners expect revenue growth in 2016, while 70 percent expect profitability growth. They'll likely achieve that growth via superior market development skills.

Revenue growth opportunities for the channel remain abundant in most sectors. Hyper-converged infrastructure, cloud-based applications and software-defined infrastructure were all highlighted as important growth categories. Of all the segments, IT security is expected to perform the best in 2016, with 87 percent of survey respondents expecting growth.

"IT security is already the number one priority for end customers, and is only going to grow in importance as they invest in next-generation data centers, digital transformation, cloud, mobility and IoT. But this also illustrates the complexity of the security landscape – to capitalize, partners will need to develop much greater levels of expertise," said Jordan De Leon, analyst at Canalys.

According to the Canalys assessment, the vast majority of channel partners see themselves in a state of transformation -- realizing that as the industry evolves, so too must the channel landscape. Cloud and managed services are becoming ever more important to the channel business model, with managed services in particular now contributing significantly to partner profitability.

Competition for New Managed Service Customers

For two thirds of respondents, managed services are now more profitable than reselling traditional IT products. That being said, Canalys believes that the channel must address both new buyers within existing customers -- especially Line of Business leaders -- as well as exploring and pursuing completely different IT sales opportunities.

But new competitors are emerging in the channel, from highly focused cloud-only resellers to savvy digital transformation consultants serving the specific needs of industry verticals, such as banking and healthcare.

These companies are application-literate and professional services-led. They're already helping their customers solve business issues, not just selling new technology or products. Channel partners must invest in developing their own vertical and pre-sales capabilities, in order to stay ahead of the game.

For IT vendors, these findings show the importance of building integrated relationships with channel partners. Maintaining simple, easy-to-use partner programs and predictable incentive schemes, while adapting ongoing training and certification to reflect the known technology buyer demands, will be vital for success.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year

Global Digital Business and IT Consulting Outlook

Across the globe, CEOs and their leadership teams continue to seek information and guidance about planned Digital Transformation initiatives and the most effective enterprise organization change management practices. Worldwide IT and Business Services revenue will grow from $1.13 trillion in 2022 to $1.2 trillion in 2023 -- that's a 5.7 percent year-over-year growth, according to the latest market study by International Data Corporation (IDC). The mid-term to long-term outlook for the market has also increased -- the five-year CAGR is forecast at 5.2 percent, compared to the previous 4.9 percent. Digital Sevices & Consulting Market Development IDC has raised the growth projection despite a weak economic outlook, because of vendor performances across 2022, growth indicators from adjacent markets, increased government funding, and inflation impacts. The actual 2022 market growth was 6.7 percent (in constant currency), which was 87 basis points higher than forecast last year, alth