EXPERT SPEAK
people go and you fall out of compliance
with the partner programme?
Maintaining compliance
with vendor
programmes is often
a manual and timeconsuming
activity.
The current pandemic is forcing firms
all over the world to rethink how they
do business in 2020 and beyond – the
IT channel is no exception.
Channel partners are playing a crucial
role during the crisis, ensuring customers’
businesses are fully enabled – in many cases
standing up remote workforces almost
overnight. Partners have been forced to
adapt quickly and some may feel vulnerable
during this period of uncertainty.
As a partner, you will have many
questions and concerns. Here are some
approaches to consider:
Planning for the future
It is difficult to make concrete plans when
there is so much uncertainty about what form
economic recovery will take. But it is important
to look at different scenarios and consider
what each could mean to your business.
What happens if it is a long recovery?
Although a significantly different scenario, if
you look at the global financial crisis in 2008,
economic recovery took a long time. What
type of people do you need? If you must
restructure, what does your organisation
need to look like without affecting your
ability to function effectively, particularly
once business starts to return to previous
levels? A danger lies in losing people without
considering the impact to your partner
programmes. What if you let the wrong
Automate back-end processes
Maintaining compliance with vendor
programmes is often a manual and timeconsuming
activity. By automating that
process, it is easier to maintain compliance,
as well as keep on top of any special
measures that vendors have rolled out to
support partners at this time.
For example, many vendors have
extended the deadlines for partner
programmes, but you must ensure you
still meet those requirements at the end
of the grace period. Also, it makes sense
to move employees away from back end
administration tasks and put those resources
into the front end.
Adopt an annuity business model
Partners that rely too heavily on new
implementations and project-based work
may struggle. New projects need budgets
to be available and customers that are
willing to invest – which in a crisis, they
may not. They may also involve physical
implementation of the technology and when
offices and facilities are locked down, this
becomes challenging.
Conversely, partners that have moved to
an annuity model will fare much better, as
it provides consistency. Month after month,
you know what your revenue is. Accelerate
your move to annuity.
Look after your customers
During a crisis, you need to go that extra mile
for your customers. They will remember the
suppliers that were empathetic and treated
them fairly during this period. One of the
great things to come out of this pandemic
is that people are letting their human side
show a little bit more and as companies,
we need to aim for that somewhat clichéd
position of ‘trusted advisor’. We will all be
better off in the long-term and enjoy more
valuable relationships. •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT
TECH CHANNELS Issue 31
53