EDITOR’S
There will also be a
need for resellers to
adopt a hybrid model
when it comes to
offering managed
services, as well as onprem
solutions.
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
32Q&A
INTELLIGENT
TECH CHANNELS Issue
DEE DEE ACQUISTA, SENIOR VICE
PRESIDENT OF CHANNELS AND
ALLIANCES, BEYONDTRUST
The next five years will prove
revolutionary for the role of the
reseller. And to be successful in
adapting to the changes ahead, it is critical
to ensure new technology and trends are
embraced, market strengths are played
to and customer (and partner) experiences
are enhanced. First, and front-of-mind
for many right now, is the adoption and
migration to cloud, something that has been
accelerated with the sudden remote working
shift in 2020.
Remote working and cloud migration
Partners/resellers must pivot in the coming
years to create an ecosystem to align with
their customer’s business – more specifically
create, position and sell industry specific
vertical solutions that customers can
better relate to. Customers are increasingly
looking to get simplified software solutions,
including the management of them,
especially now that remote workforces are
increasing, with a large proportion likely to
remain permanent.
The demand for one-stop integrated
solutions puts us in a strong position with
our holistic, modularised approaches in
the PAM space. We are already seeing this
Universal Privilege Management approach
gaining traction with the Strategic Alliances
Partners (GSIs/Regional SIs and MSPs)
and this can be backed up with the latest
Gartner reports on SaaS, and how they are
estimating a significant uptick which they
believe will be driven by cloud adoption.
Emerging technology and alliances
There will also be a need for resellers
to adopt a hybrid model when it comes
to offering managed services, as well as
on-prem solutions. We have seen VARs
becoming MSPs first-hand and this shift
will prove to be a deciding factor in
the ecosystem.
Things we were calling ‘emerging
technology’ have now emerged and this
brings with it an expectation from resellers
for new integrations.
As a result, it is imperative that there
is a focus on strategic alliances – enabling
a wide range of technologies to integrate,
complement and strengthen each product
offering – ensuring maximum ROI and
efficiency. Keeping ahead of these trends
and working with upcoming vendors will
become a necessity to resellers, rather than
a ‘nice to have’.
Partner experience as a priority
Prioritising partner experience alongside
customer experience will also be a crucial
part of the process for many, something
that we are one step ahead with. The best
companies recognise that giving partners
the right training, access to collateral and
clear margins will only serve to strengthen
their relationships.
This in turn impacts the resellers, who
will gain more from these requirements.
Enablement, transparency and teamwork
is the ultimate driving force to success if a
vendor partner ecosystem is to thrive. •
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