FUTURE TECHNOLOGY infrastructure and working practice . He added : “ A big change I see will concern channel partners as I think a lot of them are now going to have to move into a world where they weren ’ t necessarily well positioned before . Traditionally , partners were trusted by the end customer , particularly as a managed service provider ( MSP ), as they would sell the customer servers and local software and would manage it .
“ However , organisations are now understanding their own capabilities and
Johnny Carpenter , VP Sales EMEA at iland are questioning MSPs on how they can be more agile . Customers are now using things like Zoom , Webex and other remote collaboration tools , and financial directors and the CEOs of organisations are using all these technologies as well . That is now driving the conversations from the top down and I think the partners will now need to work smarter and have a greater understanding of these new technologies and new ways of delivering value to their customer base .”
He said that from a partner perspective as well , he thinks many more are turning to subscription and OPEX services to avoid the heavy bumps in the road that CAPEX services have been hit with this last year . Carpenter added : “ If I was to put in a nutshell how our most successful partners have managed to pivot it would be , ‘ Train your team , educate your customers and make your services compensation neutral for cloud and on-premises ’.”
CHRIS MARTIN , EMEA CHANNEL LEADER AT A10 NETWORKS , said that in the next 12 months , he believes we will see a period of consolidation and growth for the channel .
The channel is in the unique position of having access to the tools , people and support necessary to keep businesses , and more importantly , people , connected .
He said : “ Every vendor should be looking at how they have adapted their working practices , both internally and with partners , especially during the peak months of the COVID-19 pandemic . Applying these reflections and any learnings should make for a far less turbulent year in 2021 . In fact , most organisations have accelerated their Digital Transformation plans which has hopefully led to opportunity and growth for the channel .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 36
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