EDITOR ’ S COMMENT
KEY INVESTMENTS DRIVING THE CHANNEL RECOVERY
Sherifa Hady , EMEA Channel Sales Director , Aruba , a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company , discusses how the shift to support new infrastructure needs for a digital-first world and the varied impact on businesses has created the desire for growth within the channel .
As customers across EMEA continue to grapple with today ’ s everevolving pandemic landscape and their investments shift to support new infrastructure needs for a digital-first world , business recovery in the channel is proving a varied and staggered journey . For some channel businesses , activity has slowed right down , while for others it has had to accelerate in order to keep pace with the need to consolidate , restructure or expand existing assets for services such as retail and education . Yet in spite of the varied impact on their businesses , the desire for growth within the channel remains strong .
For Aruba , keeping close to our partner networks in new , virtual ways has been critical to better understanding what they need to enable this growth , but so too has communicating our own vision of what lies ahead in this time of incredible transformation . What technologies can we expect to come to the fore and how will this drive the decisions businesses make about their IT infrastructure ?
Aruba recently surveyed 2,400 IT decision makers ( ITDMs ) in over 20 countries to find out how they have adapted to new IT and business demands in the wake of COVID-19 , what investment decisions they are making as a result and what consumption models are now being considered – all against the backdrop of navigating the new data era . A number of the key findings will have significant relevance to channel partners as they look to evolve their on-going services and return to growth , so I ’ ve outlined three of the most useful below :
Sherifa Hady , EMEA Channel Sales Director , Aruba
Subscription services are skyrocketing
ITDM ’ s who have reported the most significant impact from the pandemic are not just the most likely to be investing more in new technologies , they are also more minded to pursue models of consumption that give them greater financial control .
When asked what IT consumption models they were most likely to explore in light of COVID-19 , just 8 % of respondents said they planned to continue with CAPEX investments only . By contrast , 55 % said they
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