FUTURE TECHNOLOGY the subscription for part or whole of the software . “ The MEA region largely sees three different ways ERP products are distributed to end customers . With some of the leading software , the direct purchase from the OEM vendors remains the highest percentage followed by the resell through a value-added distributor ,” he said . “ While many of the deals may be partner influenced , eventual fulfilment through channel partners are relatively lower in our view . That is why resellers and systems integrators should look out for key business trends in the ERP space because there is a greater adoption of SaaS as against the traditional on-premise ERP applications .”
Within the broader agenda of Digital Transformation , there would be greater and continued emphasis on improving the employee experience and customer experience solutions . This will require and demand that channel partners invest in skills development and enablement .
At IFS , Azeroual explained that channel stakeholders ( vendors , distributors and resellers ) should address the IT skills challenge facing the MEA channel market
One of the main challenges for channel partners is to break with the traditional mindset of onprem solutions and encourage customers to embrace a cloudfirst approach .
head on . “ Recent McKinsey ’ s research tells us that there ’ s going to be a more than 25 % increase in the demand for soft skills by 2030 , because machines are just not able to bring some abilities to the table ,” she said . “ We need humans for problem solving and critical thinking . To this end , IFS is heavily investing in partner business enablement in the region with a win-win approach and rolling out a variety of channel programmes and policies .”
Balasubramanyan said when it comes to IT skills challenge facing the MEA ERP market , the demand as well as scarcity for IT skills in general and the Digital Transformation related skills in particular is a reality . “ Channel stakeholders ( vendors , distributors and resellers ) need to address and invest in building greater industry – academia collaboration so the skills in demand are integrated into the curriculum of universities , colleges and other higher learning institutions . This is where we expect OEMs to play greater role besides the systems integrators in the regional channel ,” he said .
Taha said Infor selects its channel partners carefully and collaborate closely to ensure they have the right skills to be a trusted advisor to customers across key verticals , while maximising the company ’ s geographical reach . “ Our on-going commitment to our partners is to continue to improve the partner programme by focusing on feedback they have given ,” he said . •
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 40
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