FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
Bridging the channel skills gap
The tech talent shortage has resellers in the EMEA channel scrambling to ensure that employees brush up on the latest skills and technologies that facilitate business agility . Industry pundits share tips for fruitful partner training , certifications , reskilling and crosstraining as resellers look for solutions to bridge the skills gap and build the next generation of channel leaders , writes Manda Banda .
Prashant Menon , Channel Manager – UAE , Check Point Software Technologies
The tech talent shortage has solution providers in the EMEA channel scrambling to ensure that employees brush up on the latest skills and technologies that facilitate business agility . Among the domains in the highest demand : cloud computing , Machine Learning , data science , software engineering and cybersecurity .
Bob Aoun , Regional Sales Director , MEA , Poly , said the role of channel leadership is steadily gathering momentum in the Middle East and Africa ( MEA ) mostly due to the fact that the region-specific business environment has forced marketing channels to move towards vertical integration and long-term relationships with channel members . Aoun said regional resellers are now moving with speed to ensure that they quickly identify and single out any imminent deficiencies that might impede channel members ’ perceptions , motivation , abilities and environmental conditions that could adversely affect their overall performance .
“ That said , channel partner programmes should be designed so participants of all sizes can easily deliver the most compelling and customised solutions to their customers . A good partner programme recognises and rewards achievement that extends beyond revenue generation , ensuring it is not only the largest partners that benefit ,” he said . “ Training , reskilling or upskilling should not be left to one party . It ’ s a shared responsibility with all the parties ( vendors , distributors and resellers ) involved playing a crucial part in ensuring that channel talents acquire the right skills set to meet emerging needs of the consumer and market trends .”
Resellers , globally not just in MEA , should go above and beyond to create successful and sustainable partnerships . Top on the
agenda should be to foster stronger and mutually beneficial collaboration .
Finding and retaining the right IT talent by resellers is hampering partner training and certification and the trickle-down effect is being felt and mirrored by the not-sorosy sales figures . To remedy this situation , solution providers should , among other things , re-evaluate their channel training needs . Different categories of resellers need different types of training to market their products better . By determining what type of training works best for different resellers , vendors and distributors can help their partners to overcome any challenges .
Prashant Menon , Channel Manager – UAE , Check Point Software Technologies , Middle East , said Check Point Software offers a wide range of professional certification training courses . Menon said these training courses are available from
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