FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
and services. A channel partner who
proves capable to customers in such
areas will make positive margins on
the total solution compared to product
selling, where competition is on price and
accordingly low margins.
Landscape
Artificial Intelligence and machine
learning will make further inroads into
the workplace, and we are seeing this
already given the amount of resources
invested into natural language processing
initiatives. It will be interesting to see how
artificial intelligence, and more specifically
machine learning is going to shape the
network security landscape going forward.
Security is a key concern for chief
security officers as their enterprises
become increasingly mobile, but by
deploying a machine-learning framework
on enterprise networks, suspect
behaviour can be spotted, analysed
and responded to automatically, which
means CSO’s can rest assured that their
enterprise is being protected. This then
leaves IT staff to take care of the day-
to-day operations, lessening the need to
monitor networks manually.
A technology that is not new but has
taken major steps towards becoming
common practice for enterprises is Edge
Computing. With the explosion of connected
devices, cloud, and data transferred globally,
the increased traffic puts a lot of strain on
the bandwidth and network capabilities of
enterprise infrastructure.
Latency requirements and the fact
that data processing is becoming key for
all organisations, processing will need
to move away from central processing
nodes and pushed towards the edge of
the network. This will help improve the
network capabilities for data gathering
and processing, and lessened latency
issues mean that connected devices can
function optimally. ◊
EPICOR
Epicor migrating channel from
resellers to value added partners
O
ver the past 12 months, Epicor
has made substantial changes to
the channel partner programme
to ensure that partners are enabled
and ready to cater to the various
transformations that are expected during
2018, including cloud, digital, mobility
and Industry 4.0.
Scorecard
The changes have centred around
answering one fundamental question:
What skillsets and resources do partners
need to possess in order to add value for
the customer. To this end, everything
from partner selection criteria, sales and
technical training, to the way Epicor
incentivises and evaluate its partners,
has been focused around changing the
partner business model to a value selling
approach, where value and the customers’
growth defines the sale. Based on
feedback from partners and customers,
over the course of the year, Epicor
believes it has crossed a bridge from
having resellers to value added partners.
With the slump in regional economies,
organisations are having to find new and
innovative ways to improve their efficiency
and grow their bottom line. Faced with
this reality, businesses will be looking to
adopt the latest technologies in cloud,
analytics and customer experience, as they
22
respond to the new digital challenges of
tomorrow while achieving a competitive
advantage right now.
Landscape
In response to customer requirements,
in December 2017, Epicor introduced the
latest version of Epicor ERP. This release
includes powerful new functionality to
enable manufacturers to grow, innovate
and compete in today’s ever-changing
global landscape. Marquee capabilities
include new business intelligence and
visual analytics capabilities delivered
via Epicor Data Discovery, a completely
redesigned home page, Active Home
Page, Smart Inventory Planning and
Optimisation, as well as new country and
industry-specific functionality.
Forecast
1. Due to the current economic climate
and the credit crunch that we saw in
2017, there will be consolidation and
general reduction of resellers in
the market.
2. In response to change in customer
buying behaviour, Epicor expects there
will be a major shift from old school
partnering models to new ones that are
purely value based or consultancy led.
3. As a result of the transformation in
the way that partners will be required
to do business and operate, with a
focus on value selling, Epicor feels new
and unlikely candidates will emerge
as key players in the region. This will
take away market share from the
established partners . ◊
MIMECAST
Layered email
security,
opportunity
for Mimecast
channel partners
M
imecast introduced a new
channel programme and set
clear expectations for its channel
partners. This included changes to its
MDF investment, quarterly goals and
certification requirements. Mimecast
has introduced a tiered partner model
that measures and rewards partner
performance against various agreed
business objectives.
This places the vendor in a strong
position to build programmatic benefits for
partners that have invested and continue to
invest in the Mimecast suite of services.
Scorecard
In the new year, Mimecast plans to
continue rewarding core partners.
Issue 14
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS