Q & A
EDITOR ’ S
WHAT DOES 2022 HAVE IN STORE FOR THE SOLUTION PROVIDER CHANNEL ?
Technology was a focus for numerous organisations . To keep up with the development , businesses need to be agile to accept hybrid and multi-cloud environments and secure against the increasing threat of cyberattacks . To be able to help customers with these IT goals , channel partners need to be up to date with in-depth knowledge of their customers ’ business operations because the future of channel sales is a constant interplay of monitoring and advising . This advice goes beyond specs : HR and business teams have become as important stakeholders as the IT department . This means that channel partners must immerse themselves much more in their customers .
If we had one takeaway from the pandemic , there needs to be a greater impetus on futureproofing against the next one . To remain future-proof , partners and vendors must work more closely to support customers in their challenges . Long-term cooperation is
It ’ s been a tough 2021 for solution providers helping build businesses back better , with some of their biggest challenges being finding the workers , skills and budget to deal with the workload . Suffice to say , the prediction business has been a tough one over the last 24 months . Unpredictability and uncertainty have ruled , leaving most companies and their workers on unsure footing . Consequently , most firms side-lined their broader strategic initiatives and goals to stay afloat . With business confidence slowly returning to the channel , industry pundits look at the encouraging signs that point upward and onward as we head into 2022 and highlight some key trends that will shape the year ahead .
WOJTEK ŻYCZYŃSKI , CHANNEL DIRECTOR , EMEA EMERGING MARKETS , CITRIX
becoming the norm , in which the added value of solutions must be continuously proven , and active use is becoming the measure of success in channel sales .
At the beginning of the disruption , the priority for CIOs was enterprise mobility . How can they enable the employee , either on-premises , remote or a mix of the two , to be able to fulfil his or her responsibilities ? Now the discussion revolves around how the hybrid employee can securely access data and applications in a manner that doesn ’ t hamper his or her productivity .
According to a study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit , a superior employee experience not only drives better productivity , engagement and retention but also improves customer satisfaction and profitability . And this is where experienced partners will be crucial . By understanding the customer ’ s needs and requirement a partner can advise them regarding technology with a good user experience . A solution that enables focus , and when employees feel empowered by the tools , they use rather than encumbered by them , they can focus , innovate and deliver value .
That said , I believe that AI and Machine Learning has a lot to offer when it comes to virtualisation . And in 2022 , channel partners will be the boots on the grounds raising awareness about solutions that can empower employees by learning user behaviour and automating their routine decisions . This basically frees up the
employees ’ time to pursue more creative and innovative tasks that raise productivity and improve wellbeing .
In terms of challenges , the skills gap has been a priority for the industry for several years now . With the accelerated digitalisation , the industry faced a shortage of skilled labour regarding cloud adoption and related technologies . The ‘ As-a-service ’ model did take some weight off the crunched IT teams in terms of skilled personnel , but it wasn ’ t enough to close the gap . The thing about the skills shortage challenge is that there is no ‘ one right answer ’, and the IT industry , the channel , and the education sector need to band together to provide talent with the right skills .
Going forward , to keep up with the shift to the cloud means that channel partners need to keep up with new business models as cloud adoption would mean a shift to subscription models .
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS Issue 47 51