FUTURE TECHNOLOGY
present market where expertise plays a vital role in upscaling businesses and enterprises even for resellers and partners ,” he noted .
Zakhour said the tech talent squeeze is real , and it has intensified over the years as more vendors and distributors vie to hire the same highly skilled individuals .
“ My advice to resellers would be to avoid investing on just one resource who has the required technical expertise , and instead focus on training and skilling more individuals within the organisation to create a more balanced environment with lots of technical capabilities . Technology is evolving at a dizzying pace , and so is the need to maintain and update skills and acquire new capabilities . If resellers have a proper team and allocate the right time , and foster the right culture and environment , they will end up having a team with different specialisations and being able to scale ,” she said .
While it is undeniable that the dire skills shortages are impacting the channel sector collectively , industry pundits have long argued about who should oversee upskilling , reskilling , and training channel talent .
If resellers have a proper team and allocate the right time , and foster the right culture and environment , they will end up having a team with different specialisations and being able to scale .
Michael Wilson , Senior Manager , Sub-Saharan Africa Channel , VMware , said : “ In theory , I believe it comes down to everybody [ reseller , distributor and vendor ], including the individual . Some of the best people I see in the industry today are hungry to learn more . They understand what they enjoy and go and learn everything they can about it . Those are the true successes in a world defined by an abundance of technology , growth , and innovation . In an organisation , vendors and distributors should support channel talent on their journey . It ’ s a breath of fresh air when as a vendor , you meet people within your partner base that want to learn more about your product – it immediately endears me to want to help fund their learning journey . Conversely , individuals also need to take responsibility for their learning and push for it .”
NetApp ’ s Zakhour reiterated that the value of obtaining vendor certification is immense . “ We call it a vendor specialisation and by being a specialist , partners are creating their key differentiators and building advantages . Specialisation is important because it helps the partner to grow its market share , increase their confidence in delivering not just solutions , but also vendor services , and have happy customers ,” she said . •
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