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In today’s rapidly changing business environment, channel partners face challenges that require both strategic adaptation and unwavering resilience. As business and technology leaders, it is critical that they proactively examine key elements of the channel landscape and understand their implications for businesses. These steps are essential to staying ahead of challenges and maintaining a competitive edge.
Vice President for EMEA Strategic Partners & Alliances and EMEA Inside Sales at Hitachi Vantara.
The changing channel
One of the key factors shaping the channel industry today is the tightening economic conditions that have had a significant impact on businesses worldwide. For example, the UK recently entered a recession, with a 0.3% decline in GDP from October to December last year. Economic challenges such as these highlight the need for cost-effective solutions that balance financial constraints with innovation to continue to drive operational efficiency.
We also see trends like the technology skills shortage continuing to impact the channel industry. Technology experts are needed to effectively run managed services, but with the increasing competition for these experts, companies are under increasing pressure to pay higher wages to secure the skilled labor they need. Additionally, global supply chain issues and shortages are also resulting in bottlenecks and delays, requiring organizations to invest in more resilient supply chains to mitigate the impact on operations and revenues. And beyond all of this, the pressure to modernize data center operations remains a priority for most organizations to improve performance and support sustainable practices.
As the landscape continues to evolve, effective channel strategies remain critical to facilitating business expansion and improving partner satisfaction and engagement—something that remains important as partner engagement becomes increasingly necessary for growth. Companies have moved away from rigid program structures based on strict categorizations such as partner tiers, which are based on business volume or certification count. Instead, they have shifted to identifying partners based on their actions, an approach that enables opportunities to be matched to the right partners. It also points to optimal paths for collaborative efforts in service building, delivery, and management.
A forward-looking approach to enable success
Despite the current obstacles, there are tremendous opportunities for channel partners to leverage their expertise and deliver valuable services and capabilities to their end customers. While some companies overlook the importance of channel partnerships, it is important – and can be hugely beneficial – to recognize the transformative power of collaboration and the critical path it provides to driving mutual success and sustainable growth.
Success for channel partners lies in proactively assessing the models they use and the environments in which they operate. Today, moving to and operating in highly distributed, hybrid cloud environments is a must for data-driven enterprises. It is no longer a luxury, but a strategic necessity to achieve both financial and business goals. Furthermore, hybrid cloud models are increasingly in demand to meet the demands of modern application architectures, enabling a winning combination of greater agility, security and cost efficiency. This illustrates why it is critical for partners to ensure they are partnering with the right technology vendors with expertise in highly distributed infrastructure environments and the ability to scale and manage large amounts of data across disparate sources.
So, how can channel partners explore the services that best meet their needs? There are many innovative solutions available, but those that take a partner-first approach are the most valuable in supporting both enterprises and channel partners on their cloud adoption journey.
Hybrid cloud as a path to building resilient infrastructure
Every organization’s cloud journey is unique. The right service provider should be able to meet you where you are, whether you’re just starting out or well on your way. For all channel partners, a comprehensive suite of services including digital innovation, insightful consulting and assessment, and expert operational management are essential to ensure you get the most out of your investments. This support can mean higher ROI, extensive interoperability and observability with existing systems, and reduced deployed power and footprint requirements compared to other offerings on the market today.
Ultimately, the right approach can enable businesses to leverage the full potential of cloud services in driving their digital transformation initiatives, leading to streamlined operations, new business opportunities, reduced costs, and improved overall efficiency. These benefits cannot be underestimated and can go a long way in establishing organizations as industry leaders capable of navigating complexities while improving their operations.
In an era where digital transformation is paramount, organizations must embrace a forward-thinking mindset that values collaboration, agility, and strategic foresight. By tapping into the collective expertise of industry leaders and technology pioneers to navigate the hybrid cloud path, companies can overcome the challenges of today’s channel landscape and chart a course for sustainable success and meaningful impact.
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