Here are examples of further channel trends we can expect to see this year.
For the channel,2020 was a tale of two cities. On one hand, customers and governments recognized partners as an essential service and central to their ability to rapidly respond to a worsening pandemic. On the other, customer demand shifted to automation, cloud acceleration, customer/employee experience, and e-commerce/marketplaces, where many technology channel parts were left in the cold. The industry experienced a « K-shaped » recovery where partners who had skills, resources, and prebuilt practices around the business needs of their customers excelled with double- (and sometime triple-) digit growth. Yet many smaller VARs and MSPs were down by double digits, relying on government, vendor, and distributor funding to survive. This will persist through 2021. The following are a few examples of further channel trends we can expect to see this year: The pandemic was an acute symptom and accelerant of larger factors already altering the workforce. The levels of systemic risk and global exposure organizations face are rising, robots and automation are reshaping the workforce, and the balance of power is tilting toward employees. The output of this will be a remote topology requiring new levels of service, support, infrastructure, security, compliance, and continuity. The percentage of firms that outsource some or all of their IT will likely start to increase again by double digits — for the first time in five years. As a result, the channel will begin implementing edge intelligence, edge management, and edge networking technologies. The channel must broaden the scope of cloud strategies beyond public and hybrid to include content delivery networks (CDNs), telecommunications, colocation data center edge fabrics, and domain-specific converged edge infrastructure. Security threat vectors are also intensifying due to the changing future of work. Changing business models, regulatory oversight, litigation, and third-party pressure are forcing partners to secure products and services they sell at a new level. This next-level security protection is an opportunity to expand the conversation into advanced edge, network, application, data, web, and even physical security in a residential-scale network. The channel must also consider its own future of work. Delivering a new level of customer, employee, and partner experience will determine winners and losers in 2021. The roles of channel account managers, sales, and marketing professionals are radically shifting to serve increasing digital-only customer journeys.
