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2112 Research: Vendors, Partners Expect Positive 2018

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According to the 2112 Research annual Channel Forecast and Channel Chief Outlook report vendors and partners are optimistic about growing sales in 2018-- even if such expectations come with at least some concern.

2112 Research Channel

Such positivity comes from the current improvement of a global economy set to grow by at least 3% in 2018, as well as analysts predicting tech spending to increase by 3-5% over the course of the year. Such positive results lead to optimistic sales outlooks from both vendors and partners, such as 80% of resellers, MSPs, system integrators and agents expecting 2018 sales growth to reach 6% while 62% of channel execs believe indirect revenue generated by partners will grow by at least 20%.

The 2112 forecast points out the state of the channel (and its improvement) depends on how partners manage to take advantage of transformative technologies such as cloud mobility, IoT, Big Data and business analytics, AI and cognitive computing, and business automation over the next 18-24 months. However this can lead to a channel of haves and have-nots, with some partners growing their business while others managing to just scrape by month by month and year to year.

Channel Chiefs

Thus, partners need to restructure their businesses to execute against cloud and other recurring-revenue models. Those who embrace best practices and move ahead with strategic direction will deliver the best return to both ends of the channel value chain.

As for the channel chiefs optimism prevails, even with the many challenges involved in growing indirect revenue through channel partners. 2112 emphasises the significance of the vendor shift to services models, and most channel chiefs expect service providers (largely MSPs) to generate the bulk of their indirect revenue over the next 5 years.

Channel chiefs want and need partners to evolve their product portfolios, business models and technology capabilities faster to meet changing market demands and expectations-- and partners merely inching towards the future can put "huge" volumes of channel revenue at risk. That said, the channel chiefs fail to properly develop their models to properly incentify and reward partner evolution.

Will the channel chiefs be rewarded for their optimism? After all, they might be doing the right move to push growth in the short term, but one wonders whether such conventional investments will product the long-term change required from partners.

Go 2112 Channel Forecast Study, Channel Chief Outlook Report