Proven business solutions are still the meat and potatoes for most value added resellers (VAR) and managed service providers (MSP) working with small- to medium-sized businesses. The latest IT gadgets and services rarely translate to big dollars in the IT channel — initially, at least. It takes time for innovation to make its way into solution providers’ portfolios. While many providers love to dabble and experiment with new technologies and applications, they typically need to be customized and properly tested before being introduced to their customers.
Every product or service offering must have a clearly defined value proposition that fills a business specific client need. While customers may not even know they need it, once they understand how a solution works and what it can do to improve their operations or their bottom line, the sale becomes so much simpler. Even those technologies that show the greatest promise or a clear solution still have to be beta tested before they’re rolled out to the masses. It typically takes considerable time and fine-tuning to prepare a new VAR offering for a full-scale rollout. That’s how you avoid being a footnote in the annals of channel horror stories — a widespread client failure that could easily have been avoided.
That’s why providers, vendors and distribution executives should invest more time and attention to their future product/services portfolios. With so much effort required to transform an IT business, and the escalating speed of innovation, the typical three to six month strategy is simply not good enough. A tech company without a three- to five-year technology plan could be compared to driving a car through a forest on a dark night with just the driving lights on. Both scenarios lessen your chances at a successful and pleasant journey.
A Wealth of Portfolio Options
The portfolio prospects for solution providers have never been brighter. With virtually everything available as a service, new practice opportunities continue to flourish. According to CompTIA research, Gartner and other respected channel authorities, solution providers should be taking a hard look at adding some of the following options to their portfolios.
Mobility: Employees continue to drive the growth of smartphone and tablet-enabled working environments and employers are jumping on board. The benefits of mobility are hard to overlook and the solution opportunities for savvy channel companies are expected to rise exponentially over the next few years. According to Gartner, worldwide shipments of mobile devices are expected to reach 2.5 billion units this year (up 7.6 percent from 2013), and the market will surely remain strong for the next few years.
Advanced Cloud Solutions: Email and storage services remain strong, but business-specific programs are great differentiators for MSPs. From sales and marketing applications to engineering and retail systems, channel companies understand how to meet the unique needs of their customers — and improve their own profitability at the same time.
Business Intelligence and Big Data: Yes, small- to medium-sized businesses can benefit from these two distinct, yet often confused solutions. BI is used to detect and measure trends, while looking for relationships to predict outcomes and behaviors — valuable assets for the business planning process. Whether partnering with other MSPs or working with the big providers, these profitable solution collaborations can be a major portfolio differentiator.
Advanced Security: Basic spam and firewall protection are still a value to the SMB, but with the growing complexity of malware and hackers they need more. With a comprehensive, proactive monitoring and remediation support, solution providers can up their revenue while providing a valued and much-needed service.
The Internet of Things (IOT): The connected environment is already a reality. IDC predicts revenue from these solutions will grow from $1.9 trillion in 2013 to $7.1 trillion by 2020. Those figures include connectivity services, infrastructure, platforms, applications, security, analytics and professional services — all great IT channel opportunities.
The Ultimate Strategy
Business executives rarely make any long-term decisions without consulting their clients, and should also do so when developing a technology plan. IT firms need to know what obstacles their customers expect to encounter in the coming years and understand how their businesses are evolving. Will their long-term objectives have to be adjusted to account for those changes? Without a thorough comprehension of those factors, it’s extremely difficult to comprehend your clients’ future needs.
With those considerations in mind, solution providers can research the best options for their long-term product/services strategy. They can carefully vet prospective vendors and fully evaluate the features that best meet their customers’ future expectations.
Providers should ask:
- Will the vendor be a supportive partner?
- Will the solution meet their clients’ federal, state, local and industry compliance needs?
- Is the offering compatible with the current portfolio?
- Will it be cost-effective?
- Can it scale?
Answering no to any of those questions doesn’t mean it’s not a viable option for your portfolio. If there are no viable substitutes, then adjustments or compromises may have to be made. That could require extra time for integration work or training, or may involve changes to the pricing model to accommodate a more expensive component. That’s where the CompTIA Communities and the association’s vast repository of channel training resources can help. With a suitable lead time to review the materials and get feedback from peers, few obstacles should prevent solution providers from offering the products and services their clients need today — and five years from now.
Brian Sherman is founder of Tech Success Communications, specializing in editorial content and consulting for the IT channel. His previous roles include chief editor at Business Solutions magazine and senior director of industry alliances with Autotask. Contact Brian at [email protected].
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