10 Things that Will Propel EMEA Channel Growth in 2022
Ten channel leaders on what they see driving channel growth in 2022.
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“In the pandemic, budget was assigned to enable remote working as a priority, with more holistic infrastructure projects being put on the back burner. As a more positive outlook returns, we see budget reallocation towards infrastructure, connectivity and security as an integrated whole. The channel can intercept this trend, offering an end-to-end solution for the hybrid cloud instead of point products focused on cloud security or networking.” – Sen Chandaka, vendor alliance development manager Europe, Nuvias Group
“The future is bright for the ICT channel. However, the increased dependency on digitalisation poses new threats and challenges to governments, businesses and the channel partners which support them. Likewise, growth in some categories and countries will be slowed by the ongoing supply chain and component issues and skill/labour shortages. Meeting the demand of the latter is made harder still by the time required to train staff, and new barriers to recruiting overseas placed by the pandemic and Brexit in the UK.” – Jonathan Wagstaff, group business intelligence manager at Exertis
“Within the current economy, the pandemic has created an environment that is more suitable for SMBs to gain the upper hand. There are great opportunities for the channel to capitalise here. Fast-growing, innovative and agile, they drive long-term economic productivity and growth. To succeed, though, SMBs must become equipped with essential digital tools and appropriate technical support. Take this a step further and MSPs must – naturally – support this market by providing the right mix of technology to their clients, as they build out their IT estate, beyond offering the typical unified communications suites alone.” – Rob Hancock, head of platform, Giacom
“The migration to the cloud continues to accelerate, and the ability to buy and instantly provision solutions on a cloud delivery and management platform such as ArrowSphere will be important for channel partners and end users to stay ahead. With this comes the requirement for reliable and secure ultrafast connectivity to underpin these cloud and hosted services.” – Cédric Doignie, VP business transformation and services, Arrow’s Enterprise Computing Solutions Business EMEA
“We’ve seen various government legislation and memos about zero trust over the past six months, and we can expect to see more zero trust principles being adopted by organisations looking to secure their networks over the next year. As a result of this demand, there is an increasing need for channel partners to implement more cohesive, innovative strategies that allow organisations to move from on-premises to the cloud and, more importantly, show them how they can do more with less.” – Fiona Doak, EMEA director channel, Appgate
“A better partner experience (PX) breeds better customer experiences. Creating a stronger engagement program for partners equips them with the tools to be the best influencers to customers. In 2022, I expect to see more (and more innovative) engagement programs with an emphasis on optimizing end-customer experiences. The cloud in particular will drive the need for change at all levels of channel organizations.” – Lana King, VP of partner programs, training & enablement, Mitel
“Despite its deep roots in the IT sector, automation is currently a trending topic across all verticals and in society generally. As agility continues to be the watchword of the sector, automation and especially artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to lead the way for digitalisation into the new year. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to shift and shape globally, it is clear that the adoption of AI has proven – and will continue – to be one particularly effective way of achieving the support needed for both remote and office-based employees throughout the pandemic – in particular, AI for IT operations (AIOps) – Sander Groot, head of channels EMEA & CALA at Juniper Networks
“Digital transformation will continue into 2022 as companies further mature how they use solutions to enable their business to be more efficient and profitable, while serving their customers effectively. Many solutions were rushed into place in 2020 when the pandemic hit, and now people are refining how they are used for the greater good. As no one solution works for every person or company, the place of ISVs or marketplace vendors will become more important to build solutions that are comprised of many different parts.
“There are signs that the agency model of selling is picking up within the MSP space as people become true technology partners for their customers, handling more than what they can bill directly. This is an exciting evolution for the UcaaS, CcaaS and communication vendors.” – Marcus Ollenbuttel, SVP, Digital Distribution, intY, a ScanSource company
“One of the most important trends we’ll start to see in 2022 is businesses moving customers away from a direct transaction model through their own sales teams to interacting and billing via selected partners. This will allow companies to interact with their customer through a number of trusted resellers, who either are in the position of having established a great working relationship with a particular customer or are willing to invest in building a new one.
“This new route to market will deliver additional benefits to mutual customers as they get a more personalised customer journey. These resellers provide local language skills, tiered support models and additional training on new products, which would be time intensive and costly for the business to provide. – Toni Leopoldo, director of sales UK/Europe at TBI
“Increasingly, businesses are looking to move from traditional software ownership to the subscription economy; indeed, IDC expects that by 2022, 53% of all software revenue will be purchased with a subscription model. Whilst the benefits are significant, the pivot is not so simple. As customers look for more flexible financing agreements following the pandemic, demand for these service models will only grow, so in 2022 we need to see the channel community recognise its role in supporting the transition and tailor their own service offerings accordingly.” – David Grant, CEO, Westcon-Comstor
“Increasingly, businesses are looking to move from traditional software ownership to the subscription economy; indeed, IDC expects that by 2022, 53% of all software revenue will be purchased with a subscription model. Whilst the benefits are significant, the pivot is not so simple. As customers look for more flexible financing agreements following the pandemic, demand for these service models will only grow, so in 2022 we need to see the channel community recognise its role in supporting the transition and tailor their own service offerings accordingly.” – David Grant, CEO, Westcon-Comstor
Welcome to the second part of our EMEA channel predictions for 2022. We asked European channel leaders to tell us what they see driving channel growth for partners next year.
The European channel has been on hand to ensure customers are equipped and secured during the pandemic. They will now be responsible for helping them achieve their digital transformation goals in 2022 as we all adapt to the new hybrid workforce.
Check out the slideshow above to find out what they say will drive channel growth in 2022.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Christine Horton or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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