How to Meet the Needs of Today's Tech Buyer

Today’s tech buyers are a lot savvier than years past, posing challenges for partners to meet their changing needs.

AI is a strategic priority, as is concern around the governance required to meet the needs of company executives. AI and governance add to what's already a handful, including cybersecurity/risk management, continued digital transformation, data privacy and compliance, IT infrastructure and cloud scaling, talent management, and the evolution of their leadership brand.

So how do partners effectively reach and serve today’s tech buyers?

In this MSP Summit keynote, titled “CIO & CISO Perspectives, Priorities: Understanding Today's Tech Buyer,” Sept. 18, attendees will learn how the deployment of AI pilots and proofs of concept impact spending, and how decision makers are thinking about their available resources and desired outcomes.

Speakers include:

In a Q&A with Channel Futures, Nour provides a sneak peek of what he’ll share with attendees.

Misconceptions About Today’s Tech Buyers

Channel Futures: What are common misconceptions about today’s tech buyers? Are priorities evolving? If so, how?

David Nour: Buyers solely focus on cost, they lack deep tech knowledge, they are slow to adopt new technologies, or their primary focus is hardware, software and infrastructure. In reality, they care a lot more about value, and they have to prove a return on investment (ROI) to their peers. They possess or can easily access deep knowledge, trends and market shifts. Many buyers are proactive in seeking innovation from trusted sources to give them a competitive edge/differentiation. Their primary focuses are business outcomes and material value creation, which software, cloud and services enable.

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Evolving priorities include security and compliance, cloud adoption and hybrid solutions, data-driven business decision making and problem solving, internal and external customer experience journeys and optimized efficiency (collaboration, remote support, ease of do it yourself).

CF: What do tech buyers want from partners? How can partners best accommodate today’s tech buyers?

David Nour

DN: Expertise and battle-tested knowledge, a solution-oriented approach (versus point solutions that won’t easily integrate), reliability, demonstrated vested interest and earned trust, well-thought-out support and a broad array of services. [They also want] flexibility to scale with us as necessary, truly innovate and push the boundaries of what’s possible proactively, clearly communicate and intently proactive to improve our conditions, and ensure you consistently deliver value and ROI, and can sell across, up and down the organization.

Related:Register Now for The MSP Summit, Sept. 16-19, Atlanta

Lead with the relationship, stay on top of industry trends and make them relevant to my needs/aspirations. Offer a comprehensive suite of services. Stay laser-focused on material value creation through the outcomes of the tech implementation. Foster a collaborative approach to addressing our most pressing needs. Adapt to the changes in our business/industry, demonstrate thought and practice leadership, care and take pride in your work with us.

CF: What are the components of a successful go-to-market strategy that better accommodates today’s tech buyers?

DN: Market research and clearly defined market segmentation, a unique value proposition that’s clearly articulated, a clear channel strategy as a force multiplier, educational content, demos and trials. [There's also] exceptional customer experience and support, flexible and transparent pricing/packaging, sales enablement to sufficiently equip the sales team and ensure alignment between sales on the streets and marketing, data and analytics to track performance. [Be sure to] iterate and optimize your go-to-market (GTM) motions. [Other components include] alliance partners and a strong ecosystem to jointly market and co-sell, compliance and security assurances with relevant regulations emphasizing a secured infrastructure.

CF: How are decision makers thinking about their available resources and desired outcomes?

DN: Optimized allocation, including budgets, bandwidth for strategic initiatives, and the tightrope between capex and opex. Human capital, including skills gap, development, and the right resources, utilized as efficiently and impactfully as possible. Technology, including how to leverage the existing infrastructure, migrate to the cloud, govern data and AI, and deliver business outcomes from the technology.

Desired outcomes often include agility to shift with the needs of the business, including new and innovative ways to enable the business to thrive. Operational efficiency in our processes, cost reduction, security and compliance, however we can mitigate risk, customer and employee experiences, and data-driven insights.

Strategic alignment with the business outcomes, and how we sustain our growth, particularly given the current plethora of uncertainties.

Vendor relationship management: delineating tactical vendors from strategic partners and integrating an ecosystem that works interoperably. 

CF: How is AI impacting IT buying and spending?

DN: Increased questions, by the board and senior leadership teams, equals growing demand for AI tools and elevating AI as a strategic priority. This also leads to the expansion of AI use cases in diverse apps and R&D efforts.

Shifting budget allocations from traditional IT to AI and operational to strategic spending. Total cost of ownership conversations are changing as that’s a big unknown in AI, cloud and data management (strategy, privacy, security).

All of this leads to a big skill gap — do we hire and train, partner and collaborate with others? As such, preferences are shifting, and impacting vendor evaluations and strategic partnerships with unlikely firms.

Regulatory and compliance governance will become more paramount, and front and center, as will measuring AI impact in ROI and business case development.

CF: What do you hope attendees can learn and make use of from this keynote?

DN: Beyond selling a transaction, understand the complexity, nuances and ecosystem requirements these buyers face daily. Change your GTM strategies to pester less and support more. Practice more patience and grace, and focus on fewer, more strategic relationships. Land and expand, and become the one phone call they make.