Top 5 Trends and Challenges Channel Partners Are Facing in 2022

The past few years have been tumultuous for many organizations, to say the least. There have been unprecedented shifts in companies and their employees work, communicate, and collaborate. Organizations of all types have quickly pivoted to come up with solutions that help their workforces and customers adapt to the “new normal” of increased remote work and distributed teams. This change has significantly impacted how businesses and their employees use software and technology solutions to access critical tools and information, collaborate virtually, and ensure business continuity amidst a rapidly changing world. There are five key trends—and associated challenges—that we believe Corel partners and/or potential resellers, distributors and MSPs are facing this year. We believe it’s essential to share the Corel Partner Program’s plans for addressing these trends and challenges, and how we can help channel partners overcome these obstacles to ensure short- and long-term success.

With the shift to increasingly permanent remote and hybrid work models, virtualization and virtual solutions have moved from convenience to necessity. But for many organizations, making this shift isn’t always simple.

Legacy software and applications, security demands, budgetary constraints, staffing considerations and more can make implementing a fully virtualized work environment a significant undertaking.

Working with your customers to set up or further enhance virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) setup, such as Parallels Remote Application Server (RAS) or a virtual desktop solution such as Parallels Desktop, are two options that enable you to make a significant difference in how organizations and their teams operate in remote and hybrid environments. Both solutions are available through the Corel Partner Program.

Offering customers a VDI solution can also have a positive impact on an organization’s bottom line, which can help better prepare them for future challenges.

Moving applications and infrastructure to the cloud is another key trend for 2022 and beyond. Recent data suggests that over 90% of comapnies already use the cloud and 48% plan to move their applications to the cloud this year. Developing a clear strategy for initiating or continuing cloud migration and mitigating any potential problems, however, can be a difficult task for your customers.

One key way partners can provide added value for clients is thus enabling them to migrate their workloads, applications and data to the cloud more easily.

If you’re an MSP, this service is something you can add to your portfolio of solutions and services in the form of a new cloud-based solution along with increased technical support in your service level agreement (SLA) to help ensure customer business continuity.

Partnering with companies like Corel that already offer cloud-based solutions in their portfolio (along with the aforementioned benefits) is one way you can serve your customers to the best of your abilities. Offering a solution like Parallels RAS can help your customers migrate existing applications, data, and resources to the cloud, and can make you a reliable ally as they embark upon their cloud journey.

Most IT providers are aware of the continued growth of Everything as a Service (XaaS), with this market projected to grow by 28% from 2021 to 2028. This service model goes together with subscription licensing models, with 53% of software companies planning to move to such a model in 2022.

Subscription benefits for partners

If your product or offering isn’t available as a service or ongoing subscription model (or if the products you resell aren’t), now is a good time to consider if and how you should change this.

Subscription models can allow sales teams to offer better entry level or sign-on pricing, with the opportunity for customers to upgrade or enhance their service later with new features, add-ons and more.

This adds value for your sales team by giving them greater flexibility when putting together solution packages for clients. Subscription models also offer your organization a stable pattern of predictable revenue, ensuring replicable success as subscriptions are renewed.

Subscription benefits for customers

Aside from sheer convenience, there are several other benefits of subscription benefits for customers. This model makes it easier for them to upgrade to a new version or get product updates that feature new innovations at a relatively low cost (or even zero) cost.

Customers may also be able to pick and choose exactly what services and features they really need, allowing you to customize subscriptions and “as a service” options for them going forward.

The Corel Partner Program currently offers subscription licensing for many of our products. This year, we’re heavily focused on increasing this offering to our partners to ensure they can offer a robust array of subscription options to their clientele.

Supply chain issues—whether caused by things like the Ever Given disaster, the events in Eastern Europe or issues closer to home—remain a key challenge for organizations, as they’re often unpredictable and difficult (if not impossible) to control.

Cybersecurity issues also remain top of mind in 2022, as organizations are concerned about protecting their data and resources while enabling remote work and maintaining productivity. Corel partners can offer their customers a solution like WinZip Enterprise, which provides military grade file encryption to safeguard sensitive information.

Ensuring your customers and their teams can easily connect, collaborate and problem-solve in the event of disruptions like these are key benefits the Corel Partner Program provides. Our solutions are designed to enhance collaboration and enable employees to get work done anytime, anywhere on any device.

For instance, MindManager, a visual project and task management solution, allows remote teams to brainstorm, share ideas, develop plans, build processes and run projects collaboratively from anywhere in the world. It includes co-editing options and offers a dedicated app for Microsoft Teams.

Our Parallels suite of products allows remote workers to access the same desktops and applications as they do on-site, increasing collaboration capabilities while reducing the strain on IT departments caused by the shift to remote and hybrid work.

Everyone wants to hire and employ the best in their field, and it is a job seeker’s market: 37% of candidates believe it will be easier to find a job in 2022 than 2021. This is underscored by the availability of remote work, which has made it easier than ever to work for companies located in another city, state or even country.

A big way partners can help their customers attract and retain top talent is by creating an environment that enhances individual success while paving the way for increased company productivity. This includes equipping workers with the technology, software, and solutions they need to excel.

By partnering with Corel, you gain full access to our suite of products designed to make the workday easier for your companies and their employees by providing innovative solutions that increase efficiency and produce better results, faster.

Turn Challenges into Opportunities with the Corel Partner Program

Corel is stepping up to the plate to overcome these hurdles, and we’re bringing our partners along with us. We’re committed to providing partners with joint marketing opportunities, ongoing enablement and training resources, and industry-leading technical and sales support.

While the above challenges will affect all of us in different ways, leveraging common solutions that help grow our collective businesses together remains our No. 1 goal. New challenges also present new opportunities for growth, and Corel is here to help you turn these opportunities into new avenues to achieve short- and long-term success.

Discover how the Corel Partner Program can help turn today’s business challenges into opportunities for growth.

This guest blog is part of a Channel Futures sponsorship.