whopping 92 percent. And while enterprises indicated less buying in the channel than mid-market companies, only 8 percent of enterprise buyers said they are not likely to use an advisor at all, compared to 18 percent in 2023. “This trend will likely continue as the digital landscape grows more complex,” argued Telarus executives. IDC, for its part, found that in order to help bridge skills gaps, about half of enterprise technology leaders expect to increase their use of external partners around networking (49 percent), cybersecurity (46 percent) and cloud (40 percent). More than a third said the same about data/AI/automation. In other words, this is also a great time to be a technology advisor. That’s particularly true when considering new projections from Canalys, which estimate that IT spending across software, hardware and services, supercharged by AI, will accelerate during the next three years. Of course, that doesn’t mean the status quo will be enough to seize the opportunities. Rather, many technology advisors will need to leave their comfort zones – in terms of both services offered and value created – as IT buyers place more emphasis on “expert” and “advisor” and less on “trusted” and “partner.” Cost Plus Cost savings, for instance, has returned as a top priority, but there is a lot more going on here than “show me your bill, and we’ll see where you can save a few bucks.” According to the Telarus report, cost management was the third most selected response when respondents were asked to name their top IT buying drivers, cited by 29 percent of respondents compared to only 6 percent in the previous year’s survey. Some of this shift can be attributed to current economic conditions. But Constellation Research CEO R “Ray” Wang, which was one of the firms commissioned to execute the Telarus survey, also is seeing investment in general-purpose infrastructure and hardware being shifted to projects such as AI, where further efficiencies can be discovered. “So, what you’re seeing is costsavings in one area to fund innovation in another,” said Wang. “Helping your customers find new ways to conduct their business more cost-effectively while keeping pace with change will render you a hero.” CHANNEL MANAGEMENT Where Businesses are Struggling to Find and Retain Skills Cybersecurity 39% Networking 35% Data/AI/Automation 35% Cloud 20% General IT operations/support 16% No struggles 14% Where Organizations Expect to Increase Use of External Partners to Help Bridge Skills Gaps Networking 49% Cybersecurity 46% Cloud 40% Data/AI/Automation 35% General IT operations/support 16% Source: IDC Source: CompTIA Business staff Board of directors Third party firms Other technology executives CFO CISO CIO Other business executives 25% 22% 20% 20% 20% 19% 19% 13% Cybersecurity Changes in the Past Year Source: CompTIA Higher priority on determining proper reponse to incidents Greater focus on process improvement More diverse set of technology tools Greater focus on employee education Exploration/implementation of cybersecurity insurance Creation of dedicated cybersecurity resources/team Use of new metric to track success of security efforts Greater use of third parties for cybersecurity strategy Shift to proactive assessment/evaluation measures 45% 40% 36% 35% 33% 33% 33% 32% 31% I am most likely to rely on guidance from a technology advisor when... Source: Telarus I am making a technology decision in a category with which I have less There are MANY competing technology solutions in the space and I need to use the process of elimination for selection I have a strong existing advisor relationship I know I can trust I do not have an existing supplier relationship in the category The technology need is being driven by regulatory compliance 68% 44% 37% 34% 19% 46% 14% 52% 32% 56% Mid Market Enterprise 40 CHANNELVISION | SEPTEMBER - OCTOBER 2024
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