Jan-Feb 2020 - ChannelVision Magazine

to coordinate internal and external re- sources on complex IT projects. The upshot is an opportunity for partners that can sell and support an assortment of vendors’ solutions, which can be combined and cus- tomized to a specific business. It’s a driving force behind much of the consolidation and acquisitions being seen in the master distributor space, as well as the scaling up of agents and subagent bases by platforms such as AppSmart. The idea is an online menu of managed and XaaS solutions from which a selection can be bundled up and tailored to specific business needs. One partner manages the re- lationships and runs interference for several vendors – the proverbial one throat to choke. For IT departments at mid-market firms, leasing and subscription-based managed services and XaaS models are attractive, said Insight researchers, because they make it easier to predict demand and refresh cycles, all while enabling near real-time installation, deployments and updates. For partner sales organizations, platforms such as AppSmart and SaaSMAX allow them to provide highly tailored solutions pulled from thousands of available applica- tions without the burden and cost of a totally bespoke business model. “In order to build workplaces that cater to the modern workforce and their expectations for technology, local to mid-market companies are embracing cost-effective subscription models and bundled services to easily and quickly outfit employees with the latest tech- nology,” said the Insight study. A full 84 percent of those surveyed agree IT leasing, which allows for the use of an opex rather than capex model, helps them better equip workers with the lat- est technology. IT professionals from the largest companies surveyed (501 to 1,000 employees) are most likely to strongly agree. Incidentally, these also are reasons why managed services and SaaS remain the two most popular service offerings among IT channel partners recently surveyed by CompTIA (of- fered by about 45 percent of IT sales partners) and why 81 percent of CompTIA members expect their man- aged services businesses to experi- ence significant growth during the next two years. “Given the popularity of ‘asset ac- cess over asset ownership’ among to- day’s millennial employees, it is likely that independent businesses will con- tinue looking to subscription models to support their technology experiences,” continued the Insight study. Certainly, IT professionals are open and familiar with buying in bundles. Among those surveyed by Insight, 71 percent said they currently use some or exclusively use bundled products and services and plan to use more in the future. “Taking into account those who do not currently Source: Insight Enterprises Services Most in Demand by MSP Customers Today Source: CompTIA on complex IT Projects Vendors cater more to larger enterprises Scalability to meet growing busin ss needs Asset management, juggling licenses from multiple service providers Vendor don’t understand small-business needs 43% 43% 40% 40% 40% 31% 34% 41% 42% 46% 49% 53% 60% Software as a service applications management Security services Storage, backup services Remote network monitoring and management Hardware as a service management Disaster recovery/business continuity services Help desk services Unified communications as a service The top hu dles to nsuring an organization is equipped with the best available technology S urce: Insight Ent rprises Security concerns Identifying best-fit tools to integrate with existing technogy Understanding which new technologies to invest in Budgetary constraints Lack of priority vs. other business needs Inadequate IT support Locked into long-term licensing deals for existing software Locked into outsourcing rr ngem nts that make it difficult or costly to change 52% 46% 45% 44% 33% 30% 28% 23% Contact Center Provide an exceptional customer experience. Delivered by OneStream Networks, backed by the Cisco Global Cloud. Cisco AMs, VARs and Resellers, contact OneStream Networks today! +1(585) 563-1850 sales@onestreamnetworks.com www.onestreamnetworks.com Unified Contact Center Enterprise helps you deliver proactive and highly personalized customer experiences for contact centers with up to 24,000 agents Comprehensive reporting gives you the business intelligence needed to optimize your contact center’s performance Partner Premier Certified A contact center enterprise. for the 43 January - February, 2020 | CHANNEL VISION