Why the Tech industry needs the channel more than ever
Posted by ITProPortal on September 28, 2018:
Ben Boswell, Vice President for Europe at World Wide Technology, discusses how an active channel can help vendors and customers achieve outstanding innovations.
Artificial Intelligence. Blockchain. Cognitive computing. All are grand ideas that their proponents say will transform the way we do business in a matter of years.
Yet at the same time, stories keep cropping up about the so-called 'techlash'. Data breaches and system outages have eroded confidence, and we're hearing about a growing disillusionment with the great goal of 'digital transformation' which every industry has been told they must pursue.
By the time this year is out, enterprises around the world will have invested $1.3 trillion (USD) into various technologies as part of digital transformation initiatives. As many as 70 per cent of these initiatives will not achieve their stated outcomes, meaning that over $900 billion of spend could be missing the mark.
The question is whether business customers will continue to hand over such large cheques to the technology industry. In my view, both customers and manufacturers are becoming frustrated. The technology industry, now more than ever, needs an active set of channel players who will act as more than just a point of product procurement. The need is for partners in the channel who offer an expert point of view and deliver value quickly. Perhaps most importantly, these partners must be accountable for helping customers to drive innovation that delivers tangible business outcomes, fast.
This requires the ability to connect the dots between technology functions and business needs, ensuring that ideas are turned into outcomes. It's still the case that companies embark on journeys to buy new technology without a formal digital strategy to define the business outcomes they want to achieve.
A great way to overcome this is by embracing ideation, a moderated form of brainstorming which brings different voices and perspectives to the table and gives each participant an equal chance to shape the strategic outcomes of the session. Ideation processes are outcome-centred and support the entire lifecycle of innovation, from the generation of ideas to the strategic and tactical plans that will realise their potential.