Index Of The Blog
Digital Transformation Stimulates Partnerships
Knowing about how a business’s digital transformation stimulates partnerships is not so easy thing. Also, the term digital transformation has multiple definitions, but broadly it refers to the application of technology to business processes that enable an organization to achieve its objectives. This involves, for example, streamlining processes, improving internal communication or gaining more insight into customer behavior and preferences.
Digital transformation enables employees to work digitally as much as possible. And since data is the basis for this, data must always be available.
Digitalization means a cultural change for companies. They offer channel partners and value-added resellers (VARs) the opportunity to change the way they work with customers. They become a trusted advisor and strategic partner instead of just a technology supplier.
Impact on the partners of the relationship has with technology suppliers in two ways.
- Firstly, partners need to work more closely with suppliers to build knowledge and expertise so that they can fulfill their role as strategic advisors for their customers.
- Secondly, suppliers must understand the business model of their partners and distinguish themselves, not only in terms of products but also in terms of cooperation, simplicity, and flexibility.
Digital disruption: why the fuss?
More and more demands are being made of modern companies: they must become more data-driven and substantiate decision-making throughout the organization with real-time collected data. Given the dynamic and diverse nature of data, companies must implement different platforms – from on-premise file storage to multi-cloud – to manage data effectively and smartly.
With more and more technologies being deployed across multiple platforms, companies may have difficulty overseeing what data they have and how they can best be used. This can lead to additional costs for companies through inefficiencies, income loss, and unnecessary downtime.
In this area, partners can offer extra value in addition to the services they already offer their customers: advice on the most flexible, scalable and cost-effective solutions to support digital marketing transformation. Moreover, digitization is a continuous process rather than a one-off installation of technology. This also gives partners the opportunity to offer services to customers.
The increasingly popular everything-as-a-service model (XaaS) means that partners can offer more flexible price models, whereby customers pay for services based on OPEX; capital-intensive investments in advance are no longer necessary, customers only pay for what they use.
Digital transformation changes the prospects and growth opportunities for partners. They are not only considered more strategic, but they can also offer value-added services to achieve their business objectives for the longer term.
How can suppliers better support their partners?
Partners have a huge choice of suppliers. Now that companies are moving to buy services instead of products, partners must find the balance between choosing the right products for their work but also working with suppliers and their agreements to provide the level of service their customers need. Here comes the idea of so-called channel-friendly suppliers.
- Many suppliers still sell both directly and through the channel. Traditionally, scalability has been one of the most important benefits of selling through the channel.
- Partners can reach customers where suppliers can’t always do that, whether it’s because of their local presence or because they can position themselves as a one-stop IT shop.
- In a time of digital transformation where change is constant, greater collaboration between suppliers and their channel ecosystem is crucial.
- Channel partners guide their customers through this digital disruption. That is why suppliers must listen to their partners so that they can respond and remove obstacles.
For example:
Think of simpler go-to-market models, package services and flexible prices. This helps them to develop products and service models that are attractive to companies that want to digitize. And that again increases the chance that partners will integrate these into more of the solutions they sell.
