Businesses need to keep certain things in mind while selecting the best IT partner to fulfill their potential in the current market
While technology has never been more important to business success, it’s never had the potential to be so complex.
In their efforts to rapidly capitalize on the latest trends, such as mobility and cloud, businesses have deployed a variety of solutions from a range of vendors. While this has delivered short-term gains, the siloed environments it has created could hinder users in the future – especially as marketplaces become increasingly connected.
A Complete Service
By streamlining services and obtaining them from a single provider, businesses can create a consistent user experience that simplifies the overall environment. It’s an issue IT leaders are all too well aware of, with three-quarters stating they would prefer to procure all cloud services from a single provider .
However, with an abundance of choice on the market, coupled with a lack of time and IT expertise, and increasing pressures to rapidly respond to market changes, how can businesses quickly select the technology best suited to their needs?
One way this can be achieved is working with channel partners that are specialists in specific sectors – such as mobility, virtualization, and networking – and which offer tailored solutions specifically designed to help businesses rapidly optimize their IT investments.
When purchasing IT solutions today, the product is only half the service. Businesses are increasingly seeking guidance and support enabling them to tackle the complex environments which they find themselves in.
A Service Business Can Trust
Working with specialist partners assures businesses that their provider will deliver the perfect solution and support for their objectives. The technology platforms on offer will be innovative and relevant to modern demands – increasing their value further – ensuring businesses get ahead of their competition who are running on standard or ageing IT infrastructures. Furthermore, if the partner’s specialties are listed in locator tools it makes them easier to identify resulting in even more business opportunities.
Furthermore, the team tasked with delivering the solution will have undergone the relevant training, and demonstrated the necessary expert capabilities. To achieve specialist status, the provider will also have needed to provide real-life examples of the superior customer services it has delivered previously.
Specialist partners can forge longer-term relationships that continue to provide value to businesses. They can quickly identify emerging technologies that deliver further efficiencies and performance improvements, and package these into solutions that keep businesses at the forefront of their industry.
Selecting the Best
The value of working with a specialist channel partner is clear, but how can businesses differentiate the industry’s top performers from the growing crowd of providers and consultants that is appearing?
Having selected the area of IT to improve, businesses need to identify those channel partners who have received industry recognition from IT vendors, such as awards or a specific status demonstrating their level of capabilities. For instance, an enterprise mobility deployment, which includes solutions enabling ‘bring your own device’ and remote access capabilities, should involve a provider recognized by vendors offering solutions in that space.
Most vendors have varying levels of partner recognition, which reflect the offerings available from a particular provider and helps businesses rapidly identify the best provider for their needs.
A Better Investment
Technology can be the difference between success and failure, meaning today it needs to be a key pillar of all businesses. As such, those that work with specialist channel partners will be best placed for success, due to their abilities to draw upon a deep pool of expertise and proven services. This enables businesses to make better IT investments, and become more innovative and efficient, which when combined allows them get ahead of the competition and grow their bottom line.
Profile: Eklavya Bhave is Head, Partner Strategy & Sales for the India and SAARC region. In this key role, Eklavya is responsible for accelerating Citrix’s channel strategy by defining a comprehensive partner, sales and go-to-market program while aligning the company’s goals with market opportunities through an integrated field engagement model. Eklavya has previously been associated with software companies including Oracle, Microsoft and IBM. In his career working with customers and partners, he has lead sales and execution for both vertical and geo-lead go-to-market strategies. Eklavya is an engineering graduate from NIT Raipur and a full time MBA from Symbiosis Pune.
