Technology Partner 2.0

The days of the Value-Added Reseller (“VAR”, typically hardware centric), and Telecommunication Agencies (“Agent”, typically re-occurring revenue) living in separate spaces, with separate selling motions, has come to an end. Not a dramatic end, but an evolutionary end that has been emerging amongst these two disciplines for years. Today’s smart companies are taking advantage of this shift, positioning themselves for the next chapter in the technology book of global digitalization. But what exactly does this mean? What is the opportunity, and how can you as a technology partner take advantage of these changes?

The History of the Telecom Industry

From a telecommunication services perspective, the Agent and the VAR have been in play for many years. I believe that the single biggest event that put this into motion was Judge Harold Greene’s decision in 1983 to deregulate the Bell Operating Companies and allow ATT to participate in the compute space. Why? Because ATT went on to eventually create Lucent, then Avaya, revolutionizing the Contact Center world, as well as Unified Communications as a whole. The VAR world was solidified at this time (I recognize other vendors were present and I also realize that Cisco soon would dominate this space, over time), and CAPEX technology solutions caught fire. During this same period on the Agent side, companies now had choices around long distance, local and data services. Agents offered to help with “phone bill” auditing solutions, consulting and general expertise. They were able to do this as they were set up with commission schedules to feed their businesses with commissions — courtesy of the former Cable and Wireless, LCI, Qwest and CenturyLink. Two different models developed, born from the same parents, and they were destined to collide again.

Ironically, I grew up in, between, and outside of these two worlds. I started a telecommunications Agency (ACT) in 1994 with Jerry Perkins. Jerry is now having phenomenal success with Symbee and AWS — Google it. Together with ACT we achieved much success. At ACT were introduced to Lucent Technologies and eventually Avaya, and we quickly grew to become the most relevant and largest Avaya Contact Center and Unified Communications services partner in North America. That 13-year run ended when we sold our company to Avaya’s largest VAR at the time, CrossTelecom, introducing hardware, software cloud, and more. Then, we sold Cross to Arrow, who has now been sold back to C1, who was formally NACR (I know, it’s hard for me to keep up, too). And today we see our friends and valued Distributors jumping in the game, with the fairly recent purchase Scansource made when buying Intelisys. A major move that I expect will open the floodgates for similar purchases. So where does that leave us?

The State of the Industry Today

As business models started to change a few years ago with the advent of cloud, so too did the tech delivery model. It is true that the majority of today’s revenue in the technology industry comes from third party channels, but the traditional reseller channels aren’t providing what today’s buyers need and want. Why? Line of business executives are now playing majority leading roles in new technology purchases of hardware, networking, telecom, and the Internet of Things. The “buying” conversation goes beyond business applications hosted in the cloud to new levels of discussion that require an understanding of data, privacy, compliance risk, and more. Business decision makers want complete solutions to a range of challenges they face today. These buyers face ever-increasing issues of application performance, data analytics, customer experience, security, need for faster return of investment, and in-house skills and resources that are lacking or are struggling to maintain. Buyers want providers to take a holistic “big picture” approach to solving really tough, complex technology problems. Plus, the necessary digital transformations that everyone is talking about and doing aren’t easy — further compounding the problem — creating a need for what Forrester Research calls the “digital service provider” who serves business buyers with specialized skills, consultation, and complete solutions. It’s a high-pressure, demanding, rapidly evolving, and very complicated tech environment today.

The Opportunity Today

There is clear evidence that the ten-year old shadow or rogue IT movement (when technology decisions are made outside of the IT department) has forced (or motivated) business leaders to get more involved in technology purchasing decisions. Forrester reports, for example, that business leaders are now leading or influencing 65% of software buying decisions. However, these business leaders want to focus directly on business objectives and outcomes without the need to understand the deep technical specifications, nor the geek speak. “For those business application decisions that originate with the CIO, business leaders are being invited to the table over 80% of the time,” said Elizabeth Anthony, senior VP of marketing at ViON. “They are also getting involved much earlier than in the past.” Business leaders now make their company’s purchasing decisions on hardware, network, telecom, business technology, security, and more.

I believe that partnering with the right “digital service partner”, as well as the “right digital service provider” is critical to getting technology decisions and projects right, leading to business success. Since so many businesses often lack the skills required in-house, have underfunded budgets, and don’t have the knowledge to create optimal customer experiences, outside perspective and help are important to drive successful innovation. Having that second set of eyes on your business model, your marketing plan, processes, technology, and applications can help achieve the desired customer experience, outcomes, and profits through new approaches and innovations.

Choosing the right partner is critical to how successful you will be in transforming to digital. And, if you don’t act now, you risk losing valuable market share.

Decision makers across the globe report* only 30% of them don’t have a formal digital transformation strategy now, with the majority well on the path to digital and using partners to get there, stating…

?       45% are using or plan to use a cloud service provider

?       92% stated a willingness to use a third-party transformation partner

?       49% are using or expect to use an IT service partner to support their digital transformation programs, including telcos

Choosing the right partner is deemed a must, according to the 451 Research study interviews of technology and business decision makers around the world. IT service providers and telco service providers are featured strongly as preferred partners and advisors, enabling and accelerating digital transformation programs, and ultimately helping bring controlled order to the process of change. This means leaders in both technology and business can remain focused on what matters most—their core. Service provider partner choices are particularly important now because new options such as public cloud, hybrid cloud and multi-cloud connection services are starting to play an increasingly important role amid upheaval across industries.

Working with a reputable, capabilities-rich, solutions-focused partner can enable firms that were born digital to those progressing along the way to be masters of both digital customer experience and digital operational excellence. Going digital is still new for many executive teams. Solution providers like CenturyLink can help technology partners understand what digital business means…much more than simply developing a digital strategy. We can help guide what it means to place digital at the core of how a firm wins, serves, and retains customers.

Today, I believe we have unprecedented opportunity. The technology has dramatically advanced, as cloud, hybrid networking, security concerns and storage have forced change. How do you, as a technology partner, take advantage of this? I think there are a few key things that are critical in positioning yourself successfully as a “Technology Partner 2.0”:

Perspective (Culture): Get some new perspective and focus! You have to have key executive sponsorship from you/your company’s ownership down the stack. Does your Board believe in what you are doing? You have to fix your culture gaps to engrain transformation. Once you achieve this focus, you can accelerate digital adoption through a culture of continuous improvement. As your firm matures, harness disruption by embracing the cultural patterns of the leading digital innovators.

Planning (Strategy): Write it down! Prioritize customer outcomes to unlock opportunity. To digitize business strategy, start by extending existing opportunities with digital technologies that include the traditional VAR opportunities (cloud now leads), as well as Agency values around residual compensation. Next, transform your business by creating new sources of value for your customers with technologies like AI, APIs, and the internet of things. Then, disrupt the market by leveraging digital ecosystems to create new products or services, all with excellence in a digital customer experience.

People (Structure): It’s all about the people! Organize for customer centricity and agility. Begin your organizational journey by establishing the right organization structure to kick-start digital transformation. As you mature, break down legacy silos by leveraging cross-functional teams to accelerate customer-centric change. As technology becomes fundamental to your business success, innovate with next-generation digital org structures.

Partner/Provider (Talent): You have to have the right partnerships! Explore, select, and nurture key partnerships to fill in the gaps of your strategy to foster innovation. Who can help you and why? Start by identifying the core digital skills needed to establish transformation. Bring the right skills on board by recruiting and retaining top talent, while partnering in those areas where you need outside perspective and expertise. With a high-performing team in place, and the right partnerships, you will elevate and enhance employees' speed, scale, and reach with digital tools.

Solutions: Products & Services (Technology): You have to identify the right products and solutions for your business to thrive! Harness digital technology to drive business growth. Initially, you'll need to generate short-term success by investing in technology for customer engagement. This will help make the case to build more advanced and encompassing technology platforms to accelerate scale and growth. As you mature, your ability to harness emerging technologies will be the core of your effectiveness to differentiate, disrupt, win, and lead.

The new CenturyLink is more committed than ever to driving growth and efficiencies for you, our many terrific partners, and our valued customers, and dedicated to understanding your business. We have grown and evolved, and so can you.

Partner with CenturyLink and bring new ways and capabilities to your customer to extend their reach, expand their business and yours, and deliver the efficiencies necessary to successfully transform to digital. I have been witness to the evolutions of our industry and the channel sales models leading to where we are today, and I have never been more excited and energized by the collective opportunity I see in front of us.

I love the recent quote from Forrester: “Digital businesses are ecosystem players. They acknowledge that they can’t do everything themselves, so they extend their capabilities by orchestrating dynamic ecosystems of partners. This accelerates their ability to adapt to changing customer demands, market forces, and even acts of God.”

The Revolution is here. Are you part of it?

Source material: Forrester -- Differentiate Your Business With Digital The Executive Overview Of The Digital Business Playbook, February 26, 2018