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Is it a problem? Yes Does this make them the bad guy in all this? No it doesn’t – they spend millions in R&D and production to make what we do possible. Is it likely to change? Perhaps on the day the Martians attack and life as we know it ends…but, to be frank, not a day before. Is it you? Well of course it’s not…For the most part the Channel is chocked full of hard-working, conscientious Resellers and Services Providers simply looking to deliver a great service to their clients and grow in a challenging market. No that cabin will have to wait, we need to a way of making that deal happen – A way of allowing us to deliver you the products and services you need and for you to move IT from the CAPEX column to the OPEX column, without having to sell your soul or pay over the odds rates for a credit line. Here comes the pitch… After the results of the survey we sat down and grasped the nettle. It was obvious that we needed to be the ones to come up with the answer and we think we might just have done it.… The truth is that everyone is to blame and nobody is to blame and, to quote the former US president Bill Clinton, “It’s the Economy Stupid”. Client’s on the whole are looking avoid any large Capital Expenditure until the effects of the June vote to leave the EU become clearer So what do we do then? Shut up shop, go and live a life of quiet contemplation offgrid in a cabin in the Alps? As pleasant as that sounds I’m sure that, like me, and despite the fact that we often complain about the daily grind…you probably quite enjoy the hustle and bustle of the business world and IT in particular.
Revolution driving Evolution If history has taught us anything it’s that those that feel comfortable standing still, those that are not stretching themselves & seeking to advance to the next level are in fact already moving backwards. That has never been truer than right now for IT Resellers. In fact the term IT Reseller is probably already outdated as any company with designs to still be around in 5 years should already consider themselves a Service Provider looking to be far more than a place where their customers come every few years to upgrade their IT Infrastructure. Technology is now so woven into the fabric of business that most companies would be unable to function without it, and yet the level of knowledge and understanding of this vital thread is remarkably low within the UK SMB sector, a sector that makes up almost 80% of the available market. There are literally tens of thousands of small to medium businesses, whose very existence is reliant on technology that they don’t understand…instead they expect us, their IT guru’s and modern day alchemists to understand it on their behalf and advise them on how to best wield this powerful weapon. If we simply stand still, if we are content with just replacing tin and upgrading software when asked to do so then we are failing our customers and risking both our futures. Let’s take a closer look at a typical SMB company of 2010. Chances are they were between 5 and 50 employees, had relatively simple IT requirements on the face of things and maybe had a part-time tech head that made sure their modest infrastructure kept chugging away in a back room somewhere. They may do the occasional back-up and, when pushed, might even upgrade software from time-to-time but on the whole there was most likely a “If it ain’t broke then don’t fix it” mentality towards technology and as long as email and internet were working then all was right with the world…Oh how things have changed since then. Even the smallest of SMB’s now has the expectation of large Enterprise level IT resources to power their business and the Channel is expected to do far more than simply refresh tin and offer new software, with those not able to offers services alongside this function finding themselves losing out to those that can. For those in the Channel that have been slow to recognise this change or have struggled to adapt to the shifting expectations life has been and will continue to be very tough.
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