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PARTNERING
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Finding the perfect match
Channeliser highlights the danger of limiting yourself to ‘who you know’ when
partnering with other IT companies
IT companies want new partners.
But how to find them?
The top-level results were, perhaps, as one
would have expected. Of those surveyed,
85% were looking to work with new
partners within the next two years. For 60%
of respondents, that timescale was sooner,
in under six months.
The issues really started when
Channeliser looked at how IT companies
went about identifying and recruiting new
partners.
Within both the IT vendor and IT reseller
communities the results were remarkably
similar. In both cases, the primary
approaches were to use their own existing
business networks and word of mouth.
The survey also found that trust was
by far the most important factor for
respondents when it came to building
partner-to-partner relationships. So,
staying within your own tried and tested
communities may seem like a natural
approach. However, for companies that need
agility and flexibility to seize new market
opportunities, it is potentially limiting.
The basic reason for modern
partnerships is to build out capabilities
– whether new technical skills,
complementary solutions, new market
experience or geographical reach. It is clear
that, in many of those cases, a reseller’s
own network can easily become an echo
chamber populated by companies with
very similar experiences and contacts.
IT companies begin to look beyond the
vendor portal
IT companies need a way to quickly and
cost-effectively locate and engage with
partners. IT resellers responded that many
of their customer requirements necessitate
that they partner with complementary
companies to provide the total solution.
The survey highlighted that most vendor
portals are failing to meet this challenge as
they are old fashioned, with only 20% of
vendors reporting that they were completely
satisfied with the capabilities of their portals.
It was also noted that proprietary portals do
not provide an independent view of all the
solutions available within a global IT industry.
It is this need for an independent
online IT community that led to the
development of Channeliser to enable IT
companies to connect, engage and partner
with complementary companies wherever
they are in the world.
In business, they say, it’s not what you
know. It’s who you know. That may be good
for personal advancement, but it is no
longer true for IT companies in this fast
moving industry. Limiting yourself to who
you know can restrict the possibilities of
finding new and innovative technologies.
Yet, according to recent research from
Channeliser, that’s exactly the approach
many IT companies are still taking.
We live in an increasingly inter-
connected world. Today’s business success
is about collaboration and co-operation as
much as competition. The
Channeliser IT
Partnership Survey 2017
set out to examine
the current state of partnering within the IT
industry and to identify the key challenges
companies face with ‘partnering’.
Channeliser was set up to enable IT
companies to quickly and easily locate and
engage with potential partners anywhere
in the world. It combines advanced search,
partner engagement and community
features to create an end-to-end solution
for IT companies looking to partner.
n
A full copy of the
Channeliser IT Partnership
Survey 2017
is available from
Channeliser is the global network for IT companies
looking to partner and membership is free.
The vast majority of
respondents had a
positive expereince
when collaborating on
customer projects
IT companies are looking for new partners.
They’re getting better at collaborating. They need online platforms
where they can manage and grow their partnerships.
Survey respondents say they’re looking for the
capabilities found in Channeliser.
Over 80% of IT
resellers state that
they need to find new
products or services
for new customer
engagements
Over half of IT
companies value peer
recommendations
when looking to form
new partnerships
84% 81% 57%
We live in an increasingly inter-connected world.
Today’s business success is about collaboration and co-operation
as much as competition. The survey demonstrates that IT companies
are getting better at, and much more comfortable with,
the need for collaboration.
COLLABORATION ON THE RISE
THE NEED FOR NEW
IT PARTNERSHIPS
85% of IT compaines say thay they
will be looking for new partnerships
within the next two years
6
MONTHS
17%
7%
61%
12
MONTHS
24
MONTHS
AN INDUSTRY IN FLUX
CHANNELISER IT PARTNERSHIP SURVEY 2017
