Technology Reseller v11

technolog y reseller.co.uk BULLETIN : TRENDS 07 MSPs challenged by sales and marketing Sales and marketing, including lead generation, hiring sales talent, cold calling and market differentiation, is the biggest challenge facing managed service providers, according to Datto’s second annual State of the MSP survey. More than half (53%) of the 2,300 MSPs surveyed cited Sales and Marketing as a challenge, ahead of staffing and training (41%), growing pains (28%) and ransomware and cybersecurity (26%). Of the 2,300 MSPs surveyed, 60% have fewer than 100 clients and 20% have 101 to 200. The most popular vertical markets for MSPs are healthcare (53%), finance (49%) and manufacturing (48%). Three quarters (75%) still offer break-fix services. www.datto.com Consumers happy to share data Awareness of their rights under GDPR has made consumers happier about sharing data, according to a new report by Acxiom and the DMA. The survey also reveals clear understanding of the potential benefits of sharing data, with 57% expressing a liking for some form of personalised marketing and 62% believing it could stop companies from sending them irrelevant marketing material. Even among shoppers that don’t like any form of marketing, 40% are comfortable with sharing data to avoid irrelevant offers or recommendations. The report identifies five groups of consumers based on their attitudes to personalised marketing: 1 Personalisation fans (36%) – people who want to receive only personalised offers; 2 All the offers (21%) – personalisation fans who also want to receive random offers so that they don’t miss out on things outside their filter bubble; 3 Surprise me! (10%) – people who prefer random offers to personalised ones; 4 Indifference (15%) – people who are indifferent to personalised or random offers; and 5 Resistant to marketing (18%) – people who don’t like to receive any form of marketing. Acxiom .co.uk http://dma.org.uk/the-dma-code @philjones40 Insider... Why do businesses fail? The industry continues to see businesses fail, zombie businesses multiply and new candidates for acquisition emerge due to declining values – Maplin being a recent casualty on the High Street and Misco in the channel. At the same time, other players are succeeding and expanding through acquisition, diversification or disruption. One industry, with one group struggling as others prosper – a dichotomy of sorts. In How the Mighty Fall , which I read recently and highly recommend, the excellent Jim Collins and his researchers analysed why previously successful businesses fail and distilled their findings down to what the author describes as ‘The five stages of decline’, namely Hubris born from success; Undisciplined pursuit of more; Denial of risk and peril; Grasping for salvation; and Capitulation to Irrelevance. What this tells us, more than anything, is that it is vital to regularly ‘zoom out’ of your daily business activities to review how you are doing things, why you are doing things and whether they continue to contribute to your direction of travel. You could be working hard at something that is no longer working or recklessly pursuing a pathway of expansion, regardless of practical considerations like cashflow, systems or employee integration. With the volume, variety and velocity of change seeming to pull us in all directions, generating clarity, nurturing adaptability and staying relevant matters massively. This takes effort, discipline, good management practice, excellent strategy, committed people and high levels of customer intimacy and market knowledge. The most successful businesses have a ‘productive paranoia’ about their circumstances (another great quote from Jim Collins) and are always looking over their shoulder. See you out there. Phil Jones MBE , Managing Director, Brother UK 1 | datto.com REPORT Datto’s 2018 State of the MSP Report FollowusonTwitter:@Datto Subscribe toourblog:www.datto.com/blog Robots welcome here Employers and employees alike are welcoming robot co-workers as a solution to the skills shortage. An Epicor survey of 2,500 business people in 14 countries shows that staff are aware of the many benefits of working alongside robots: 54% say robots automate repetitive or mundane work that they would otherwise have to do themselves; and 34% agree that robots are more efficient than humans in the workplace. For employers facing an ageing workforce and skills crisis (only 23% of businesses say they are able to attract recruits with the right knowledge), robots can create efficiencies and encourage young talent into industry. Consumers planning to make most of GDPR Financial services companies should prepare for a deluge of requests from consumers wanting to know what personal information they hold, if research by Veritas Technologies is to be believed. Forty per cent of 1,000 UK consumers surveyed by the company are planning to request personal information within six months of GDPR coming into force. The industries most likely to be targeted are financial services (56%), followed by social media companies (48%); retailers (46%); former, current and potential employers (24%); and healthcare providers (21%). www.veritas.com Just one in three workers receives training Companies are failing to train and upskill employees in the face of technological disruption, warns the Workforce Institute at Kronos. Research by its European chapter reveals that almost one in three workers (30%) has received no training in the past year. At a time of growing automation in the workplace, 39% feel technologically challenged; and 24% think most of their colleagues lack sufficient skills to complete the tasks they perform. Seven out of 10 employees (70%) say they would be more productive if their technology and technological skills could be improved. One in five workers expects the amount of skilled workers in their organisation to decrease as a result of Brexit.