The Pardon the Interruption format — patterned after the ESPN gabfest — featured Ryan Morris, principal consultant, Morris Management Partners Inc., and Lawrence M. Walsh, CEO and chief analyst, The 2112 Group. Carolyn April, director, industry analysis for CompTIA, served as moderator, timekeeper and referee.
On the topic of business transformation in the IT channel, Walsh said the industry is supposed to be in a continuous state of change, investment and innovation. But too many companies are caught up in holding on to what they’ve done in the past.
“I don’t think the industry is decommissioning products fast enough,” Walsh said.
The analysts also shared their take on whether brand still matters.
Morris’ view is that it depends on which market segment you are in.
“There some segments where the technology is unfamiliar to the customer, then brand matters,” he said. “Otherwise, it does not.”
Walsh urged solution providers to be more aggressive in defining and enhancing their own brands.
“The customer is aware of the possibilities of technology,” he said. “If you can deliver on those solutions and create a brand experience around it, you’re going to win.”
When asked about the managed services market, which has been slow to reach some of the lofty expectations of just a few years ago, both speakers agreed that many MSPs are doing more harm than good by being too quick to cut prices and too unwilling to deviate from the norm.
One of the strongest selling points of managed services from the MSP’s perspective is the options for to stand apart from the competition. But few companies are taking advantage of that.
“Differentiation requires differences,” said Morris. “When we adopt all the same tools and all do things the same way, where’s the difference?”
Walsh was critical of MSPs for being too quick to drop their prices to win a small piece of business at the expense of expanding their business.
“We keep doubling down on the same services with very little investment in more complex services,” Walsh said. “If we’re not growing fast enough to generate enough profit that can be used to grow the business, we’re never going to get there.”
Both analysts also said channel firms lamenting the lack of skilled workers may need to rethink their hiring practices.
“You have to hire people who have no clue but are motivated to learn this stuff,” Morris said. “We cannot rely on current skills sets to lead us to tomorrow’s technologies. There’s more than enough talent in current technologies. There’s not nearly enough talent in sales and business operations. Recruiting is a sales pitch, just like selling product.”
Walsh said the problem isn’t a lack of talent, but a failure to make the jobs attractive to candidates. “We have to create more attractive job opportunities.”
As for the future of the IT channel, success will not be determined by the technologies that are sold, but by the problems they fix.
“The successful solution provider will be the ones who are delivering true business services,” Walsh concluded. “It’s incumbent on the solution provider to define their relevance with the customer and with the vendor.”
Steven Ostrowski is CompTIA’s director of corporate communications.
