Driving Partner Success: The challenges and opportunities you need to know about

TechX 2022 brought together leading reseller and vendor partners and technology experts under one roof to explore the theme of Innovation Accelerated, spotlighting the latest technology solutions and collaborating on industry trends.

As your value-added distribution partner, Dicker Data brought the industry together to discuss key challenges, opportunities for growth, and showcase how we can help our partners win more business, increase profitability, and ensure relevance with existing and prospective customers.

Below are the key trends partners need to keep front of mind to capitalise on success.

1. The tech growth opportunity 

Attendees at this year’s TechX conference had the opportunity to hear from Special Guest Mark Iles, an industry analyst and executive consultant working with leading technology providers to drive opportunities for growth and transformation. Mark explored key trends impacting the future of our industry, and the future is bright with Australian and New Zealand small and mid-market businesses set to spend $30 billion in technology in 2022-23, a 6 percent uptick in spend.

Security, modernising application services, and providing strategic business support are areas of focus for customers. Gretta Svendsen, SMB Segment Lead Australia and New Zealand, Microsoft said: “In the next 12 months, 70 percent of small and medium businesses (SMBs) are looking to invest in business transformation through technology. The key priority is security, with 60 percent of SMBs being impacted by a cyberthreat over the past year. The other key focus is growth in a hybrid work environment and we are increasingly seeing interest in tools, such as Microsoft Teams, that empowers a seamless, borderless workplace experience.”

Mark Isle echoed this, but posed this question to our audience: How are you using data to add value? To remain competitive and drive success we need to recognise the value of the data we hold and how we can best extract this for customers. Shant Soghomonian, Senior Director and General Manager, Channel Sales, Dell Technologies and Simon Perry, Senior Product Marketing Manager, VMWare agreed and said to capitalise on growth we, as an industry, need to remove the complexities and be solution orientated. Dicker Data is working closely with our partners to develop and deliver bespoke solutions that are purpose built for each customer’s unique business needs.

2. Lean into innovation

Customer expectations are changing. As an industry, we need to lean into innovation and demonstrate our value on the transformation journey. As digital adoption accelerates at an unprecedented pace, this will be a key challenge for the channel and is an important reason to work with a value-added distributor, like Dicker Data.

The cloud transformation journey was a key theme explored at this year’s TechX with Martin Creighan, Managing Director ANZ, Citrix noting cloud transition, security, and business services are three key areas where Citrix expects customer demand to skyrocket in the next 12-months. Martin Creighan said this will be a key opportunity for innovation and business growth and the channel will play a critical role.

For Cisco, the focus is on the future of networking. Julie Canepa, CIO Asia Pacific, Greater China and Japan, Cisco said: “The network was the lifeblood of our community during the pandemic. It kept businesses running, our children educated, the family entertained, and facilitated connection with loved ones. In the last two years, network data has doubled and we expect this to triple over the next two years. We need powerful, scalable, secure, intelligent networks and Cisco is investing heavily in innovating this space.”

3. Operating challenges 

While the growth opportunity is strong, supply chain shortages and a tight labour market have created significant operating and profitability challenges for our partners. Ken Maher, Director of Personal Systems, HP acknowledged there was a 300,000 employee shortfall in the technology industry and that industry leaders, like HP, had a key role to play in enticing employees to the workforce. “We need to recognise that the power sits with the workforce we want to collaborate and cooperate with. We need to provide a seamless, flexible, safe and secure workplace experience. We also need to act as a true partner to our channel colleagues who help us reach and service our customers.”

To support our partners and enable success, Dicker Data is investing in more technical resources, with more than 100 experts on staff and ready to assist our partners. Dicker Data also has industry leading forecasting tools and third-party logistics services, which can help partners navigate supply disruptions and deliver superior outcomes for customers.

4. Sustainability

Sustainability is the biggest challenge of our time and we need to empower customers to reach their sustainability targets. 65 percent of customers say ESG influences their IT investments, while 79 percent believe digital plays a key role in meeting sustainability targets. Despite this, Gretta Svendsen said a third of ANZ businesses are not confident they will meet sustainability targets. Data is key to unlocking this challenge; you can’t manage what you can’t measure.

For our partners, 40 percent expect to generate revenue from sustainability solutions*. At Dicker Data, we have partnered with global technology leaders who empower customers through data and provide seamless, integrated solutions. Dicker Data has one of the largest ecosystems of sustainable vendor solutions and is committed to implementing initiatives that create a sustainable future. Amongst these initiatives driving us forward, the implementation of 600 solar panels on site to power the facility, rain and stormwater recycled onsite, over 133,000 trees, shrubs and ground cover on the site, all void-fill packing has been replaced with cardboard, unneeded packaging is recycled prior to shipment, partnerships with e-cycle providers have been established and bio waste is separated to minimise landfill, plus  more initiatives.

As Australia’s largest homegrown and locally owned technology distributor, Dicker Data is committed to helping our partners accelerate their innovation in 2023 and beyond. Working with partners as an extension of their team, our team of highly-certified sales and technical experts are here to support at every step of the journey. Our Dicker Data Services team help partners grow revenue, increase profits and optimise their supply chain whether it’s a large-scale project of BAU. The ability for our partners to be flexible and agile in response to changing situations is more important than ever. We offer integrated services across device staging, project coordination, and secure storage, to deliver commercially competitive turn-key solutions.

*Schneider Electric Sustainability Index 2022 Report