The ongoing convergence of IT and telecom technologies, as well as the decision-making preferences of the customer, continue to drive more partnerships between traditional IT channel firms and the telecom agent channel. Both communities are looking to provide customers with an end-to-end solution encompassing both telecom and IT and have found that joining forces and blending skill-sets can be an efficient way to achieve this aim.
That’s the conclusion of many respondents to CompTIA and Channel Partners’ third study of these partnering habits and trends. The study, titled “Partnering Trends Between Telecom & IT Channels,” is available in the research section of CompTIA’s online Member Resource Center. In two separate surveys sent to 100 IT channel firms and 100 telecom agents, the data reveal a high degree of satisfaction with these partnerships in the last year and offer some key insights into the reasons to partner, priorities for establishing partnerships and factors for success.
Other findings to consider:
Emerging models such as cloud computing and managed services are driving IT channel firms and telecom agents to partner. Nearly all IT channel firms (90 percent) and 7 in 10 telecom agents report that these newer models have had a positive impact on their partnerships.
Revenue generated by these partnerships has increased over the last year; with nearly half of IT channel firms, for example, attributing 50 to 74 percent of their total annual revenue to their work with telecom agents.
The primary reasons to partner are financial in nature, including landing new customers, increasing sales with existing customers, meeting market demand, expanding skill-sets and saving money on training staff internally by instead using partners.
Easily one of the biggest takeaways from this year’s study is the increased formalization of these partnerships. Firms have figured out that ad hoc, informal relationships might work for one deal or project, but for these pairings to succeed on an ongoing, strategic level, the rules of engagement and responsibilities must elevate beyond a handshake agreement.
The deeper seeds of commitment are evident in the factors singled out as success drivers behind these partnerships. Effective communications, formal business planning and an understanding of each other’s business models ranked at the top of the list of things that made these relationships fruitful in the last year.
The past year also saw increases in the instances of joint selling and marketing among the two types of businesses, which has had a direct impact on the priorities each outlines for embarking on a partnership in the first place: Setting sales strategy together, determining revenue goals and targets and establishing account ownership.
In addition to this new research report on the topic, CompTIA recently formed the Telecom Advisory Council to explore initiatives around the converging industries of IT and telecom. Comprised of business leaders and subject matter experts from across the telecom industry, the council is tasked with identifying and evaluating issues faced by suppliers of services, IT channel firms and the enterprises procuring those services. The goal is to help drive performance improvement and best practices across the industry — and in particular with respect to these growing partnerships detailed in the report.
