It was great to see so many people from vendors, solutions providers and distributors at our fourth ANZ Channel Community meeting on 21 July. The theme was navigating change; something most organisations are focusing on at the moment.
Karen Drewitt, general manager, The Missing Link, and vice chair of the CompTIA executive council, opened the meeting by introducing the theme of change. She also provided an overview of the industry development and charitable activities CompTIA has undertaken since the community’s last meeting.
Karen told the group that change presents opportunities for improvement. She outlined how current initiatives such as Dream IT, which encourages women to enter the IT industry, and CompTIA’s support of the Young ICT Explorers program, will help build a strong future for the industry. By nurturing the next generation of IT industry professionals, we can improve how we prepare for and embrace change.
The meeting included presentations from Cam Wayland, director and co-founder, Channel Dynamics; Peter Jolly, global head of research, National Australia Bank; and Jim Hamilton, vice-president, member communities, CompTIA.
Cam Wayland shared his insights into why people are reluctant to embrace change without a clear purpose, and why a number of IT organisations will struggle to survive the current rate of change. He also talked about how it’s essential for all organisations in the industry to take measured and strategic views of change, and to put in place deliberate plans to manage change effectively.
Peter Jolly’s session focused on the current state of the economy. He revealed that, in terms of GDP growth, unemployment rates and interest rates, the economy is strong.
Jim Hamilton’s interactive community workshop created an industry roadmap to help the channel navigate a myriad of industry changes. Jim told the group that the creation of the roadmap is just one example of how our community can work together for the good of the industry. This workshop included a robust debate on how to approach change and which industry trends and features are currently emerging, continuing or fading. For example, most participants agreed that partnerships and collaboration will become more important as organisations strive to benefit from industry changes. As a result, traditional roles for vendors, distributors and resellers are evolving quickly.
Overall, the event was a great opportunity to gather a wide range of insights and will provide a strong foundation for developing future roadmaps. When complete, these roadmaps will become a useful resource for channel organisations to turn industry changes into strategic opportunities.
We look forward to seeing everyone again at the next meeting, which will be held in the second week of November.
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