Tech Talk: Channel Partners Can Make Big Bucks Working with Walmart

Walmart is looking for new ways to boost its technological acumen, and channel partners could benefit in a big way thanks to the power of value added services and managed service offerings.

The company recently published a call to action for technology companies to submit ideas on ways to improve the retailer’s big data, security and social media efforts. Submissions, which are due by July 22, will be judged during the company’s Technology Innovation Open Call in October, where more than 100 Walmart executives are expected to meet with applicants.

Walmart’s outreach effort is a huge opportunity for channel companies to secure a deal with one of the country’s largest retailers, especially if those companies can effectively service Walmart’s sizeable number of brick and mortar stores scattered across the nation in addition to its online retail operations. According to the latest figures available on Walmart’s corporate website, the company currently owns and operates more than 5,000 stores and clubs in the United States. You don’t have to be a wiz at math to understand that any channel partner or MSP able to secure a deal with Walmart could be looking at big bucks.

So what type of services do channel partners have to offer Walmart? Like the number of channel companies in the IT sector, the possibilities are nearly endless. Here are just a few ways in which channel partners can stand to make a buck:

1. Walmart needs the latest and greatest big data technology to manage its billions of dollars of inventory, as well as a way to manage its fleet of trucks and transportation vehicles as it sends merchandise to different locations across the country. Channel partners that specialize in Internet of Things (IoT) solutions will undoubtedly be needed to maintain and service such a complex infrastructure.
2. Walmart currently employs more than 1.4 million employees in the United States alone. The company needs help providing employee services to those workers, such as payroll and benefit management services. That means a channel partner could develop a healthy recurring revenue stream by offering a suite of integrated services for the company.
3. With millions of dollars of products in each of its stores, Walmart has a crucial need for top-notch physical security, a service that can definitely be handled by channel partners.
4. An effective means of locking down endpoints and protecting both corporate and customer data is also essential, so the company is bound to be interested in any company with a unique cybersecurity offering.
5. Like any corporation, Walmart needs to be lean and mean when it comes to online presence and sales. Channel partners who specialize in building recurring revenue streams may be able to offer an enticing package around digital marketing as a service to help the retail company attract shoppers through social media.
6. Online retail selling is another area where Walmart needs to have a compelling offering if it wants to continue to lead the competition. While the company has already made great strides in streamlining the online shopping experience, utilizing a channel partner to maintain the portal and develop new and exciting ways of ordering from the site (including additional ways to shop via mobile devices) could potentially net channel partners a pretty penny – so long as they can handle such a sizeable account.