MSPs, Telco Agents Are Ready to Take You Down

Telecoms is a critical component of almost every amazing digital experience. In 2019, we are SMS-ing passwords for authentication in online banking, sending mobile delivery notifications for logistics companies, embedding video in browsers of virtual assistants and navigating a whole new mobile world.

Digital Wholesale Solutions’ Nathan Marke

According to Nathan Marke, chief digital officer of Digital Wholesale Solutions Limited, some in the IT channel think they will be “eating the telco resellers’ lunch” and winning the customers for these transformations; however, in Marke’s experience of working with more than 2,000 telco resellers, he has learned this is a channel full of highly motivated entrepreneurs with amazing, strong customer relationships and real agility — and they are coming hard at IT.

Marke will share insights on the matter in his keynote presentation, “Brace Thyselves, MSPs: Telcos Are Coming for You,” 2 December, during Channel Evolution Europe in London.

The battle is set. Who will win? And what should you do about it?

Channel Futures: Why, and in what ways should MSPs prepare, or brace themselves, for telcos?

Nathan Marke: The telco channel is facing major disruption from macro factors such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN) switch-off, as well as the entrants of dragons such as Google and Microsoft. But there are also growth opportunities in 5G, fibre, IoT and the convergence of telco and IT.

The telco channel is highly entrepreneurial, and I believe is better at selling than the IT channel. It has seen the challenges facing its core market and is moving, organically and inorganically into segments of the IT landscape to remain relevant to customers and find growth. But we don’t see evidence of IT resellers moving toward telco. This arrival of highly effective competition to the IT channel will cause its own disruption, driven by customer demand to build fewer, more trusted relationships with channel partners for ICT.

CF: Can you elaborate a bit on the point that telecoms are a critical component of almost every digital experience?

NM: Almost every digital transformation project that you see has telecoms baked into the experience; from online banking, passport applications and consumer apps, using telecoms APIs to contact, notify, verify and contact the end user; through workplace collaboration using cloud productivity suites and mobile apps; through to IoT. Everything fundamentally involves connecting end users and things to apps.

CF: What are the two or three biggest takeaways you’d like to convey in your keynote?

NM: 

1. Telecoms are an essential part of almost every digital experience.
2. Telecoms is going through an existential transformation due to technology evolution, macro market changes and new market entrants meaning that there is a multi-billion £ customer spend up for grabs.
3. Telecoms is highly profitable, cash generative and recurring in nature.
4. There has never been a better time to explore either partnering or building your own skills in telecoms services to capture this value.

CF: Any last tidbits to leave folks with in regard to the session?

NM: I’ll be hoping to show resellers where the big, profitable adjacent opportunities are in Telco and how to get started.