https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • Analytics
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud
    • Data Centers
    • Desktop
    • IoT
    • Mobility
    • Networking
    • Open Source
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Virtualization
    • Voice/Connectivity
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Best Practices
    • Business Models
    • Channel 101
    • Channel Programs
    • Channel Research
    • Digital Transformation
    • Diversity & Inclusion
    • Leadership
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Specialty Practices
  • MSSP Insider
    • Back
    • Business of Security
    • Cloud and Edge
    • Endpoint
    • Network
    • People and Careers
    • Training and Policies
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • 2020 MSP 501 Rankings
    • 2020 Hot 101 Rankings
    • 2020 MSP 501 Report
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Our Sponsors
    • From the Industry
    • Content Resources
    • COVID-19 Partner Help
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • Reports
    • Videos
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • EMEA
  • Awards
    • Back
    • Excellence in Digital Services
    • 2020 MSP 501
    • Top Gun 51
  • Events
    • Back
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • Channel Partners Evolution
    • Channel Evolution Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
  • Channel Mentor
    • Back
    • Channel Market Intelligence
    • Channel Educational Series
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Digital Service Providers
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • CHANNEL PARTNERS ONLINE
 Channel Futures

Digital Transformation


Shutterstock

Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation: 3 Shortcuts to Value Across the Ecosystem

  • Written by Brij Gupta
  • May 7, 2018
Help customer leadership stay ahead of the curve and on their way to continued success by harnessing consumerization and cloud, and breaking down data silos.

When new technologies emerge, sociologists suggest there is a clear pattern from invention to large-scale adoption — a bell-shaped curve that starts with pioneers willing to take a risk and steadily rises to an inflection point of popular adoption, with laggards bringing up the rear. Technological breakthroughs from the automobile to the iPod have proven the theory. Even the internet, which emerged more than 20 years ago, took considerable time to gain traction before it was understood and widely adopted by individuals and corporations for consumer use.

When it comes to the digital technologies disrupting and shaping businesses today, the same adoption curve applies. Yet. where there was little peril in being the last person to own an iPod, in today’s digital-first world, harnessing technology too late in the game is risky. The competitive, connected business environment is evolving at the same accelerated pace as technology life cycles, and even the most successful companies are working hard to stay ahead.

This dynamic places tremendous pressure on business leaders to take a bigger role at every stage of technology implementation. It’s never been more critical for MSPs to help their customers gain a big-picture view of how their technologies are working together, with an eye to driving innovation or disruption in their industries, rather than following along.

Besides employing a holistic view of the business to assess and implement new systems, I am seeing advanced organizations break down silos internally. They’re also following these three guiding principles to ensure they harness technology on the right side of the curve.

1. Actively seek to bridge the gap between corporate and consumer IT. Enterprise IT is no longer immune to what’s happening in consumer IT, and companies must find ways to use both effectively. Stop letting customers rant about “shadow IT” and help them realize that they can learn from what end users are doing. Not only that, mobility and cloud are increasing the pace of innovation and off-books use of tech, making it even more essential to unlock new opportunities that weren’t readily apparent.  

As disruptive solutions show their power to reshape entire industries, a la Uber, to stay at the forefront, companies must shift their mindset from “optimizing scarce resources” to “harnessing abundance.” Technology is enabling this in real-time. Building digital structures and moving to the cloud can also serve as a competitive advantage. Today, technology goes beyond enabling business — it leads. And notably, industries from manufacturing to telecom and hospitality are facing similar challenges, albeit nuanced to their business models or customers.

For partners, being nimble enough to test new solutions, business and consumer, is essential to serving customers. For example, my company, TCS, recently partnered with a leading Japanese power systems company to develop a boiler “digital twin” that helps in monitoring and enabling efficient boiler operations using the power of artificial intelligence and IoT.

In sum, companies must challenge long-standing operational assumptions and rethink relationships with end customers, the wider ecosystem and competitors to bring new technology-driven solutions to life. And, in a crowded competitive market, they must also be selective to prioritize solutions and technologies that directly connect to strategic business objectives. Partners who can help make those connections will win.

2. Put cloud at the center of your strategy to enable every digital transformation. Cloud is powering the rapid creation of new customer-facing services, software and digitized processes that allow organizations to deliver on customers’ demands by removing the “heavy lifting” and upfront investment needed with traditional infrastructure; in fact, the cloud is no longer viewed as an alternative to on-premises or colo infrastructure, as VARs are finding out. In today’s world, all kinds of digital services are available from a variety of partners, and they’re leveling the playing field. Any digital-transformation strategy today must have a cloud component, meaning partners must have sophisticated cloud practices. Period.

3. Use data as currency. Big data is a key component shaping today’s digital economy. Rapid technological advancements have enabled businesses to access large volumes of data flowing in through multiple touch points across the network. However, without the ability to collate, structure and analyze data, it remains largely unusable. A unified data storage and analytics system can facilitate data driven decision-making based on actionable insights. Do you have such an offering in your portfolio?

Don’t let customers perpetuate traditional siloed data repository model. They’ll be ineffective and unable to drive business efficiency or uncover new opportunities. In order to retain a competitive edge and brand loyalty, businesses need to consistently deliver relevant, individualized and compelling customer experiences. Within this context, MSPs need to help CIOs understand the end customer’s needs, preferences and expectations. It’s critical for success.

Companies that holistically store, analyze and act on their data benefit from improved agility and scalability, greater data integration synergy and even higher return on investment. Leveraging data-driven insights can expedite decision-making and ultimately maximize business and revenue growth.  

One important key to success today is employing a technology-agnostic framework — one that allows companies to be nimble and leverage solutions that are most impactful for their business. MSPs with the ability to integrate best-of-breed technologies have an edge. Bottom line, if a customer’s corporate leadership isn’t putting digital transformation at the forefront of their business strategy and collaboratively working across the organization to identify optimization opportunities as they arise, they may well find themselves on the wrong side of the curve.

Brij Gupta is the global head of technology alliances for TCS. Additionally, he manages the field-alliance operations for technology alliance partners in North America, LATAM, the U.K. and Europe. He has over 15 years of experience across multiple roles, including corporate sales in India with TCS’ products alliances group; strategic planning for TCS North America, strategic alliances; and process excellence and procurement. In 2009, to drive closer connect and joint sales on the ground, Brij led the setting up of the “Field Alliances” concept for TCS, a first-of-its-kind for a global system integrator. 

Tags: Cloud Service Providers Digital Service Providers MSPs VARs/SIs Analytics Business Models Cloud Data Centers Digital Transformation Strategy Technologies

Related


  • McAfee Employees Getting Pink-Slipped in Likely 'Belt-Tightening'
    McAfee also reportedly is closing its Israel software development center.
  • Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ for Business
    Microsoft Launches Surface Pro 7+ for Business, Sold Only via Channel
    The newest version of the Surface Pro is available with LTE Advanced option.
  • SMB cybersecurity
    SMBs’ Cybersecurity Risk Awareness Is Rising
    The majority of SMBs would switch MSPs for the right cybersecurity support.
  • Cloud backup
    Carbonite® Backup for Microsoft 365
    Microsoft 365 is a powerful suite of business productivity applications. But like any cloud platform, it’s not immune to data loss. Microsoft does not bear responsibility for the protection and retention of data. While Microsoft ensures the availability of its infrastructure, it recommends that customers assume responsibility for protecting the data in its suite of […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • Huntress Acquires Level Effect EDR to Beef Up Platform
  • The Benefits of Co-Managed IT For Enterprises in the New Normal
  • Lockdown Lessons: Securing Your Business First
  • Lockdown Lessons: Shoring up Your Network and Security Policies

Galleries

View all

New, Changing Partner Programs: AWS, Tech Data, Avaya, Verizon

January 11, 2021

Industry Perspectives

View all

Help Your Customers Mitigate Malware: Viruses, Worms, and Trojans…Oh My!

January 15, 2021

SMBs’ Cybersecurity Risk Awareness Is Rising

January 13, 2021

Your Cloud Data Is Protected, But Is It Portable?

January 12, 2021

Webinars

View all

Blueprint for a Scalable MSSP Practice in 2021

January 21, 2021

Who’s Behind the Mask? Hacker Personas Explained

January 26, 2021

How Managed Hosting Providers Thrive with the Alternative Cloud

February 24, 2021

White Papers

View all

Why Subscription Business Model

January 15, 2021

The Ultimate MSP Guide to Sales Efficiency

January 14, 2021

Eight Reasons Why MSPs Need IT Industry-Specific Sales Tools

January 14, 2021

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Virtual

March 2, 2021 - March 4, 2021

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

November 1, 2021 - November 4, 2021

Videos and Fastchats

View all

FASTCHAT: How SOAR Eliminates Security Challenges and Elevates Service Provider Revenues

January 6, 2021

Happy Holidays from Channel Partners & Channel Futures!

December 21, 2020

FASTCHAT: How Old, Unpatched Technologies Are Creating New Security Threats for MSPs and Their Customers

December 3, 2020

Twitter

ChannelFutures

In the latest 'It's 501 Somewhere', @channelsmart (Janet Schijns) talks about what it takes to be a true leader.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 18, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@IBMServices snaps up #MSP Taos for #hybridcloud expertise. dlvr.it/RqggQR https://t.co/Fy3uPDtLNw

January 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

.@LenovoBusiness launches its thinnest #ThinkPad to date @CES, revamped ThinkBooks and #ThinkReality glasses.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 16, 2021
ChannelFutures

Help your customers mitigate #malware @Tech_Data #cryptolocker #antivirus #ransomware #cybersecurity… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

January 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

Advantages of the Subscription business model for MSPs and IT Resellers @kaspersky dlvr.it/RqgDJn https://t.co/ay694fudp3

January 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

Cloud #distributor @Pax8 launches in UK with leadership team in place. dlvr.it/RqfJWx https://t.co/RsKDCowM5V

January 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

bit.ly/3oO2vFY twitter.com/Craig_Galbrait…

January 15, 2021
ChannelFutures

The Ultimate MSP Guide to Sales Efficiency @zomentum dlvr.it/Rqc63q https://t.co/rHIVLkR01K

January 15, 2021

MSSP Insider

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Channel Partners Online

Want more? Find more channel news and analysis on our sister site, Channel Partners.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Online
  • Channel Partners Events
  • MSP 501
  • MSSP Insider
  • IoT World Today
  • Webhostingtalk

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2021 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X