IT solution providers spend a lot of their time focusing on the day-to-day needs of their customers.
However, to thrive in this industry, providers must focus on the future and ensure their business models anticipate customer needs. This means taking the time to regularly reassess skills and capabilities and how they match up with customer needs. Additionally, as technology evolves, providers must sometimes step out of their comfort zone and add capabilities to help customers take advantage of new services and solutions.
IT solution providers that grow too fast miss out on additional revenue and risk losing customers who need the provider to support new products. Most channel partners understand this, so in addition to organic growth and acquisitions, IT solution partners should look for companies that can provide The IT Partner Program helps them grow and focus on new areas.
IT Partner Program Support for New Products
It’s hard to keep up with the market’s demand for new skills and products. A strong partner program can help IT solution providers better match their capabilities with customers’ current and future needs and acquire the skills they lack. Check out the SURT UPS, Easy UPS, Galaxy and Symmetra series ups products.
Partner programs can also help IT solution providers better compete in their specific local markets and segments. For example, partners focused on small and medium-sized business solutions can add capabilities to identify, sell, configure and install edge computing infrastructure, micro data centers and data center solutions to meet the needs of midsize and enterprise customers.
Additionally, IT solution providers that have traditionally focused on providing hardware and power management solutions can begin to leverage monitoring platforms to understand and optimize their customers’ networks. As customers implement distributed hybrid IT environments that combine local, cloud, and edge computing infrastructures, the demand for remote management services is increasing. Providers can find vendors that offer programs that support such remote management services rather than trying to build it themselves from scratch.
These types of products are not just focused on increasing sales and revenue, but are also designed to help solution providers diversify their business models to better serve existing and new customers.
Market Insights
Partner programs can also help providers expand their reach by providing the latest market research and gain a competitive advantage through data-driven guidance to promote business growth. Data from each local and vertical market helps partners understand opportunities, compare their capabilities with those of competitors, and take actions to better meet market needs. Data sources can even include deal registration databases, training, certification registrations, and solutions and configurations offered by providers.
Working together for success
Most solution providers are already booked with existing business and struggle to navigate the tactical steps of new services. The good news is that they can turn to partner programs that provide sales tools and configurations, pre-sales support, and business development investments in the form of discounts, rebates, and market development funds (MDFs). Solution providers can use these programs to expand sales coverage, diversify their business models, and capture new business through market recognition and competitive differentiation.
Explore IT Partner Program opportunities
The world around IT solution providers is constantly evolving, with a growing demand for services and advanced solutions. That’s why Schneider Electric has revamped its partner program. The mySchneider IT Partner Program has been completely revamped to provide the critical support needed to grow capabilities, increase solution offerings, retain customers, and expand into new markets. It includes access to competitive market research, sales tools, software and service offerings, discounts, and more for qualified solution providers.