By Jorge Sukarie, president of ABES
In recent years we have heard a lot about investments in "A cloud" or its equivalent term in English “Cloud Computing”, without sometimes being able to grasp the dimension of the volume and speed involved in the transition to this technology. According to IDC, in 2015, more than US$ 2.1 trillion will be invested in IT (hardware, software and services) worldwide, representing an estimated growth of around 3%. A good part of this growth will come from investments in cloud. IDC estimates that more than 75% of companies worldwide already have some strategy on this platform today or have plans to be there soon.
According to recent research conducted by IDC, the good news for the channel at this time of transformation to the cloud is that customers continue to be interested in purchasing IT through the channel. Companies, considered by them as their trusted advisors, offer solutions from a variety of manufacturers, thus allowing you to choose the right option that meets your needs. And, better, these partners should continue to have the purchase preference on the part of customers. In fact, 86% of the companies that responded to the survey indicated that they buy IT solutions through the channel. Although the first impression is that in cloud offers the manufacturer is closer to the customer, supposedly decreasing the importance of this means of purchase, only 16% responded to the survey claiming to buy directly from the manufacturer.
Another interesting finding from this study is that 72% of customers admitted that they value a “good” service as being more important than just price. Only 28% would sacrifice this topic to get a better price. This shows the great opportunity for the channel – which adds value to its offerings – which will continue to be valued in these new times of transformation to the cloud.
The big challenge in this scenario may not be so clear in this discussion of business transformation from the channel to the cloud. The solutions on this platform go far beyond the infrastructure and applications that were under the responsibility of the IT area. Cloud brings a great opportunity for companies to create disruptive businesses, review processes, optimize investments, reduce costs, all this through algorithms that can be developed specifically for each business.
In order for the channel to succeed in this transformation to the cloud, it will be imperative to communicate with the customers' business area, since 80% of the new IT investments will be involved in this area. Knowing the client's business and learning to interact with these executives, who have a different profile from IT professionals, will be fundamental to guarantee the channel's survival in this new scenario.
Another important message that we can extract from all these numbers is that only the partner that adds value, is able to understand the needs and business of its client and really acts as a trusted advisor will have its space in this new scenario.
*Jorge Sukarie is President of ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies and a member of the entity since 1989. Graduated in Business Administration from Fundação Getúlio Vargas in 1986, and Post-Graduated from the same institution in 1987, with an emphasis on Finance and Marketing. Specialization Course in Business Management at Harvard Business School in Boston (USA). Sukarie is also Founding Partner and President of Brasoftware Informática Ltda. (1987).
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