Maximizing Channel Partnerships in the Post-COVID World

By | Managed Services News

Sep 13

Find flexible partners who can adapt quickly and collaborate for the long term.

Schneider Electric's Shannon Sbar

Shannon Sbar

There’s no doubt the way we work and how industries operate have changed in the wake of the pandemic. In fact, it’s likely the market will continue to shift and the norms that businesses operate under today will be different 12, 24 and 36 months from now.

As noted by Forrester Analyst Jay McBain, “The output of this will be a remote (or residential) topology that will require new levels of service, support, infrastructure, security, compliance, and continuity.” A new set of standards and best practices are being ushered in that define a successful relationship between vendors, managed service providers (MSPs) and end users. Moving forward, it will be important for end users to identify partners that have the flexibility to adapt with their business and to do it quickly. This means partners will look for vendors who can provide continuous support, collaboration and engagement for long-term success.

Getting the Most from Partnerships

When it comes to maximizing partnerships in the post-pandemic world, vendors, MSPs and end users will have different, but complementary priorities. Partnerships are most successful when it becomes a true collaboration between the end user, the partner and the vendor to jointly solve the business problem.

For a vendor, the MSP needs to be top of mind at every stage, from product development and presale all the way through the sale and post-sale. At each point, collaboration is important to ensuring the MSP understands the offer’s value proposition, the resources available for them to incorporate the offer and the support they’ll receive to successfully market the offer. From there the partner can scale faster without incurring additional sales investment costs to identify new opportunities.

Not only will MSPs enjoy exposure to new opportunities and resulting revenue, but they’ll also gain access to more data to provide a holistic view of customer environments and drive future sales. To get to this point vendors need to ensure the end customer’s interests are represented in the offer’s value proposition and recommend best practices and sales tactics for MSPs that will resonate with end users. A support model around the full offer life cycle also aids in bringing full value to the MSP’s business and the customer experience.

For the end-users, agreement on the plan and business goals are most critical. They must understand where gaps in the plan exist, determine what points to manage internally and what can be managed through MSPs. They need partners they can trust to ensure alignment of the goals, timelines and deliverables. As businesses evolve rapidly, it’s important for customers to track measurable outcomes and ensure the MSP is providing the type of service required to meet business objectives. Customers can then focus on their own business and doing what they do best while outsourcing the challenge to an expert who can address it without disrupting their core business.

The Most Important MSP Attributes

To position themselves well in the post-pandemic market, MSPs need to focus on two core attributes: competency and business alignment. MSPs want to align with their customers’ business needs and understand how their offer fills in gaps and meets customer expectations.

The customer needs to feel confident that the partner can …

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