DEALERS, RESELLERS AND VARS
Dominating the SMB
Is the Brexit slowdown a fallacy? Some of
The fate of the Channel will be continually debated as new technologies come to the fore and certain vendors
switch their focus between a direct and indirect model. Although competition is fierce there are a number of things
the Channel has going for it which will ensure it will weather market changes for the foreseeable future
the Channel’s biggest service providers
think so because they are continuing
to grow despite the uncertainty. When
we asked prominent channel gure Terry
O’Brien, CEO of Daisy Wholesale, why this
was the case he said it was simply a case of the
Channel doing what the Channel does best…
serving the SMB better than anyone else.
Who else can bring all these dierent
elements of this converged landscape together
in an easily consumable way for customers?
e big carriers aren’t up to the job and don’t
have the level of trust a channel partner
can forge with their customer base. Small
businesses still need technology, whatever
happens between the UK and EU, and they
will continually look to partners for guidance
and advice.
SD-WAN
As businesses continue to move applications to
the cloud services like SD-WAN are becoming
more popular as a means to save money and
increase exibility over a traditional oering of
services like MPLS.
SD-WAN goes beyond networking into
the realms of applications, security and
analytics. Whilst these additional features
require a broad range of skills, they certainly
do pose a good proposition for companies
aiming to grow. With its inception, network
providers will be able to provide reliable
connections to their customers’ geographically
distributed locations, due to the exibility
that the autonomy of the software provides.
erefore, SD-WAN is set to evolve the way
that Wide Area Networks operate.
SD-WAN is currently used to dene a broad
range of services, products and technologies –
from simple to scalable, DIY to a fully managed
service. Partners must ensure they have the
appropriate knowledge when it comes to selling
the technology which means working closely
with distributors and service providers.
Multicloud
Multicloud is not a new approach to delivering
services and was initially used as a way to
prevent data loss, downtime or avoid vendor
gain customer insights and drive eciencies
AI will become an essential tool in reading the
vast quantities of information being thrown
out of various solutions.
For the Channel, AI will become more of
a reality in applications for call and contact
centre where chatbots are already prevalent. AI
technology is increasingly being used for high
volume low value type interactions which may
start on the web. As the technology progresses
it will be able to solve more common
customer issues but it also enables humans to
concentrate their eorts in the higher value
interactions. What does this mean for your
typical call centre worker? Not much at the
moment probably, we are a long way away
from being able to let AI loose, unsupervised,
in a customer environment. For now at least,
we will be working alongside AI applications.
TOP TRENDS FOR 2019
• Internal collaboration takes off
• SD-WAN explodes
• Multicloud becomes more prevalent
• AI becomes more engrained in vendor solutions
• Blockchain will still be met with scepticism
• Managed Service models will reign supreme
• 5G will become more of a reality
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lock-in. Today we see new drivers such as
specic technical goals in certain geographies,
cost eciencies, or capacity and features
oered by particular vendors. With industry
regulations catching up (debatably) with the
technology landscape there may even be a
legal requirement to deploy a multi-cloud
strategy.
Cloud-rst is now the norm for most,
but the real question is what and where?
451 Research found over the next two years
42% of applications will be on-premise,
split equally between traditional on-prem
and private cloud, with hosted private cloud
accounting for nearly a fth of the o-premise
number. Not so simple as migrating Oce,
for example, to save some cost and raise
productivity. Given 94% of public cloud
users are headed to a multi-cloud world of
increasing complexity according to Cisco’s
Global Cloud Index survey, then simplifying
the deployment to, and management of,
multi-cloud hybrid environments is high on
the ‘must have’ list.
Working with AI
2019 will see Articial Intelligence (AI)
become more prevalent in vendor solutions
across the board. As data mining strategies
and products become increasingly used to
38 | Channel Profiles 2019 wwwwww..ccoommmmssbbuussiinneessss..ccoo..uukk