INTERVIEW Shaun Lynn - Agilitas
“Without undergoing a transformational shift to some extent, staying ahead of the competition and attracting
and retaining customers will prove increasingly challenging. ”
Shaun Lynn, CEO of Agilitas
A More Relevant Future
Comms Business Magazine talks to Shaun Lynn, CEO of Nottingham based IT reseller Agilitas about the market today
and how to stay relevant in it
Comms Business Magazine
(CBM): How would you
characterise business
challenges in the channel today?
Shaun Lynn (CL): e most
successful and growing
businesses in today’s global
IT channel acknowledge and
embrace their customers’
changing demands and
requirements. When considering
advances in technology,
collaboration with other
partners, and transformational
changes within the business,
channel companies need to
ensure that they are remaining
relevant for their customers - and
critically, it’s not just customers’
needs, but also their business
aspirations that now need to be
taken into account.
CBM: So how do resellers
remain competitive in the
channel today?
SL: In order to remain
competitive in this market
and align with customer
requirements, many
companies need to undergo a
transformational shift in their
business model. is could
be anything from internal
transformation - reecting the
cultural shift in the channel - to
more large-scale transformation,
such as mergers and acquisitions.
Without undergoing a
transformational shift to some
extent, staying ahead of the
competition and attracting and
retaining customers will prove
increasingly challenging.
months. Within this time frame,
customers’ considerations can be
taken fully into account, rather
than rushing to roll out a new
service or product too fast. For
some, it can even take 9 months
or more to introduce a new
product or service; though with
this slow pace, companies can
risk their solutions becoming
less relevant by the time they are
launched.
In our recent research, we
asked channel companies what
areas they expected customers
to want services and products
developed in, in the future.
We found that 52% of channel
companies expect customers
to require bespoke technology
products, while 39% predict that
professional services/installations
will be desired by customers.
Most businesses today
introduce around 7 new services
or products within a year.
is fast rate of introducing
new services might suggest
how business outcome-based
requirements are driving the
need for choice in order to build
‘as-a-solution’ propositions.
Having a positive attitude
towards a relevant and customercentric
business model is
likely to have a direct impact
on a business and the way it
approaches business models
and our research has shown
that a large proportion of
channel companies are now
moving towards, or have already
adopted, this customer-centric
approach.
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For many, the customer’s
ultimate objectives is a key factor
to take into consideration when
developing new services and
solutions - something that clearly
demonstrates a high level of
customer focus.
However, some decision
makers say that when developing
new services or products,
they focus on how the nal
product would be marketed
to wider/global audiences.
is illustrates that as well as
considering relevance for specic
individual customers, they are
also focusing on whether the
service or product would create
recurring revenue opportunities,
creating bespoke solutions for
Shaun Lynn, CEO of Agilitas
one particular customer and
then rolling them out to a wider
customer base.
CBM: Surely it must be tough
getting the right balance for
customers?
SL: ere has recently been a
clear recognition in the channel
of the need to ensure a balance
between the speed to market
for new solutions, and taking
the time to ensure that both the
service and product are tailored
towards customer’s needs.
Most channel companies
report that the best timescale
in which to develop, introduce
a new product or service to the
market, and implement it, is 1-5
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