Global IT resellers have mostly prospered during the pandemic and expect even better business performance over the next 12 months, but there remain major opportunities for closer collaboration with distributors on cloud and digital initiatives, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
The findings come from the annual CONTEXT ChannelWatch study, the largest online reseller survey in the world, which is compiled from the responses of over 7,000 channel businesses in Baltics, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Despite unprecedented business uncertainty and market upheaval during the pandemic, half (49%) of respondents said their business has performed well over the past 12 months, with only 10% pointing to poor performance.
Most (65%) saw turnover increase (32%) or stay the same (33%) during the crisis, with only a third (32%) pointing to a decrease. Over a quarter (28%) said business with their main distributor increased over the period.
Even better, 67% expect their business performance to further improve next year, with the business services (37%), energy (32%) and manufacturing (32%) sectors singled out by resellers as offering the best prospects for growth.
Mobile PC (68%) and homeworking (47%) and smart home (26%) categories are predicted by resellers to be those that will continue to experience high volume demand going forward.
The cloud, and in particular “as a service” offerings, are also seen to be a major opportunity—cited by 94% of respondents as such. That’s understandable given that 73% of resellers saw customer digital transformation projects accelerate during the pandemic. Most resellers (57%) said they did the same as a result of the crisis.
“A great deal of the optimism displayed by global resellers in our latest study comes from major end-customer investments in digital transformation driven by COVID-19”, said CONTEXT’s Global Managing Director, Adam Simon. “It’s reassuring to see their outlook for the next 12 months so positive, but to ensure opportunities aren’t missed, closer collaboration will be necessary with distributors to deliver the cloud services businesses are crying out for.”
Resellers have clearly said that cloud is a key area where distributors can add value for their partners. Marketing (51%), sales (47%) and training and education (45%) are the areas resellers are most in need of help with.
CONTEXT will be presenting these findings and key market trends during the live streamed GTDC Forum event on 3 of November. The event attracts 400 senior level distribution and vendor executives.