Marching Orders 2013: Manage a Year of Abundance
As part of Redmond Channel Partner's annual "Marching Orders" feature, we asked several channel luminaries to give their best advice to help Microsoft partners succeed in the coming year. Here are some tips from Mike Harvath, CEO, Revenue Rocket Consulting Group & RCP columnist.
It looks like this could be a year of opportunity for Microsoft partners. What with a new, huge revision cycle that includes Windows 8, Office 2013, Exchange 2013, SharePoint 2013, the new Surface tablet and Lync, there's a lot to crow about.
I can't remember a year in which Microsoft has unleashed such a barrage of new and updated technologies. Some might argue that this onslaught is a wee bit too much to thrust upon the market all at once. Time will tell, but for the moment I think this spells opportunity -- as change often does in IT -- for those partners that have positioned themselves to take advantage of this bounty.
Revision cycles are when corporate clients take the time to reevaluate their technology configurations. Given the volume and variety of what Microsoft is introducing, corporate clients are going to need -- more than ever -- their IT services partners to help them figure out what's right for their businesses. For corporate executives it's the logical time to consider on-premises or off-premises cloud options, for example; to further their move into mobility; or to consider the new applications made more viable with these new technologies.
For the partner community, particularly for those IT services companies that specialize in vertical and technology niches, as I've long preached, you're going to be in high demand. But only if you're able to demonstrate that you and you alone have the requisite expertise to sift through this abundance, identify the best options, and then help your clients translate and implement the right solutions.
On the flip side, this era of abundance may also be the death knell era for the generalist IT services companies that think that they can do it all. We may well see a year in which the stronger, well-positioned IT services companies prosper and the less-well-endowed falter and die. It could be a shakeout year.
Read our full Marching Orders 2013 feature here.
Posted on January 15, 2013