Monday Morning Impact – April 18

Gartner Forecasts Worldwide IT Spending to Rise in 2022

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.4 trillion in 2022, an increase of 4% from 2021, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.

“This year is proving to be one of the noisiest years on record for CIOs,” said John-David Lovelock, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “Geopolitical disruption, inflation, currency fluctuations and supply chain challenges are among the many factors vying for their time and attention, yet contrary to what we saw at the start of 2020, CIOs are accelerating IT investments as they recognize the importance of flexibility and agility in responding to disruption.

“As a result, purchasing and investing preference will be focused in areas including analytics, cloud computing, seamless customer experiences and security.”

Inflation impacts on IT hardware (e.g., mobile devices and PCs) from the past two years are finally dissipating and are starting to spill over into software and services. With the current shortage of IT talent prompting more competitive salaries, technology service providers are increasing their prices, which is helping to increased spending growth in these segments through 2022 and 2023. Software spending is expected to grow 9.8% to $674.9 billion in 2022 and IT services is forecast to grow 6.8% to reach $1.3 trillion.

The rise of enterprise application software, infrastructure software and managed services in the near and long term demonstrates that the trend toward digital transformation is not a one- or two-year trend, rather it is systemic and long-term. For example, infrastructure as a service (IaaS) underpins every major consumer-focused online offering and mobile application, accounting for a significant portion of the almost 10% growth in software spending in 2022.

Gartner expects digital business initiatives such as experiential end-consumer experience and optimization of supply chain to push spending on enterprise applications and infrastructure software into double-digit growth in 2023.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not expected to have a direct impact on global IT spending. Price and wage inflation compounded with talent shortages and other delivery uncertainties are expected to be greater impingements on CIOs’ plans in 2022 but will still not slow down technology investments.

“CIOs anticipate having the financial and organizational ability to invest in key technologies throughout this year and next,” said Lovelock. “Some IT spending was on hold in early 2022 due to the Omicron variant and subsequent waves but is expected to clear in the near-term.

“CIOs who keep their eye focused on key market signals, such as the shift from analog to digital business and buying IT to building it, as well as negotiate with their vendor partners to assume ongoing risks, will fare better in the long-term. At this point, only the most fragile companies will be forced to pivot to a cost cutting approach in 2022 and beyond.”

Channel Impact^®
The findings are obviously good news for the IT channel community, many of whom who have expressed concerns about the near-term forecast in view of the global situation.

Adtran Launches Broadband Partner Program

Adtran, a Huntsville, Alabama-based networking company, has announced the launch of its Broadband Partner Program designed to provide smart, simple and profitable tools to help partners leverage new federal funding for broadband infrastructure.

An extension of Adtran’s award-winning Business Networking Channel Program, the Broadband program offers dedicated pre-sales support and marketing resources to help partners engage in broadband opportunities.

“The timing of the Broadband Partner Program could not be better because our program’s benefits encompass every type of provider working to deliver broadband across the U.S. and ensure broadband equity across our country,” said Craig Stein, Vice President, Americas, and Head of Global Business Development at Adtran. “Traditionally, we have supported business customers through our channel partners, so enabling broadband-focused partners to bring Adtran solutions to their customers demonstrates our commitment to investing in broadband enablement across the U.S. We’re excited to provide the opportunity for our partners to grow their businesses and capture new revenue streams by leveraging our expertise in both broadband access and supportive channel programs.”

Channel Impact^®
The program, which is designed for reseller partners seeking to deliver broadband solutions to alternative service providers, like electric utilities, internet service providers and local and state government entities, combines the company’s long-standing fiber broadband access expertise with channel partner support.

Katalon Launches New Partner Program and Portal

Katalon, Inc., an Atlanta-based software test automation platform provider, today announced the launch of its new Solution Partner Program and Partner Portal.

The program provides partners with an opportunity to earn enhanced margins on product resell, services revenue opportunities via the creation and promotion of service packages, and the ability to showcase their brand and customer successes via the company website.

The Katalon Solution Partner Program offers four tiers: Member, an entry-level tier for new partners; Silver, the mid-level tier for partners with proven customer success; and the Gold and Platinum tiers, the highest levels for partners who have demonstrated customer success at scale.

“The Katalon Solution Partner Program is the next step in Katalon’s channel strategy and builds upon our early success with our valued partners,” said Matt Sandberg, Vice President of Partnerships. “We’re committing significant resources to supporting partner growth in 2022 to ensure that our joint customers are well adopted and successful.”

Concurrent with the launch of the partner program, the company is also launching a partner portal providing a single location for access to partnership materials involving training, best practices, opportunity registration, etc.

Channel Impact^®
The new partner program enables testing and DevOps-focused services organizations to build new paths to profitability. The company seeks to collaborate closely with highly qualified partners to ensure customer success.