Monday Morning Impact – February 18

Gartner: Global IT Spending to Reach $3.8 Trillion in 2019

Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.76 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.2 percent from 2018, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.

“Despite uncertainty fueled by recession rumors, Brexit, and trade wars and tariffs, the likely scenario for IT spending in 2019 is growth,” said John-David Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner. “However, there are a lot of dynamic changes happening in regards to which segments will be driving growth in the future. Spending is moving from saturated segments such as mobile phones, PCs and on-premises data center infrastructure to cloud services and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. IoT devices, in particular, are starting to pick up the slack from devices. Where the devices segment is saturated, IoT is not.”

With the shift to cloud, a key driver of IT spending, enterprise software is expected to exhibit strong growth, with worldwide software spending projected to grow 8.5 percent in 2019. It is expected to grow another 8.2 percent in 2020 to total $466 billion. Organizations are expected to increase spending on enterprise application software in 2019, with more of the budget shifting to software as a service (SaaS).

Despite a slowdown in the mobile phone market, the devices segment is expected to grow 1.6 percent in 2019.

“In addition to buying behavior changes, we are also seeing skills of internal staff beginning to lag as organizations adopt new technologies, such as IoT devices, to drive digital business,” said Lovelock. “Nearly half of the IT workforce is in urgent need of developing skills or competencies to support their digital business initiatives. Skill requirements to keep up, such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, API and services platform design and data science, are changing faster than we’ve ever seen before.”

Gartner’s IT spending forecast methodology is based on analysis of sales by thousands of vendors across the entire range of IT products and services. The report, entitled, “Gartner Market Databook, Q418 Update,” is available to Gartner clients.

Channel Impact^®
As digital business and digital business ecosystems move forward, IT will be the thing that binds the business together, thereby presenting strong opportunities for partners. The three-point growth rate seems encouraging, given the major development on the world stage.

Palo Alto Networks Targets Partner-Led Services

Palo Alto Networks has rolled out several enhancements to its NextWave Partner Program in an effort to fuel long-term growth and enable the expansion of partner-led services.

Enhancements include streamlined program levels with tiered discount structures; new partner incentives focused on deal registration, partner value, distribution value, and renewals; a new rebate for partners defined by the company as most committed; and a new deal referral that rewards partners for bringing specific SaaS opportunities to the vendor.

Other improvements include tools, training, best practices, procedures and other resources to support implementation of the company’s prevention-based architecture and cybersecurity services. Additionally, Palo Alto Networks is introducing a new dedicated Managed Services Program, and has invested in system and process automation in order to simplify the quoting and approval process.

“The demand for cybersecurity has drastically changed since we first introduced the NextWave Partner Program,” said Karl Soderlund, senior vice president, Worldwide Channels at Palo Alto Networks. “Today, our mutual customers need protection from the endpoint, across the network, and into the cloud. Organizations require the help of trusted security advisors to safely enable digital transformation, to successfully integrate cybersecurity offerings into a hybrid cloud infrastructure and secure the network from the endpoint to the cloud.”

The company claims more than 56,000 customers, including 85 Fortune 100 companies, across more than 150 countries.

Channel Impact^®
The continued growth and success of today’s technology companies is dependent on our ability to adapt to changing customer, market, and business dynamics. The partner program must not only reflect those changes, but must also provide ample opportunity and ongoing account control.

Veeam North America ProPartner Program Adds New Growth Opportunities for Key Resellers

Veeam Software, a Swiss-based backup solutions vendor, has announced major enhancements to its North American partner program, as part of an effort to drive greater channel commitment.

Highlights include accelerated growth rebates for Gold and Platinum partners who overachieve on a quarterly or annual basis. These incentives stack on top of existing back-end rebates. In addition, a new “Perks” program rewards sales, marketing and technical roles at partner organizations, thereby extending the company’s incentives beyond the partner sales teams.

Other key enhancements include a new multi-lingual enablement platform complete with demos, product and solution training, program and selling education, training courses, and preparation tools for Veeam certifications. The company has also launched a new Marketing Concierge service designed to help partners build multi-touch campaigns that focus on digital marketing tactics, including customized content, social media initiatives, leads, management and other campaign components.

“Our industry continues to evolve; we understand that we must too evolve our partner program to ensure we are providing all of the tools and offering the highest support to ensure our partners are successful and maximizing every opportunity,” said James Mundle, Veeam’s vice president of worldwide channels.
”The new investments, resources, programs and tools Veeam is putting in place will help our partners to achieve greater profitability and enable success across all business segments.”

Channel Impact^®
Additional incentives are always popular with partners. In addition, multiple channel surveys demonstrate that marketing is often an area with which the channel tends to struggle. Vendors that provide marketing services to their partners often find themselves in positions of increased influence.