Partnerships have always been a great avenue for expanding the reach of products and services. Most importantly, they benefit the end user. When managed service providers (MSPs) bundle partner innovations into solutions, it eliminates the need for businesses to search for and manage relationships with multiple providers.
This is a well-known phenomenon. Research from BPI Network indicates that 44% of businesses “seek alliances for new ideas, insights, and innovation,” and a report in the Harvard Business Review indicates that 94% of tech executives view innovation partnerships as necessary to their strategy.
Partnerships have taken on even more importance as we continue through this period of economic turbulence. Looking ahead, we can expect to see MSPs invest in more strategic relationships in 2023 and beyond to efficiently deliver innovative technologies and services to a broader market. This will prove to be a competitive advantage for both MSPs and their customers as they digitally transform their businesses.
Scaling Solutions to Address Global Challenges
Today, organizations of all sizes are finding themselves needing to do more with less, and they are looking to technology to make it happen. That said, companies can no longer survive by consuming technology in isolated bubbles; disconnected point solutions cannot solve global problems. Businesses will soon realize that leveraging MSPs and VARs to extend product and service offerings will be a competitive advantage in the market.
The need to integrate the people, devices, and data that forms the foundation of a successful partnership has presented a stumbling block for many across industries. However, it is these very factors that make partnerships so powerful. Integrating people, devices, and data into a form that compounds the benefits of each is essential for MSPs looking to unlock true digital transformation for their customers. When done right, these compounded benefits ripple throughout the customer’s entire organization—from the IT department to the frontline worker.
Bringing Intelligence to the Frontline
Frontline workers will increasingly need intelligent technologies to support their tasks across the entire industrial value chain. IT/OT convergence provides a lot of opportunities, but also challenges for customers. By establishing key partnerships with MSPs, organizations will be able to democratize expertise and information. The easy and efficient distribution of data across the organization and the right digital tools will empower frontline workers and provide a strong basis from which organizations can automate complex processes, or even complete supply chains. Digitalization isn’t just a white-collar topic; allowing it should also enable frontline workers to better do their work with the right information and integration into business processes.
2023 will see more organizations rapidly expanding their offerings into more integrated use cases to multiply the value they are providing for customers. Partnering with MSPs that offer complementary products or services will enable businesses to provide a more comprehensive solution to their customers by filling gaps in their own offerings. These partnerships can also help companies access new markets and tap into new sources of expertise that are especially useful for emerging technologies, which often require specialized knowledge and resources. IT/OT convergence especially requires additional expertise addressing business cases as well as organizational and adoption-related issues—with significant return if done right.
Opportunity in Turbulence
The writing is on the wall for the year ahead. Economic turbulence will push organizations across industries to find new efficiencies in their tools and processes. In recent years, organizations have turned solely to technology to unlock this efficiency, but the future of digital transformation requires that we take it a step further. The new digital economy will be built on the integration of people, devices, and data into all processes. It will not plug holes in value chains with shiny new point solutions. Instead, it will empower frontline workers with the tools and information they need to find intelligent solutions that are efficient, scalable, and focused on increasing productivity.
In essence, the partnerships between MSPs and their customers developed today will provide a platform for digital transformation—a platform with capabilities that will grow exponentially in coming years. By focusing on these strategic partnerships in 2023, MSPs can deliver more innovative solutions to their own customers, stay ahead of the competition, and emerge this year as an important participant in the new digital economy.
ROBERT THIELE is vice president, strategic alliances and partnerships, Americas, at TeamViewer.
