Lenovo Channel EMEA Vice President Ralf Jordan has been looking ahead to 2024 and sees the cloud changing the face of corporate reselling.
Jordan said that hybrid and multi-cloud are the twin engines that are driving the modernisation of IT across every sector, including a disruption of the channel landscape.
“In 2023, the work of a traditional corporate reseller that buys, enhances and sells products still exists but alongside new, evolving ways to work. Cloud service providers are increasingly taking over some of the capacity, as business requirements that historically were done in a data centre are moving to the cloud,” he said.
Jordan said that customers enjoy the benefits of cloud infrastructure but realise that adopting a one-size-fits-all approach carries risks, including the possibility that more agile competitors might leave them behind.
“There is no doubt that the multi-cloud trend will continue, moving from the large enterprise market where it began into the small and medium business space,” he said.
He thinks this is changing the role of resellers who are now helping to create or manage cloud infrastructure and delivering solutions that empower customers to enjoy the benefits of hybrid cloud.
“Resellers will increasingly play a critical role in managing digital transformation projects and offering customers the choice of multiple cloud vendors,” Jordan added.
For resellers in the channel, this offers a variety of opportunities, offering everything from platform to infrastructure and end-user services. He added that Multi-cloud will be widely adopted by organisations of all sizes in the channel.
Jordan said edge computing offers a new chance for channel partners to deliver specialist solutions to sectors hungry to bring computing to the data rather than vice versa. This technology is considered the backbone of modern digital transformation and will increase in the channel in the coming years.
“The ability to move processing and applications to where data is produced will be central to every transformation project, driving enterprise spending on software, hardware and services,” Jordan said.
He cited that IDC forecasts that spending on edge computing will reach $317 billion by 2026, rising by 13.1% to $208 billion this year.
“Over the next couple of years, compute power will move significantly to the edge, eliminating the need to send data off-site. By processing and computing at source, edge enables real-time decision-making, with benefits felt across all aspects, from improved customer experience in retail to helping telecom providers to virtualise network functions,” he said.
Jordan said channel partners were spending significant time and money to pick the right technology suppliers for edge projects. For channel partners, this is a golden opportunity to deliver specialist solutions that enable edge computing, and this will only grow as more sectors embrace it.
He was less enthusiastic about AI, saying that while channel partners were keen to ride the AI wave IT vendors will find it challenging over the coming year to inspire channel partners to understand how they can use AI to solve real business challenges.
“Technology vendors can give partners the confidence to unlock their imaginations regarding what AI could bring to customers. Partners need to figure out who to work with, which solutions to use, and what business models to adopt. Therefore, IT vendors can help channel partners understand the answers to these problems and help customers start their AI journey,” Jordan said.
IT vendors must access state-of-the-art AI solutions, allowing customers to deploy AI faster, safely, and more efficiently. Key to this is providing access to a partner ecosystem across various applications and services, including AI Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), he said.
ISVs will be among the first to reap the rewards of AI, with Canalys predicting that generative AI will offer a $158.6 million opportunity for the channel ecosystem by 2028, Jordan said.
“Partnerships will be crucial here. One of the significant roadblocks to wider AI adoption is that even if companies buy the best software or hardware, there can still be issues harnessing the technology and ensuring employees have the right skills to maximise their AI investments.”
Jordan said IT vendors must have initiatives to combat these challenges. For example, the Lenovo AI Innovators Programme works closely with AI software companies, letting partners connect with AI and hardware experts to ensure everything works, helping the channel take advantage of AI opportunities.
