Hosting and cloud services company, Leaseweb Global has released a report claiming that 84 percent of UK IT professionals think their IT partners are capable of providing more value to their organisations.
The research, spoke to 500 UK-based IT professionals’ experience with IT channel partners over the last two years, raising questions regarding the quality of the relationship between organisations and their channel partners.
Overall, the results indicate that, while many were satisfied with factors such as their partner’s ability to provide informed advice and support business objectives, there is still work to be done in matters of budget and risk sharing.
Respondents were most likely to see value from their IT partners in their strategic advice (38 percent), knowledge of industry complexity (35 percent), availability to answer questions (30 percent), independent advice (29 percent) and a high-level view of the whole industry (28 percent). However, there were some areas for improvement that also emerged, with respondents least likely to see their partners as service agnostic (21 percent), or close to their organisation (18 percent).
Despite there being notable evidence to suggest that IT professionals acknowledge several benefits from their channel partners, the survey revealed that there are some fundamental issues which are currently affecting the relationship between organisations and their channel partners.
For example, almost two-thirds do not share all the relevant budgetary information with their IT partner. In fact, 17 percent of respondents said that their organisation inflated budgets to try and get more for less from their partner.
This is surprising when 85 percent of respondents thought that their IT partners actively share the risks associated with their organisation’s decisions on infrastructure choices.
The reluctance of organisations to share relevant budgetary information with their IT partners may stem from a perceived lack of involvement on behalf of the partner. In fact, the survey also found that the majority of respondents want their partners to play a more active role in providing counsel on managing costs for the cloud services their organisation uses. a chunk wanted their partners to take a more active role.
Leaseweb MD Terry Storrar said that this was a clear call for channel partners to provide more value to their clients and put a greater focus on offering strategic and independent advice.
“There is also a huge opportunity to explore how IT partners can provide more value at a strategic and technical level, and to consolidate this relationship. The situation as it stands is less than ideal and there is much more value that can be offered on both sides. But as with any relationship, this is a two-way street and if organisations cannot offer full transparency when it comes to issues of budget, IT partners’ use will be severely limited.”
