The Doyle Report: New Rules for Computing

By The VAR Guy

Depending on how you count, we are either in the third wave of technology transformation, the fourth or even the fifth.

The designations don’t matter as much as the impact. Ross Brown, senior vice president of worldwide partners and alliances at VMware, simply calls the current era the “new wave” of computing. It is having profound impacts on the channel and beyond. Take software development.

If something is ready available in the cloud, why not leverage it? Many technology buyers don’t need or want ownership of basic capabilities. They simply want to move swiftly ahead with their digital objectives.

“This shift in philosophy is foundational,” says Brown. This is because the thinking now disconnects physical infrastructure from applications delivery, which, though admittedly wonky, is a big deal to CIOs and the partners that support them. For most of their careers, these IT professionals have prioritized things such as infrastructure, security, redundancy, etc. Now? Competitive pressures have them thinking more about functionality, ease-of-use and time-to-market.

For partners who used to think in terms of resource optimization, five-nines reliability or bullet-proof security, this change in priorities is a radical shift. Speaking recently in San Jose at a tech event for channel leaders, Brown identified what he believes are the “new rules” of computing for 2017. They include the following.

These new realities have left many solution providers in a quandary, especially those that sell networking and storage solutions but do not touch applications. How can they stay relevant when the bulk of spending is going to line-of-business managers who are interested in business outcomes and not systems integration? It’s a pressing question for thousands of channel companies.

So what does it all mean? Several things. For one, “your mess for less” outsourcing will suffer. IP assets sold as virtual services will grow increasingly more attractive than IT value delivered by physical labor.

In addition, Brown predicts, single-layer solution partners and VARs, no matter how large and capable, will face headwinds. The CIOs they sell to are growing weary of serving as project management offices (PMOs) that take orders from line-of-business executives and then break down these requests into discrete tasks doled out to third party contractors and in-house staffers. “The normal model of enlisting a VAR or MSP to do a discrete task around a layer of IT is under direct attack,” Brown says.

In the meantime, ISV and applications-specific IP will become a sustainable differentiator for many partners who change their business models.

Finally, appliances will go virtual and be designed by IP owners, not integrated by CIOs using the “PMO” approach.

When will all this happen? Brown says the channel can expect big changes from vendors in the next 24-36 months, which will lead to widespread customer shifts over the next five years and more.

“I’m teased internally that I’m always looking ahead three years out in a company that looks at things 90 days out,” jokes Brown. “But that’s the role of a good channel chief.”

This article originally appeared on The VAR Guy.