Digital transformation is a journey, not a destination – which is why it is a process that will take a number of years for customers, partners and vendors to travel together in any meaningful way.
According to Feras Masoud, regional channel manager for MEA at InfoBlox, the end-customers, systems integrators (SIs) and vendors form three points of a triangle, and vendors’ partners play a crucial role in such a journey, since they are the ones who suggest, provide and implement the necessary solutions for the end-customers.
“Of course, vendors still need to work closely with partners to help them transform themselves so they can better deliver digital solutions to customers. They must also understand what the customer may need for such a journey, in respect of how their solutions may impact on the customer. In this way, they can ensure the relevant solutions are available, and that their partners have acquired the knowledge transfer needed to enable them to integrate and optimise the solution for their customers,” he says.
“A good vendor works hand-in-hand with their partners from a knowledge delivery point of view, although when necessary, they must also be prepared to go in on the ground, so to speak. This means going to the customer as part of the SI’s team, assisting with the integration and implementation, while more easily ensuring effective knowledge transfer to both partners and customers.”
Masoud suggests that the digital transformation journey is not only significantly different to previous approaches to technology implementation, so is the conversation that accompanies it and the people that partners have these discussions with. He adds that the conversation today revolves around applications rather than infrastructure, and the people being addressed are not only CIOs so much as they are CDOs, CMOs and CFOs along with the CIOs.
“A big driver for the digital transformation journey is optimisation, which is critical in the current economy. Remember that customers need to justify the return on investment (ROI) before investing in a solution, and optimisation is essentially the ‘low-hanging fruit’ of digitisation. One can hardly go wrong with eliminating the idea of throwing hardware at a problem and instead shifting to an as a service model – a monthly subscription is, after all, far more cost-effective than spending millions for physical infrastructure.”
“Optimising in this way also allows the customer to try this model as a way of determining what sort of cost savings they can generate in this manner. Usually, once they realise the benefits of a service model, they are comfortable with asking the partner to help them continue along the journey.”
According to Masoud, partners play a critical role here, as they sit between the end-customer and the vendor, which is why InfoBlox, at least, encourages its partners to focus on developing consulting, optimisation and integration skills, as these are vital to accurately guide the customers on their journey.
“Of course, it is for this same reason that it is important for vendors to have a fully skilled training department that can deliver training and skills to their channel partners. After all, in the rapidly evolving digital world, skills will also need to regularly be updated in order to remain aligned to the digital transformation journey.”
Asked about the ultimate destination of digital, he notes that it is impacting the entire globe and creating a fundamental shift away from the need to own physical hardware that the IT manager can see and touch.
“Today, the real value is found in applications and an ‘as a service’ approach. It is for this reason I reiterate that a proper digitisation journey requires proper planning and implementation, which can only occur if all three sides of the customer-partner-vendor triangle are effectively aligned.
“Despite the value to be found in such transformation and the rapid evolution of digital, my advice to all vendors, partners and end-customers is to always remember it is a strategy that should be taken step-by-step and not rushed. Remember that it is a journey, not a race, so rather plan well and implement steadily. If you undertake the digital transformation journey in the correct manner, I can guarantee that you will witness incredible ROI within five years,” he concludes.
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