Are you and your enterprise customers ready to take advantage of the economic recovery? Do you have the right strategies in place? A recent report by experts at PricewaterhouseCoopers examined a number of strategies to help companies best position themselves for recuperation while the economy shifts upward in momentum.
Several of these strategies have logical tie-ins with IT functions. But as IT departments look to help their businesses achieve these objectives, they’re asked to do so with fewer resources than ever.
Enterprises that turn to effective channel partners are more likely to achieve greater success at putting these strategies PricewaterhouseCoopers suggests into play.
There are a number of ways channel partners can position themselves in order to enable clients to put their best foot forward during economic recovery. Here are a few suggestions, paired with the strategies PricewaterhouseCoopers put forward.
IT Gets Strategic
PwC Suggests: Sustain cost-reduction measures in order to improve margins with a smaller, more productive workforce and use newly freed resources for investments in the company’s future.
The Channel’s Role: Though cost-cutting measures within IT are not forecasted to be as drastic in 2010 as they were in 2009, channel partners will still need to work with customers to find ways to streamline their operations and get more done with fewer resources. This may mean the introduction of new technology, software as a service offerings or outsourcing opportunities. In addition to enabling IT optimization, the channel has an opportunity to bring forward project suggestions for ways to automate business processes through new technologies–preferably those that don’t require large capital expenditures, though.
Don’t
Approach customers with new project proposals that involve large CapEx investments. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, CEOs are not looking to make large capital expenditures in 2010.
Do
Look for ways to shift to a services model, which often comes from customer’s more flexible OpEx budgets.
Don’t
Propose large projects without bringing sound financial justification such as ROI (return on investment), TCO (total cost of ownership), and business impact analysis.
Do
Offer opportunities for cost effective outsourcing of business functions that would otherwise require more internal resources to carry out