Six Government Trends the Channel Should Follow
A recent report done by IDC’s Government Insights specialty analyst division examined a number of 2010 predictions for the government vertical as viewed by its experts. Channel Insider presents six of the top predictions put out by Government Insights and explains what they mean for channel executives focusing on government sales.
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will create a $1.5 billion IT spending windfall on supporting ancillary IT services across governments
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Why the Channel Should Care:/b>
Those partners targeting government clients told Channel Insider that 2009 was one of their best years to date.That extra injection of ARRA cash will likely keep solid government specialists flush with projects in 2010 as well.
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Cloud computing shared and private will get a reality check for government implementation in 2010 as it is not ready for prime time, but will be ready for 2011 as a result.
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Why the Channel Should Care:/b>
Partners trying to rush cloud projects into government environments could stand to lose credibility. This may be the year for investigative projects, strategy sessions and planning, rather than harried implementations.
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Governments will learn to "love your legacy" systems through SOA, smart applications, and other life-extending strategies.
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Why the Channel Should Care:/b>
IDC says the feds spend 69% of their IT budgets on legacy systems; partners who can focus on ways to improve legacy systems and keep mission critical infrastructure up without reinventing the wheel will win big in 2010.
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Recovery.gov shortcomings will promote smarter investments in more sophisticated accountability and reporting technologies.
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Why the Channel Should Care:/b>
Partners who can provide maximum visibility and reporting into all aspects of account management-billable hours, project plans, project post-mortems, etc.–offer a significant value-add in this new era of government accountability.
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State outsourcing and services contracting will outpace federal.
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Why the Channel Should Care:/b>
Service providers looking to get a toe-hold into government contracts may want to shift their sights away from the feds and over to state agencies. State contracts are often easier to break into and now it appears they’ll have plenty of money to spend as well.
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Government security strategy will finally get serious.
Why the Channel Should Care:
Security VARs, SIs and service providers have long looked toward the government clients as prime targets for their wares. This could also be a good year for more generalized partners to better incorporate security value add into overall offerings in order to win more contracts.