Skip to main content
UploadLanguage (EN)Support
BusinessMobileSocial MediaMarketingTechnologyArt & PhotosCareerDesignEducationPresentations & Public SpeakingGovernment & NonprofitHealthcareInternetLawLeadership & ManagementAutomotiveEngineeringSoftwareRecruiting & HRRetailSalesServicesScienceSmall Business & EntrepreneurshipFoodEnvironmentEconomy & FinanceData & AnalyticsInvestor RelationsSportsSpiritualNews & PoliticsTravelSelf ImprovementReal EstateEntertainment & HumorHealth & MedicineDevices & HardwareLifestyle
CompTIA, profile picture
Uploaded byCompTIA
1,785 views

CompTIA 4th State of IT Channel Study

The document summarizes findings from a study on sales and marketing trends in the IT channel. Some key findings include: - Many channel firms see a need to transform their business models to focus more on services like managed services and cloud as product sales margins decline. - Top challenges to business transformation are cash flow/financing and customer education. - Most channel firms see their sales and marketing efforts as only moderately effective. Managed service providers are more critical than solution providers. - Firms are taking actions like hiring new sales reps and increasing social media usage to adapt to new business models and sell more services.

Technology◦
Related topics:
Market Research•
Downloaded 39 times
Sales & Marketing Trends in Time of Business Transformation CompTIA State of Channel Study Copyright (c) 2014 CompTIA Properties, LLC. All Rights Reserved. | CompTIA.org September 2014
17% 59% 24% 24% 55% 22% Low degree Moderate degree High degree 2012 2014 Self Assessment Business Transformation CompTIA MPS Trustmark Value Proposition 1. Validation of MPS expertise to customers 2. Mechanism to evaluate internal MPS operations / follow best practices 3. Differentiator 15% 72% 13% 20% 49% 31% 15% 48% 37% Low degree Moderate degree High degree Small channel firm Medium channel firm Large channel firm Current State of Transformation by Size Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms How Far Along the Path to Business Transformation?
Primary Catalysts for Channel Business Transformation 23% 23% 27% 32% 35% 36% 41% Defensive move against obsolescence Margins on product sales declining Vendors pushing us to change New financial models are more lucrative Desire to move to a recurring revenue model Customer demand for different services and IT delivery models Cloud computing pushing us in new directions Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms
Top Challenges Experienced with Business Transformation 1. Cash flow and other financing challenges 2. Customer education 3. Balancing existing business operational needs with new business 4. Hiring skilled staff to accommodate new lines of business 5. Need for new kinds of technical training 6. Need for sales and marketing training and repositioning 7. Need to learn new financial metrics and accounting schemes 8. Lack of business transformation roadmap Note: rank order listings are useful for summary purposes, but should NOT be interpreted quantitatively. For example, the first-ranked item is not necessarily 8 times more important than the eighth-ranked item. Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms
29% 48% 21% 3% Highly effective Moderately effective Hit or miss Ineffective Self-assessment of sales & marketing effectiveness of channel Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms MSPs are far more critical of the channel’s sales and marketing acumen than solution providers. Just 6% of them deemed channel efforts ‘highly effective’ vs. 31% of solution providers who responded favorably. Twice as many MSPs characterized these operations as ‘hit or miss.’ Channel Firms Weigh in on Sales & Marketing Efforts
32% 34% 20% 15% Enterprise (500+ staff) Midmarket I100-499) SMB (10-99) Micro (Less than 10) Typical Customer Size Last Year More than TWICE as many MSPs sell to either company owners or non-IT line of business executives than do conventional solution providers, who are more than 3X as likely to sell to CIOs or IT staff than MSPs. Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms Customer Demographics Among Channel Firms
1. Routine visits/interactions with existing customers to upsell 2. Marketing/business development to identify/attract leads 3. Sales proposals presented to customers 4. Outside sales rep face-to-face visits with potential new customers 5. Use of social media to attract new customers 6. Contractual terms discussed for services, including SLAs 7. Inside sales cold-calling of qualified leads 8. Purchasing outside database/customer list Note: rank order listings are useful for summary purposes, but should NOT be interpreted quantitatively. For example, the first-ranked item is not necessarily 8 times more important than the ninth-ranked item. Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms Main Sales Activities Taken by Channel Firms
Actions Taken to Sell to Non-IT LOB Executive Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms 19% 23% 25% 32% 34% 36% 40% Incentives for staff to further engage with business execs Maintain dual approach for business and IT execs to meet both needs Hire new sales reps with experience in vertical industries Focus less on HW/SW specs and more on total solutions Redesign marketing collateral with more of an end-user focus Use of social media to target non-IT executives Sales training to enable reps to sell to non-IT executives 49% of solution providers plan this step vs. 28% of MSPs
Social Media Usage and Marketing Plans for Future 42% Use of social media 34% Increased use of white labeling 32% Webinars, blogs, etc. 23% Hire of marketing professionals 20% No longer leading with vendor brand or vendor certification skills to attract customers 19% None of the above Planned Changes in Marketing Strategy Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=96 IT channel firms which are using social media Plans to Increase/Decrease Social Media Usage 35% 38% 2% 25% Increase its usage significantly Increase usage somewhat Maintain same usage NET Decrease
Impact of the Adoption of New Business Models, Such as Managed Services and Cloud Services, on Sales Structure 12% 6% 28% 27% 20% No impact Simplifying the complexity dramatically Simplifying the complexity somewhat Increasing the complexity somewhat Increasing the complexity dramatically Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms
Staffing Activity for Channel Firm Sales & Marketing 26% 34% 39% 28% 51% 44% 36% 48% 23% 22% 25% 24% Added new sales reps Hired reps outside the IT industry Eliminated sales reps based on business model change Added new marketing reps Major activity Minor activity No activity Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms
Rating Various Activities as Part of Sales Model Transition 10% 12% 12% 18% 17% 18% 15% 10% 49% 46% 47% 38% 48% 45% 50% 49% 41% 42% 41% 44% 36% 38% 35% 41% Creating incentives to drive sales to new business areas Performing demand generation/lead generation for new customers Effectively rebranding/messaging as a services provider Learning to sell to non-IT and line-of-business end customer buyers Adjusting to different sales cycle durations Realigning sales compensation models for reps Hiring new sales staff to accommodate new lines of business Retraining existing sales reps to engage in services-based selling vs. product/project sales Major factor Minor factor Not a factor Source: CompTIA 4th Annual State of Channel: Base: n=350 IT channel firms
About This Research Source: CompTIA Market Research CompTIA is a member of the Marketing Research Association and abides by its guidelines for survey best practices and research ethics. CompTIA is responsible for all content contained in this report. This study and all CompTIA research is one way in which the association re-invests resources in the IT channel. As the voice of the IT industry, CompTIA has hundreds of tools, market intelligence reports and business training programs to help IT channel organizations grow through education, certification, advocacy and philanthropy. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members to help them develop and hone their business plans. Visit www.comptia.org or contact research@comptia.org for more information.