and performance. In the entry-level market, the important factors are cost and peace of mind.”
A good approach is to focus on one or two specific technology areas, says distributor Whitegold’s managing director Dominic Whitehand.
“Another is to partner with a distributor that you can outsource those skills to initially, but over time get a skills transfer from via training. Don’t try to be a generalist IT security provider – it is way too easy to come unstuck and look unprofessional.”
The release of Microsoft’s Office 2007 will offer the channel a significant opportunity to boost revenue when selling PCs, particularly when combined with the new Windows Vista operating system, predicts IDC’s PC analyst Liam Gunson.
“Microsoft is saying that, while Office 2007 works on Windows XP, it works so much better on Vista. With Vista coming out soon, the channel will be able to use one to help sell the other. Vista is also where you start being able to sell higher spec’ed hardware.”
The fact many of Office’s new features revolve around business processes and workflow means that the channel will need to educate itself on the benefits of Office 2007 before in can convince customers to upgrade, Gunson says. “A key thing to consider, especially when looking at the commercial market, is the amount of change that will be caused and whether or not that will inhibit people upgrading. Office 2007 will require a lot of new learning and training to get the most from it, so if organisations are going to upgrade they’re going to need to consider initial loss in productivity and whether the new benefits are enough to warrant that upgrade process.”
Training for both resellers and customers will be an important investment to ensure success with Office 2007, says distributor Express Data’s software division manager Emma Scott. “There are now eight different versions of Office 2007. Resellers will need to be across all versions to ensure the customer is purchasing the right product for their needs. Office 2007 is easy to use but has a very new look and feel, so user training will be required to get the full benefit of the product.”
Detailed knowledge of new features and what they have to offer customers at all levels will be the key, says Microsoft Australia information worker business group director Tony Wilkinson. “We’ve got three big focus areas: collaboration, content management and business intelligence. I think the idea is to understand what are the scenarios that they think will be most relevant to their customers,” Wilkinson says.
Knowing how to pitch Office 2007 in a way that meets a customer’s specific needs is major a key to success, says integrator Data#3’s platforms and applications practice manager Scott Gosling.
“The key to profit from these growth markets is to firstly being able to understand the business impact and value for the customers and its alignment with each customer’s business objectives,” he says.
Although software-as-a-service is best known in the CRM market, in 2007 it will move further into market sectors such as financial services and HR management, predicts Ovum public sector research director Dr Steve Hodgkinson.
“Software-as-a-service is an increasingly disruptive influence on the overall software market. In the long run, we expect there to be a blurring of the distinction between software-as-a-service and business services,” Hodgkinson says.
Channel players looking to build their business around SaaS need to look closely at their sales and technical personnel, says Steve Russell, Salesforce.com president and CEO Asia Pacific.
“It’s more likely you’ll be speaking with customers’ business managers rather than people solely in the IT department. As a reseller or services company you will really need to be able to identify what are the business issues, map the right technology, do the configuration that bridges business to technology and create value for each stakeholder along the way,” Russell says.
“The next thing to think about is the business model. Traditional IT sales and delivery are typically wrapped around long sales cycles and even longer deployment time frames. Therefore, IT resellers and services companies have built up a set of pricing and packaging that’s rather front loaded or wrapped in large deal sizes.
“For SaaS you want to create a modular business model, one that includes a cost structure and pricing/packaging that is geared for high velocity, transactional sales and implementation cycles. Deliverables should be designed to produce quantifiable return in weeks. The way that SaaS takes off within a customer is to get in quickly and show results,” Russell says.
Partners are key to Microsoft’s SaaS strategy and opportunities for partners will grow as the market expands, says Norbert Haehnel, director of Microsoft developer and platform strategy.
“To fully benefit from the new landscape for delivering applications to end users, ISVs and hosting service providers will strive to change many operating procedures that have been the norm.
“They have to ensure that their applications and services are readily available 24x7 in an environment vastly different from the traditional client/server model, and they must change billing and licensing procedures and enable remote access to the application,” Haehnel says.
Tech to drive your profits next year
By
Adam Turner
on Jan 10, 2007 11:25AM
Page 3 of 4 | Single page
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