CompTIA roadmap says traditional relationship between vendor, distributor and resellers is fading

CompTIA has introduced an ANZ industry roadmap with technology and market trends for the next three years.

The roadmap was developed by CompTIA members, in consultation with industry experts, and guided by market research data. The report segments trends into three categories: emerging, current and fading. Represented in those categories are technologies, services, partnerships, customer expectations, regulation and the channel.

As the market evolves so does relationships, and the industry association listed traditional IT distribution as a fading trend. Other fading trends included traditional IT vendors and traditional relationships between vendors, distributors and resellers.

In the roadmap, CompTIA listed nine areas of potential opportunities, including lower cost of entry for new partners, performance and speed of services delivery, and more collaboration between partners and security.

CompTIA also listed some potential threats, the top one being customers reaching directly to vendors to purchase goods and services. Also listed were the increasing rate at which partners need to train staff, changing the profitability model, the rise in security threats, higher visibility of failure - particularly through social media - and skills shortages.

The industry association also listed some possible actions to be taken on these topics. With security being both an opportunity and a threat. CompTIA suggested the following actions:

1. Develop strategic partnerships with select security vendors and then invest in security enablement for both the sales and technical staff.
2. Join security focused user groups and establish a personal network of security professionals.
3. Attend vendor and distributor led events focussed around security.
4. Spotlight success stories and leverage publications, blogs and social media to establish thought leadership in the security space.

CompTIA Australia and New Zealand community director Moheb Moses said: "The ANZ Channel Industry Roadmap brings together the collective ideas of the CompTIA ANZ Channel Community, reflecting the joint thinking of more than 100 people from all tiers of the channel.

"This is the first tangible report produced by CompTIA ANZ Channel Community, and is designed to act as a guide for members, identifying emerging, current and fading industry trends, and providing guidance on potential threats, opportunities and possible actions that solution providers and MSPs should consider."

The document can be found here.