Techaisle Blog

Techaisle’s SMB & Midmarket IT maturity segmentation reveals that 52% of midmarket firms and 16% of small businesses (down from 31% two years ago) belong to Advanced IT segment and 37% of midmarket firms (up from 14% two years ago) and 0% of small businesses are in the Enterprise IT segment.

IT products are often described as having ‘a market’ – but ‘the’ IT market is comprised of many segments, each of which has its own approach to IT adoption. Some industry sectors (e.g., aerospace) tend to move faster than others (e.g., retail) and different countries and regions invest in new technologies at different rates. Until they are supplanted by new solutions, mature IT products are acquired at about the same rate by all buyers. These technologies generate the majority of ‘run rate’ revenue in the IT industry. When IT industry growth opportunities are discussed, the focus often turns to earlier-stage technologies. Sellers of these technologies tend to focus on advanced segments (large accounts, particularly in leading-edge industries). SMBs are generally viewed as a secondary market.

Four IT Maturity Segments

However, the SMB market is not a monolith. Techaisle research has identified four attitudinal/behavioral segments that have different approaches to IT adoption. Suppliers who understand the scope and characteristics of these segments are able to expand their target markets and develop strategies geared to reaching high-potential SMB prospects. These suppliers ultimately have access to an expanded TAM, and have the insight needed to align marketing investments with priority customers.

Comparing Dell and HPE offerings and ecosystems against the Techaisle SMB IT solution stack model

Techaisle’s latest report is designed to help SMB buyers and suppliers identify IT stack requirements, and to compare the offerings and ecosystems of the two current market leaders, Dell and HPE, against Techaisle’s definition of essential SMB & midmarket business technologies. The report is structured in three parts:

• The IT stack: the report begins by outlining the technologies that SMBs require – and require integration across – in order to support current and emerging business requirements
• Vendor comparison: an evaluation of Dell and HPE offerings, including core products, non-core products and partner-delivered capabilities, against the stack requirements
• Evaluating stack suppliers: advice on how to use the stack comparison, and additional Techaisle research findings, to evaluate Dell and HPE strengths

Data speaks volumes

Techaisle’s channel survey data shows that Dell channel partners’ perception about Dell has improved by nearly 50 percent in the last 4 years. 61 percent of partners say that they trust Dell, up from 43 percent in 2014, an increase of 42 percent. Similarly, 45 percent of partners believe that Dell has cutting edge technology, an increase of 45 percent from 2014. Most interestingly, unlike in the last several years, 57 percent of partners mention that they like Dell as a partner, very similar to HPE partners liking HPE. For 93 percent of partners, Dell’s messaging on Simple, Predictable & Profitable has resonated although variations in perception remain. Dell’s messaging on digital transformation also seems to be having a positive effect on its channel partners. 65% of Dell partners are currently offering some form of digital transformation solutions and 76% have moved beyond 1st step of digital transformation, which is, digitization, the lowest ladder of the transformation journey. However, not all have reached the pinnacle of transformative solutions.

Dell Technologies channel revenue is US$43B, slightly above 50 percent of Dell revenue (had languished around 40 percent the last 3 years) which is bigger than revenues of Nike, Starbucks, Coca-Cola and would neatly fit as a Fortune 64 company. In Q1’19, Dell channel revenue grew by 14% Y/Y and distribution by 19% Y/Y.

All of the above statistics are very impressive and are a result of Dell’s wide solution portfolio range as well as a maniacal focus on streamlining channel partner’s total experience which includes simplified deal registration by accelerating deal registration response time to 4 hours for most deals and 48 hours for storage; accelerated speed to quote by providing best price faster and 80 percent within 4 hours and 95 percent within 24 hours; and finally, faster speed to pay by cutting cycle time by nearly 30 percent.

Dell listening, partners noticing

The channel industry examined by Techaisle’s 2018 SMB & midmarket channel research survey (separate studies conducted in the US and Worldwide) is very different from the community that existed a decade ago. Once a staid domain in which technologists provided IT infrastructure support to local customers, the channel is being reshaped by five key issues: cloud, and its wrenching effect on all aspects of the channel business structure; managed services efficiencies, especially vs. the pending opportunity associated with digital transformation; increasingly-complex data center technologies; integration demands that are expanding in multiple directions; and the need to sell on and deliver to business rather than technical outcomes. Let us discuss four key questions arising out of the research that is of interest to IT vendors and distributors.

Question 1. What are the top channel trends?

The channel is being reshaped by five key issues:

1. cloud, and its wrenching effect on all aspects of the channel business structure;
2. managed services efficiencies, especially vs. the pending opportunity associated with digital transformation;
3. increasingly-complex data center technologies;
4. orchestration & integration demands that are expanding in multiple directions; and
5. the need to sell on and deliver to business rather than technical outcomes

A lot has been written about cloud so let us discuss the other four areas and the remaining three questions.