By Ronald Ravel, Director B2B at Dynabook South Africa  

Predicting what the future holds for the channel is anything but simple. Whilst the global economic outlook seems to be deteriorating, this in turn may provide new opportunities for the channel to help businesses succeed through innovating their services and customer experiences. With this in mind, we think the following technologies and solutions are likely to be the most impactful for the channel in 2023.  

The channel will assist customers to prepare for the economic downturn

As we know, digitalisation and IT infrastructure today serve as the foundation for the majority of organisations and are a crucial element in making daily operations successful. However, due to the macroeconomic situation, it’s crucial that businesses differentiate themselves from their rivals to make themselves stand out in a busy marketplace.

The current climate presents an opportunity for businesses to analyse and perhaps reinvent their products and services, to better support customer’s ever-evolving requirements. IT solutions such as mobile devices, cloud computing and security technologies will play a crucial role in accelerating this process for the channel.

Growth opportunities for the channel will result from companies switching to a new business model, which will incorporate new and updated IT solutions and services to set themselves apart from their rivals. As a result, 2023 will prove a key time for channel partners to support customers on this journey to adapt to new ways of working and new business models, as many will turn to channel vendors for consultancy and advice. 

The channel will drive recycling initiatives forward

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) targets continue to gain momentum as the need for sustainable practices rise on the business agenda - especially given the recent spike in energy prices affecting all sectors.

Our research revealed that 64% of European small and midsize businesses (SMBs) believe purchasing decisions around laptops to be more important now than before the pandemic. This is not only because of hybrid working but also to ensure businesses have the most energy efficient, and thus sustainable, devices to support wider environmental goals. As older devices have a tendency to degrade the battery life of laptops, this creates a need to more frequently use energy to power tools. This, combined with the rising cost in energy, means that businesses should seek to upgrade to newer technologies that can deliver improved battery performance. The channel can play a crucial role in helping businesses upgrade to the latest technologies and make sustainable choices, that can improve battery life with a view to saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. 

Organisations will also need to more ethical in how they dispose of old devices through initiatives such as reselling and recycling, which will ultimately reduce their carbon footprint. This gives resellers an opportunity to create a full end-to-end package with sustainable credentials for customers looking to recycle or dispose of outdated technology in an ethical manner, enabling customers to lower their carbon footprint.

The channel will be at the forefront of a secure, hybrid workforce

Although hybrid working has presented a number of benefits for organisations and employees, it has also created significantly higher data security risk levels to contend with. Therefore, security must continue to be at the forefront of business strategies across all sectors.

Despite the fact that major enterprises are working to increase their security measures, our research found that only 46% of European SMBs regard improving their cyber security infrastructure as an investment priority for the coming year. This demonstrates that a sizable portion of businesses continue to de-prioritise their efforts on security and that the sector as a whole is not doing enough to prevent cyber-attacks on sensitive company data.

In 2023, the channel will play a significant role in supporting remote workers, by ensuring that any device that they sell to businesses offers the right security tools across both hardware and software, including cloud-based solutions, two-factor authentication and Windows 11. Such an approach will help organisations who want to mitigate risk and tighten security measures within their hybrid environment.

SMART technologies will diversify channel partners

While technology and hybrid working, along with the rising cost of energy prices have permeated every aspect of our lives, we predict that 2023 will be the year where channel partners will have the opportunity to diversify into different sectors such as SMART infrastructure.

SMART technologies can contribute to reducing unnecessary energy waste. Customers looking to deploy these solutions will want to consolidate the numerous touchpoints of implementing these technologies to either one organisation, or at the very least, request assistance with project management and consultation. This is where channel partners can play a crucial role in helping to oversee and support on areas such as SMART office lighting, heating, vehicle charging solutions and more.

With Wi-Fi 7 also soon to be launched, and the potential demise of the wired network in offices and workspaces, this will provide channel partners an opportunity to be the first to introduce new market technologies with Wi-Fi 7 built in and implement these solutions into customer infrastructure.

Conclusion

The macroeconomic situation coupled with the ongoing global energy crisis has presented a number of unpredicted challenges in almost every industry. While this may open new opportunities to the channel, in 2023 we will also see channel partners adapt efficiently to the current climate and support businesses on their journey to establish themselves in this hybrid landscape.