The event centred around developing winning business strategies a in a hyper-competitive market. CEO Steve Osler told partners in the room they MUST adopted an MSP model or "Resellers will die!"
He stressed one of the main causes that led to the collapse of many System Integrators: the disintermediation of the market produced by the advent of the internet. "The Amazon Effect” - the CEO said - “produced the almost total loss of the man in middle in between supply and demand.
This is why it is no longer sustainable to be pure resellers of other people's products. And who still acts as a simple intermediary, who still fights a price war that does not bring margins and therefore gains."
Peter Hale, Senior Analyst from MZA Consulting, presented the updated market data, from which emerged the rise of solutions in Hosted / Cloud compared to on-premise solutions.
"In 4 years, 67% of total profits will come from cloud solutions - explained Hale - This is due to multiple factors of change, including the transition of UCs to a model of consumption, rather than ownership. And so Opex instead of Capex, usage-based pricing instead of LifeTime licenses."
In this scenario - it emerged from the reports - comes into play the expertise and specialization of a System Integrator, no longer a simple retailer and installer but a professional, specialized in solving the business challenges of the customer.
"No one, nowadays, addresses a System integrator company because he wants a new switchboard. What is required, in reality, are tools to increase business productivity,” continued Osler from the plenary hall of the World Trade Center.
"This is why System integrators must evolve into a Managed Service Providers and sell their skills as an integral part of the solution. This is done by proposing the right technologies but together with a business model suitable for the purpose” - said Osler.
On the stage, Cristiano Bellumat, Head of Channel Sales Strategy and founder of Unicomm, designer of the course that helps and accompanies companies in the transition towards an MSP business model. "Creating value is a pillar of the sales model for companies in the Managed Services sector. In fact, it is not about selling a product, it is about interviewing the client to understand with him what problems they have to solve in order to improve their performance. This sales model, dedicated to the IT market is Value Selling."