How Channel Partners Can Remain Profitable in Today’s Cloud World
The world of communications has come a long way in the last 50 years. As channel partners, it is your job to keep up with this ever-changing industry. In recent years, the shift from physical to digital services has created some interesting challenges for channel partners. After all, combating a 120 billion U.S. dollar (by 2024) industry can be difficult. However, channel partners can seize opportunities even and triumph over unique challenges that come with constant change.
Challenges for Channel Partners
In the past, capitalizing on premises-based telephony was fairly easy as a channel partner. If you provided the products and services your clients needed, business was good. Now that the world of communications has evolved, channel partners need to make sure they have offerings that are current and relevant to their clients.
The business world has changed extensively in the past year and a half alone. The needs of business owners have shifted to put a high value on collaboration. Unified communications and other platforms that include video, conferencing, messaging and mobile apps have become more valuable than ever before.
This shift has been a little bit of a thorn in the side of channel partners. Selling physical hardware with installation and services was straightforward and profitable. These contracts were often worth tens of thousands of dollars. Now that business communications have shifted into the virtual space, channel partners have also had to shift their business models to focus on virtual offerings. They have had to begin selling recurring cloud licenses instead of selling physical products.
With this product pivot, margins for channel partners have lowered considerably. Along with lowered margins, channel partners are competing with digital sources that some customers are purchasing their cloud services from.
The good news that accompanies these changes is that now channel partners can focus on maintaining healthy vendor relationships with their clients. They can add value to their customers’ experience and remain profitable at the same time, with better customer experience, additional features, and services which, in turn, will create a stickier relationship.
Life with the Cloud
Since the pandemic and rise of remote work, channel partners have had to assess their business models to keep up with the demands of their customers. These models need to keep the needs of their clients front and center. One way to assess your current model is by asking the following questions:
Do you have a great vendor?
All vendors are not created equal. Their channel approach and strategy can vary greatly. Items to consider when researching vendors include financial models and programs as well as platform offerings.
Do you offer additional services?
As a cloud-based platform sales representative, you now need to understand what adds value to cloud-based platforms. Support services, application integration, network services, training programs, and cloud migration are just a few value-adding services.
Do you have the ability to upsell?
If your customers are looking for certain platforms, make sure that you can add value to their choice with other services. For example, if your client is looking for a UCaaS solution, you can add value by also selling them other services, such as SMS messaging and CPaaS.
Does your current model include diverse offerings?
As you know, every business has different needs and wants. When you diversify your offerings, you are increasing your ability to serve many different types of customers. This means continuing to offer physical, on-premises-based offerings can still be profitable. You may even have customers that want to gradually switch to cloud-based services. If your competitors are not offering premises-based communications, you will get that sale.
Partner with NUSO
NUSO channel partners are fully supported. We work hard to make sure that end-users are happy with NUSO platforms so that you can have a long-lasting relationship with your customers. As such, all platforms are designed with their experience in mind.
What does that mean for our channel partners? This allows our channel partners to focus on building trusting relationships with their customers. We offer complete white label platforms perfect for channel partners. Contact us today to learn more and remain profitable in today’s cloud world!
