Two thirds of resellers expect fortunes to improve next year - Context
The research firm surveyed 7,000 resellers to gain a view of the post-pandemic market
Two thirds of resellers expect their fortunes to improve next year as they put the uncertainty caused by the pandemic behind them, according to market watcher Context.
IT resellers have mostly prospered during the pandemic, Context claims, and expect an even better business performance over the next 12 months, finds Context's ChannelWatch study which surveyed more than 7,000 channel businesses.
"A great deal of the optimism displayed by global resellers in our latest study comes from major end-customer investments in digital transformation driven by Covid-19," said Context global managing director, Adam Simon.
"It's reassuring to see their outlook for the next 12 months so positive, but to ensure opportunities aren't missed, closer collaboration will be necessary with distributors to deliver the cloud services businesses are crying out for."
Context's survey show that, despite unprecedented business uncertainty and market upheaval during the pandemic, half (49 per cent) of respondents said their business has performed well over the past 12 months, with only ten per cent indicating a poor performance.
Sixty-seven per cent expect their business performance to improve next year, with the business services (37 per cent), energy (32 per cent) and manufacturing (32 per cent) sectors singled out by resellers as offering the best prospects for growth.
More than half (65 per cent) saw turnover increase while only a third (32 per cent) pointed to a decrease. More than a quarter (28 per cent) said business with their main distributor increased over the period.
Context added resellers have "clearly" showed that cloud is a key area where distributors can add value for their partners.
Additionally, marketing (51 per cent), sales (47 per cent) and training and education (45 per cent) are the areas resellers are most in need of help with, the intelligence firm claims.