Rob Quickenden
CTO, Cisilion
Recession-fuelled technology tips: Technology consolidation and optimisation services
In the danger zone: Large network and datacentre refreshes
What technology solution or service are you betting on to help customers in the event of a recession later this year?
For us this is a service thing which then cross pollinates to product and technology. In short this falls in to 2 categories.
The first is technology consolidation and adoption services.
Most customers we work with have multiple products from different vendors for solution areas like collaboration and security. Gartner published something in Dec 2021 that said vendor consolidation in the security space is a top three [priority] for IT leaders. Organisations typically have somewhere between 16 to 46 different products, many of which overlap.
The second area is managed services and optimisation services.
MSPs can help keep and control cloud spent through smart licensing, leverage hybrid use rights, RIs etc without any platform changes
The biggest cost for most organisation (outside of real estate) is people. Shifting and leveraging services like maintenance, secops, support and general IT management to a partner (whether that's full outsource or managed services around say LAN, WAN, UC, security etc) is also on the up. Linked to this is the value an MSP can bring in terms of not just keeping lights on but also cost optimisation. Many organisations overspend massively on cloud. They may have tools and dashboards to show spend, but proactively keeping control of cloud spend is specialist and requires people (more cost). MSPs can help keep and control cloud spent through smart licensing, leverage hybrid use rights, RIs etc without any platform changes.
Conversely, are there any technology areas where you are anticipating a spending crunch?
I think we will see another drop in big investment projects such as network and DC refreshes unless critical.
How do you feel an economic downturn will play out for the UK IT channel more broadly?
I think for UK channel partners that have a diverse set of services and product offerings, it's about keeping agile, focusing on the customer and their needs. They may struggle to pay, they may need help, as will we. If we don't look after customers, everyone else will be there to mop up and take over their business. So I think the right IT channel partners that really "invest" in their customers will find a way through (this is really like what happened in Covid). In part technology can help with cost control, cost reduction, employee retention, hiring and it's all about being adaptable to change.
See final page for Sweethaven CEO Melissa Rambridge's recession technology picks...
