Opportunity knocks in change auditing

Vendors and partners must work together better on the latest tech challenges, says Aidan Simister

Organisations are more often being asked to monitor and audit their IT infrastructures, showing who and what was involved as well as where and when changes were made.

Yet it's fair to add that budgets generally haven't increased, and IT projects need to be planned, justified and approved well in advance.

The upshot of this is that the ratio of prospect interest to project sign-off in 2011 was still relatively low, despite considerable revenue growth in this area of IT last year. But we are now beginning to see a steady flow of prospects.

However, vendor commitment to this opportunity in the UK has been lacklustre. Partners are getting little or no training, are being cut out of deals, and are receiving no meaningful protection for deals they instigate.

Vendors need to choose whether to go direct or focus on the channel – a hybrid approach simply doesn't work.

If the channel is the chosen route, vendors must make sure they are working with the right partners and offering the right training with right level of mutual commitment.

The operative word here is partner, as operating through resellers that don't understand the technology and are driven solely by customer request will never grow a business.

A small number of committed, strategic partner relationships is best. In these relationships, high retained margins, complete deal protection and complete sales, marketing and technical support can be guaranteed.

There is a big opportunity in change auditing for the right partners. It's a different approach for a reseller to take, and it's a technology area in high demand that isn't yet commoditised.

Working with the right vendors should present significant margin potential.

Aidan Simister is UK and Ireland country manager at NetWrix