More of the same for 2013

Ed Dolman says the coming year will only re-emphasise many of the trends and issues that have characterised 2012

Our channel has remained strong in 2012, and some 95 per cent of our revenue is driven through partner operations. This year, there has been a major focus on all things related to end-user computing, as companies have looked to support their employees as they bring their own gadgets into work.

We've also seen increased deployment of professional services and cloud computing, alongside fewer hardware sales. Resellers also appear more focused on the end user and are accordingly tailoring what they do.

Next year will also see even more infrastructure moving from the physical and becoming software-defined. There are two big areas to note: software-defined networking and security.

As more companies look for tools that can help them manage their IT estate in a centralised, automated way, the channel will need to promote the most appropriate offerings for different businesses. This is something we'll certainly be dedicating a lot of time to with our partners next year.

And as even more smartphones and tablet devices hit the market, it follows that even more employees will be looking to use them at work. Resellers will be increasingly required to help companies find easy and secure offerings for accessing mobile applications.

Compensation models will also remain an ongoing issue for the IT industry. I think next year will really see more emphasis on the way IT organisations pay their salespeople.

Existing practices are becoming a bit outdated, with salespeople still being rewarded primarily for large one-off deals. This will have to change to accommodate cloud computing and smaller monthly rentals – which I believe can be just as or even more lucrative long term.

Users want to use social-media-type tools in business as well. Early adopters have found that improving the way colleagues communicate can benefit any business, and there is sure to be a remarkable surge in the number of enterprise social media applications next year.

Resellers will have to help organisations get the right tools for their businesses – ones that not only have the functionality, but keep the information secure and shared only among employees.

However, one final thing to look out for next year will be the continued consolidation of distribution. More big distributors will buy out their rivals. We've already seen examples of this in 2012, such as Tech Data acquiring SDG, and I believe there will be a lot more buyouts in 2013.

I think that overall 2013 looks sure to be another strong year for the channel, providing resellers can get behind the latest trends and add value for the customer. Naturally, the cloud will continue to underpin a lot of purchasing decisions – companies will still want to increase their agility for less cost.

Ed Dolman is UK head of channel at VMware

*See Doug Woodburn's in-depth analysis of the channel's prospects for 2013 – coming soon in CRN and on Channelweb