Internet of Things (IoT) Opportunity for Channels, VARs, MSPs, Resellers, Alliances, Distributors

© 2018 FORRESTER. REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED.
Jay McBain,
Principal Analyst – Global Channels
June 15, 2018
jmcbainjaymcbain
IOT Opportunities for VARs and MSPs

75%OF WORLD TRADE FLOWS INDIRECTLY

01
Traditional channels
transforming to stay
relevant as business
leaders take the lead
02
03
04
05
New types of “shadow
channels” are earning their
way into the room
The broader channel
community is aging out
Buyers are looking for
hyper-specialized skills
focused on business
outcomes
The increasing complexity
is challenging for
customers & channel
professionals
Five trends
to watch in
the channel

Increased
margin pressure
Increased
commoditization
Average MSP margin in US
17%
Profitability is
quickly decreasing
for solution
providers

5© 2018 FORRESTER. REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED.
The Internet of things (IoT) is the inter-
networking of physical devices, vehicles,
buildings, and other items embedded with
electronics, software, sensors, actuators,
and network connectivity which enable
these objects to collect and exchange data.
Source: Wikipedia

Solution providers just
voted IoT as the top
emerging technology based
on potential margin and
near-term opportunity.
The low margin
remedy.

1992
1M
Computers
2002
0.5B
Computers
2012
8.7B
Mobile &
Wearable
2020
50.1B
Internet of
Everything
Source: Cisco
Sizing IoT

OPPORTUNITIES
FOR VARS & MSPS

Complexity - Client/Server will look simple
compared to linking endless devices securely
and making sense of mountains of disparate data
being generated.1

Business consulting represents a huge opportunity - both
with lines of business such as marketing, operations, HR,
supply chain, as well as IT who will own the security,
redundancy, and performance of this new paradigm.

Policies, Compliance and Risk Assessment
While some devices and sensors will be innocent,
others will be transmitting health, payment and
private citizen data that is highly protected by
multiple levels of government regulation and
evolving legislation.2

Hacking will take on a new dimension on the edge of the
network and security expertise will be one of the most
valuable skills in the foreseeable future.

Procuring, Provisioning and Deploying
There will be little opportunity for hardware margin
(not unlike today).3

The opportunity will be in finding and procuring devices
and software from over 100,000 competing vendors,
provisioning them with the right network and security
protocols and staging them for deployment.

Software Implementation & Integration
The permutations and combinations of 100,000
vendors producing hardware and software.4

This will invariably lead to a highly customized, industry
specific set of skills that piece together software stacks,
in many cases for the first time ever.

Software Development
Vendors are not interested in extending their
API's or dedicating precious engineering talent
for one-off solutions.5

The channel will write code and participate in the
integration of technology like never before.

Premise Monitoring
Banks, retailers, airlines, hotels and numerous
other industries are placing sensors, cameras
and other devices in areas where they do
business with customers. The channel will offer
location services as well as vertical expertise that
6

The channel will offer location services as well as
subvertical expertise that solves line of business
requirements.

Product Monitoring
Companies embed sensors, software and other
technologies into their products—coffee
machines, refrigerators, big-haul trucks and
aircraft engines—to monitor usage and
performance.7

The channel will offer big data expertise including data
cleansing, normalization and actionable intelligence.
Only 5% of data today is being analyzed and that
provides one of the biggest game changers in the next
few years.

Customer Monitoring
Using mobile apps, beacons or wearables to
track consumer behavior.8

The channel will come in with the marketing and sales
skills to connect to funnel activities and customer
nurturing, scoring and development strategies.

Supply Chain Monitoring
Adding sensors, cameras and other digital
devices to production and distribution operations.9

Channel partners with skills in manufacturing, factory
operations, shipping and supply chain operations will
provide the guidance and strategic best practices for
driving cost out of organizations of all sizes.

Infrastructure and Support
There are significant opportunities, many
based on today's skills and practices, that
will be amplified in this new world.10

WLAN coverage, security and performance becomes
critical to the success of IoT

Employee support and helpdesk supporting endless
devices with new use cases and unique environments

Hot spare programs for mission critical devices, with
provisioning and implementation

Audio/Video/Environment upgrades with digital signage,
new payment systems, surface computing, etc.

Mobile printing/document management supporting new
omnichannel environments

Building/electrical upgrades - these devices will need
power and current environments are not built to handle
(think hospitals, shipping and manufacturing sites)

KEY TAKEAWAYS

This is not the horizontal commodity
technology market with limited industry,
geographic and size considerations that
client/server represented.
Source: Wikipedia

It is a highly specialized, industry
optimized, line of business specific, use
case orientated solution that will be hyper-
local to a small set of customers.
Source: Wikipedia

Analyze your own capabilities, capacity,
and will to change. Partner? M&A?
1

Focus marketing, sales and partner
approach to the new business buyer.
2

Become more hyper-specialized, build
intellectual property and your brand.
3

Internet of Things (IoT) Opportunity for Channels, VARs, MSPs, Resellers, Alliances, Distributors

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