"Platforms are the winners on Wall Street. How do you move from being a Channel Chief to a Platform (Ecosystem) Chief?” Jay McBain.
Buyer behaviour and expectations have evolved for today’s enterprise customers. As a result, channel leaders are under mounting pressure to adapt to this rapidly changing market by transitioning to a platform (ecosystem) model.
At its core, a platform approach brings together multiple players to collaboratively deliver value to the end customer. But this requires a different set of tools and processes that can recruit and support partners on an unprecedented scale.
We are beyond excited to have two industry greats on this episode of ChannelTalks - Sonicwall Global Channel Chief, Michelle Ragusa-McBain and Canalys Chief Analyst, Jay McBain. Hear as they share their invaluable observations and advice on how to successfully navigate this transition, in what is being hailed as 'the decade of the ecosystem.'
02:40: Platforms are not new. But how do we define platforms from a B2B perspective?
05:40: Why are platforms so topical right now within the IT industry/IT Channel?
06:55: How does it help to better serve end customers?
08:40: How can channel players enable a more agnostic or ecosystem centric approach?
10:00: The channel tech stack and the role it plays in this movement.
13:50: Ensuring customer value when so many entities are involved.
17:55: How can a channel friendly platform help with monetization?
20:20: The evolving B2B tech buyer- how the C-level is more involved than ever.
21:30: How vendors/disties transitioning from traditional linear model to an ecosystem approach.
25:00: Emergence of the Chief Platform/Partner Officer.
31:10: What are the barriers in achieving this for a traditional vendor?
33:30: How can vendors ensure consistency across their entire partner channel?
36:00: Achieving frictionless sales despite the volume of touchpoints and transactions involved.
38:25: Creating customers for life and extending CLV.
42:10: Portal-less/portal-free transaction management.
45:00: How can tech providers achieve these objectives and achieve real results today.