The IT channel landscape is never going to look the same again.
(Do we even need to reference COVID-19 at this point?)
Today’s guest describes the 4 stages to arriving at our next normal in the IT channel.
Recently on B2B Revenue Acceleration, we interviewed Barrie Desmond, Head of Global Marketing and Business Development at Exclusive Networks, about why he calls himself Chief Storyteller — and how to thrive during disruption in the IT channel landscape.
“If people turn the clock back, they’re stupid and deserve to fail,” Barrie said. Instead, he comes at the next normal with this mindset: “You don’t lose. You win, or you learn.”
You don’t lose. You win, or you learn Barrie Desmond
Barrie Desmond – Head of Global Marketing and Business Development at Exclusive Networks
The Next Normal
Barrie wrote a standout LinkedIn post about the next normal. He explained that we’re more focused on the outcomes of what we do rather than the task or the process.
And that’s just one of the great changes that the COVID crisis has brought about to the IT channel landscape.
“From a continuity perspective, we’ve seen a lot of business resilience in the channel,” Barrie said.
He is impressed by the lengths to which channel partners have gone to collaborate for success.
Barrie also called out our better outcomes from companies that were able to respond to the crisis quickly. “I’ve seen some marvelous cases of businesses that decided not only would they be agile, but they would adapt,” he said.
So many of us have innovated — and continue to innovate — because of our instinct to “serve first and sell second,” as Barrie put it.
A few other positive changes:
- Accelerated decision-making cycles
- Fewer decision-making cycles
- Skills at taking measured risks
- Being agile
- Being adaptable
- Hybrid work styles
“Work is a thing you do, not a place you go,” Barrie said. “Those challenging conventions will be a lot nimbler, more agile, and more responsive to the market.”
Those challenging conventions will be a lot nimbler, more agile, and more responsive to the market.
Barrie Desmond – Head of Global Marketing and Business Development at Exclusive Networks
The 4 Phase Approach to Disruption
There’s a disciplined way to deal with disruption — and then there’s a panicked way.
Here are Barrie’s 4 phases:
- React
- Recover
- Reflect
- Reimagine
React
Our reaction phase to COVID-19 was March and April 2020. Let’s not do that again.
First we saw a rapid deployment of remote working. Then we decided our remote workers needed the appliances to work.
“They needed access to their normal daily work tools, applications, services, and then we had to maintain the integrity of those,” Barrie said.
In other words, react equals quick fixes.
To the IT channel, reacting is all about integrity.
“This period has been a field day for the bad actors, for people to exploit a hugely increased threat landscape,” Barrie said.
Recover
The recovery phase is taking a look at how we reacted, seeing whether it works, and trying to optimize it.
Imagine a car with a bad exhaust. A reaction would be to put some tape on it. Recovery would be to keep driving with the quick fix in place.
“We don’t want to stop and do anything because the car is still working. And that’s where we’re at now,” Barrie said.
Scrambling to make our reactions into long-term solutions is not a great look.
Reflect
Barrie calls reflection “the dangerous phase.”
Honestly, you don’t want to spend much time here. Too much reflection keeps you from being agile and adaptable.
If all you’re thinking about is how to get back to the way things were in January, you haven’t learned anything from the past 6 months in the IT channel.
Reimagine
“Jump into reimagine,” Barrie said. “Rethink, rebuild.”
This is the phase when you actually fix the car’s exhaust, buy a new car, lease a new car, or decide to build airplanes.
Now is the moment to iterate — to execute your 18 month curbside fast food business plan in 2 days.
We need to automate more and improve productivity more if we’re going to go through these difficult times.
Barrie Desmond – Head of Global Marketing and Business Development at Exclusive Networks
This is how we reimagine IT
Barrie sees 2 big opportunities to reimagine the IT channel landscape.
1) Consumption models
We need to rethink how we offer our services.
“People who are so heavily reliant on some subscription based consumption could easily expand to deliver more teams or more collaboration tools,” Barrie said.
Or more cloud storage. Or virtual desktops.
Barrie calls this the evergreen enterprise. It’s something that continues to iterate itself and can expand or contract at need.
“You’ve got an infrastructure that underlines continuity, resilience, and mitigates any risk,” he said.
Look at the way that we’re going to work now, our new habits and patterns, and reimagine how to maintain integrity under these new and changing circumstances.
2) Innovative technology
We can be pretty sure there will be a recession.
As innovators, we need to get ahead of that.
The IT channel should come out with innovative technology solutions to speak specifically to the recession.
“Technology has always thrived in difficult trading circumstances in recessions, yes, because we need to automate more and improve productivity more if we’re going to go through these difficult times,” Barrie said.
To hear this interview and many more like it, subscribe to The B2B Revenue Acceleration Podcast on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or on our website.
