In a recent discussion with Comstor US Senior Vice President Geoff Fancher, EDGE360 asked him to share his 2015 predictions for the value-added reseller (VAR) and technology areas. Fancher, who has written for EDGE360 in recent months gave us his high-level view of what he sees coming in 2015:
Cloud offerings
There will be more application- and solution-based cloud offerings instead of just cloud computing offerings, and Fancher says that real revenue and managed services are going to start to ramp up along with that. “The executive suite is talking about how their businesses will participate in cloud, and many VARs are trying to figure out how they are going to get in the game,” Fancher told us. “Unfortunately, there will be a percentage that will stay on the old-world track, and they won’t make the transition. In fact, 10 percent of partners will keep selling gear, and they aren’t going to make it.”
However, Fancher says that many VARs are trying to learn how to sell outside IT to executives. “We’ve been talking about it for a long time, but now it has become real. VARs need to become relevant and differentiate themselves in cloud, so they are trying to figure out how to do that.” He predicts that the area that offers the potential growth is the hybrid cloud.
Collaboration
With Cisco’s recent focus on its cloud-based collaboration capability, Project Squared, Fancher sees a coming resurgence in focus on collaboration. He explained that in Project Squared, rooms are created that allow for participants to share documents, chat, collaborate, instant message and video conference on one platform. With only seven percent of conference rooms in the country equipped for video conferencing, Fancher sees a great opportunity for growth in that capability.
“Video is for everyone, not just the executive suite,” Fancher said. “Project Squared is an incredible collaboration tool for disperse teams, and I think with Cisco’s focus on collaboration, our partners will find a good opportunity to make money there in 2015.”
What do you think will take off in 2015? Where do you hope to make the most revenue?
