A World Transformed: Ingram Micro Cloud Releases Second Annual State of the Channel Report

2021 State of the Channel Report dives into the channel, providing key recommendations to channel partners on how best to evolve and grow their cloud businesses

IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In its second annual Cloud Technology: The 2021 State of the Channel Report, Ingram Micro Cloud examines three of the most important trends affecting technology resellers and service providers this year, including the remote work revolution, the evolving role of the modern managed service provider (MSP), and the big three cloud infrastructure providers’ pivot toward the channel.

Cloud Technology: The 2021 State of the Channel Report is available for download here.

More than a year since the start of the global pandemic, our world is truly transformed; and with a whole new notion of the term “digital transformation,” cloud adoption has accelerated with the cloud infrastructure market, hitting a $129 billion valuation.

Among its findings, the report recommends that resellers and MSPs look to power and protect the work-from-home experience to prepare for increasingly channel-centric big cloud providers, and to evolve beyond the role of the “IT guy”, by offering end customers strategies to keep their employees happy and safe online.

“Central to the report’s purpose is delving into the evolving set of responsibilities presented to channel partners in this new paradigm,” said Nimesh Davé, president of Ingram Micro Cloud. “We are truly living in a world transformed and this report aptly illustrates the challenges awaiting us, as well as specifying how partners must rise to meet them.”

Ingram Micro Cloud, which operates the world’s largest cloud marketplace for the channel, examines how industry developments will ultimately expand vendor, partner and customer engagements and opportunities in the channel for the marketing and sale of IT products. The report focuses on three main themes affecting the channel today including:

• The Remote Work Revolution: Among the industry developments transforming the channel, this trend sits front and center. Today’s businesses are increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure to meet the needs of their remote workers—a change that requires new tactical, as well as digital, transformation strategies.
• Meet the Modern MSP: As work from home mandates related to COVID-19 have supercharged cloud adoption, the opportunities brought on by the shift to remote workspaces have created an opening for MSPs and value-added resellers (VARs) to emerge as proactive change agents and strategic partners, consummating this decades-long evolution. If change implies challenge, it also implies opportunity: Experts predict the top 20% of MSPs will command 80% of the market revenue gains during and after the pandemic.
• The Big Three’s Channel Pivot: Rather than attempting to build an aggressive, end-to-end sales pipeline, the big three cloud providers—Microsoft, AWS and Google—are instead upping investments in channel partner ecosystems and partner programs.

About Ingram Micro Cloud

Ingram Micro Cloud brings together innovators and problem solvers to help the world accomplish more. It facilitates and manages the cloud’s complex digital value chain—all powered by CloudBlue technology. With unmatched global reach, easy access to automated go-to-market and integration tools, deep technical expertise, and a curated selection of scalable SaaS and IaaS solutions, Ingram Micro Cloud helps vendors, resellers, and managed service providers by offering More as a Service. Detailed information is available at http://www.ingrammicrocloud.com.