Several factors could swing actual spending in either direction. Other trends are covered in additional CompTIA research. pillars interact in unique ways, and these overlaps define how business solutions are built and maintained. in conducting said activity and acting on the data being collected. Not every company is prepared to manage massive amounts of of IoT was not a major priority last year, it still takes a small step back as companies concentrate more on core operations and less on advanced techniques. Many small channel firms are facing these same tough times now, despite some stopgap measures by the federal government. role since very few companies are shifting to 100% cloud-based architecture. While the tech sector fared better than many other industries during the pandemic, it was not immune to cutbacks in spending patterns and deferment of major investments. into the best school, then finds that best school is financially untenable to attend. Zero trust is emerging as the new paradigm that guides all the new practices. However, the long-term trends The process starts with defining risk tolerance, a step that most companies are not familiar with after simply placing all corporate content behind Just by using cloud systems, companies can take advantage of tools from their cloud provider. one that has changed drastically as cloud computing has given rise to microservice architecture. Instead of setting hard rules for how the business will operate, organizations must now juggle a multitude of options, from employee locations to supply chain components to customer demands. Nearly 4 in 10 firms report having current openings they are actively looking to fill in technology roles, while 15% are angling to shore up their business-related employee base. Marketing is an obvious one; for many channel firms it has always lagged in both resources and general attention. Tech acumen about the next big thing matters to and improve flexibility and resiliency. Some use the nomenclature “soft skills” to refer to these characteristics, but increasingly they are also referred to as “professional skills” or the like. This could be due to the fact Looking deeper at skills, the IT workforce keeps evolving from a heavy focus on infrastructure and generalists into a diverse world of specialists spread across four fundamental disciplines. Once they are made aware, the time to finalize the engagement is lengthened. This can lead to a feeling of uncertainty and also a feeling that better results are expected are built and maintained. is creating new avenues for growth, companies are finding that they cannot simply slap tech labels on their products and practices and automatically reap benefits. The trend may be heading in the right direction, but the chasm was so wide that it will take significant time and intentional changes to close. Robotic Process Automation (RPA): Thanks to a high degree of integration between individual systems and the use of new techniques such as machine learning and natural language processing, RPA is a key ingredient for many automation efforts. to 2020, firms that manage to thrive will be making investments in skills training, expanding their market reach to new customers and verticals, partnering with potential competitors, and embracing emerging tech. The IT channel is in flux. The channel’s top worries are labor costs and the ability to hire employees with skills that map to today’s complex technology demands, including emerging tech acumen. Growth expectations for the U.S. market are in line with the global projection. And some are getting creative in how they hire by casting a wider net. Using the conventional approach, the industry market can be categorized into five top level buckets. Economies, jobs, and personal lives are becoming more digital, more connected and more automated—a trend that is only accelerating after recent events. Whether integration is outsourced or being done in-house, the next step for many businesses As companies build out their software capabilities, they will drive more interaction between software development and infrastructure operations. In fact, that importance grew as organizations had to quickly restructure their operations in order to support a remote workforce Learn how people are re-envisioning the functions, processes, and best practices for infrastructure, development, security, and data in their organizations. For 2021, cloud is back and no longer needs to share the spotlight with other trends. The next step is recognizing that data and applications need to be secured individually, and user access needs to be defined at a granular level. sectors such as retail, construction, and transportation. It’s an interesting conundrum: on the one For decades, partners have served as extended sales forces for vendors and as such were beholden to sets of incentive goals and other requirements in order to move up the ranks of a tiered partner program system of benefits. Even amid all the hype, companies in the business of technology are around usability and reliability. Back then, many firms did not survive, while others were forced to downsize significantly. And while this was a pre-pandemic finding, the emphasis on cybersecurity skills – and customer demand for them – has only grown. the case for many emerging as-a-service solutions that include elements of hardware, software and service, such as IoT, drones and many automating technologies. As the IT industry is maturing, there are challenges posed as a result of tech’s larger impact on the economy and deeper integration with society. the groundwork has been laid for IoT to advance digital transformation. There are well-established economics and regulations in industries such as transportation or real estate. Cloud computing lowered both the barrier for developing software The need to properly identify that data with its true source (i.e. Shifting gears from skill needs and development, the other workforce topic that will be a major issue in the upcoming year is diversity and inclusion. the new variables here are the scale that tech is able to achieve and the evolutionary aspect of mixing digital and physical worlds. channel sells and goes to market, to whom they sell, what the sales cycle looks like, and the type of services that wrap around any initial sale or engagement. Two-thirds of these firms have digitalization of business, whether that is expanding engagements with their current customer base or reaching into new segments. Some of the trends highlighted in this report focus on an early stage facet of a trend, while others recognize a trend moving beyond buzzword to reach a certain stage of market-ready maturity.