Keeping up with changes in how end users evaluate and buy products is another part of that preparation process, and one that CompTIA’s Channel Advisory Board has been studying extensively. “The buyer is shifting and their journey to buy things is changing,” says Ryan Walsh, chief channel officer at cloud distributor Pax8 and a Channel Advisory Board member. “They’re testing more products. They want trials, and more proof of concepts.”
CompTIA has published an infographic on those and other purchase process changes, Walsh adds. Angus Robertson, chief revenue officer at business availability vendor Axcient and a member of CompTIA’s Business Applications Advisory Council, is a fan. “It’s valuable not just to the channel but also to vendors in terms of understanding how buyers buy and how to make that as frictionless as possible,” he says.
Still, creating infographics and white papers is one thing and getting people to use them is another. “The hard part is you’re bringing the horse to water, but you can’t make them drink,” Raimondi notes. CompTIA can’t prepare the channel for the future of tech without the channel’s cooperation.
“I think if somebody is really interested in driving the new businesses, CompTIA has got the right tools to get them on the right path,” Raimondi says. “But they’ve got to come to the table.”
