How to Draw Your Digital Transformation ‘Heat Map’

There are millions of conversations going on today in digital transformation, and your path to getting in on the chatter (read: opportunity) is less linear and more like a “heat map,” according to Jay McBain, principal analyst for global channels at Forrester Research. “This isn’t a process-driven, RFP-driven environment,” he says. “This isn’t a linear approach [to] purchasing that we may have had in the past … It’s almost celestial. Stars and moons and comets and everything going on in the sky in the millions.”

Channel pros and integrators need to rethink their business model and go-to-market strategy, McBain says. “Business transformation equals digital transformation, and everyone is rethinking how they do it.” That’s where the heat map comes in. “As a partner,” he says, “you may have two, three, four, five different parts of that heat map that you want to declare for yourself.”

The following are some recommendations for getting on the map.