2. Increased Partnerships With New Vendors And Partners
The increasing demands from customers are driving hybrid solution providers to seek out new vendor partnerships in areas like security or next-generation software-defined infrastructure, said Skelley.
In addition, there is an increasing amount of partner-to-partner collaboration. Security is a prime example where partners are seeking out solution provider colleagues to fill out their portfolio, said Skelley.
"Security is very complex and it is difficult to hire the talent to be a valued security professional, so partners are turning to other partners they have a relationship with to fill that need," he said. "There is a partner-to-partner, channel-to-channel ecosystem growing much faster than it has in years past."
The increased partnering comes as trusted adviser hybrid solution providers are moving into completely new technology practices such as video surveillance, Internet of Things and edge computing, said Skelley.
Seventy-five percent of hybrid solution providers have a focus on two or more advanced technology practices, said Skelley. "Hybrid solution providers are being pulled into new technologies and markets, and it is all customer-driven," he said.