Report signals rapid, discontinuous marketing change in IT/Comms industry

From advancements in technology - be it the rise of artificial intelligence or the prevalence of cloud computing - to mass disruption - culturally and economically - as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, today’s business-to-business partners who are engaged in joint marketing efforts have been subjected to a period of massive and accelerated change. 

Now, looking to better understand the resulting challenges, the Huddersfield Business School and Coterie, the dedicated channel and partner strategy and execution specialist, have launched a collaborative report which has identified and explored the success factors for channel and partner business-to-business marketing in the global IT/Communications industry today and over the next three years.   

“This highly competitive and increasingly virtual global industry has seen an accelerated pace of change, with industry professionals discussing the future being brought forward five years in terms of pre-COVID anticipated change and development,” explained the University’s Professor of Marketing, Shona Bettany, the report’s principal investigator. 

“This has driven a more fluid and selective mindset in the construction of marketing ecosystems and new agile modes of market engagement,” she said. 

Industry developments

Highlighted by the report are the industry developments in organising business-to-business channel marketing partnerships. Relatively long-term and stable networks of organisations are giving way to more fluid and disaggregated marketing organisation between agile and often temporary collectives. One example of this is a move away from the long-established hierarchical relationship management system of tiering organisational partners based on volume or revenue. 

From large organisations such as HP and IBM, to start-up cloud-born vendors with minimal channel experience, the idea of tiering partners based on revenue into gold, silver and bronze layers has long been standard channel marketing practice. Yet, according to the respondents of the report, in the current climate it has only led to greater confusion and increased ambiguity among partners and end-users. 

Also made apparent is the idea of ranking by volume of sales, without accounting for expertise or ability to implement and understand a customer’s technology and business challenges, is fast becoming a redundant form of marketing organisation within the industry. 

Marketing ecosystems

In its stead, partner segmentation based on marketing skills mapping, and development of continuous marketing ecosystem mapping processes are required to keep pace with rapid technological developments and adjust as end-user and partner needs change. 

Helen Curtis, Founding Director at Coterie, added: “Our report highlights several areas of focus for those of us within this industry, and raises more questions that will require an ecosystem working together to answer. 

“The end of traditional tiers as we know them is just one casualty of the ongoing technological changes and the Covid pandemic, the full repercussions of which - and how it will shape our lives as consumers and marketers over the next several years - we will only discover once the dust has settled.”  

The research (2020/21) with 23 large global IT/Communications organisations was conducted via in-depth interviews with a range of senior-level marketing professionals. The full report including additional findings can be downloaded here. 

“Working with Coterie has been invaluable,” said Carol Sibbald, a Business Development and Engagement Co-ordinator at the Huddersfield Business School.

 “Research partnerships like the one between Coterie and Huddersfield Business School are crucial in driving innovation in this and other industries post-pandemic,” she added.