There is no shortage of opinions in the technology World. Most have some level of truth, but would you bet your future on it? I know that our organization sorts through hundreds of research reports and stitch them together to find out where the truth lives. Most times we have to do our own research to lay over the big data to find the actual facts (not alternative facts).

Carl West from GFK is definitely worth listening too. His research and data makes a very strong case to support his findings. In my recent eChannelNEWS interview with Carl we talked about the UK market, trends that are going to impact our future (AI, IoT, 5G, 3D Printing etc) and some big things that the channel must embrace such as GDPR and Data Security.

Come meet Carl West and others live on December 7 in London.

Will the channel partners who retain old-school habits make the transition into the next generation of the channel? Well, for as long as there are end-users who prefer the old-school ways of doing business, then they will probably continue to survive, but with the rules changing in the game such as data compliance laws, growing security attacks, and competitive forces, the choice may no longer be an option. One could argue that it’s the duty of channel partners to pull their customers out of the old-school ways of doing business and push them into the digital era. If not, what will happen to them?