No matter your occupation, remaining relevant in today’s fast-changing world requires keeping abreast of trends. That goes for physicians, financial advisors, teachers, retailers — you name it. And it applies to solution providers in the technology channel, in particular.
Resellers and integrators gearing up for 2017 will likely be setting their sights on the established and emerging technologies that have dominated the IT landscape for the past 12 months. The cloud, for example, continues to offer end users the agility and device management solutions they need to run their operations efficiently and cost-effectively. Analytics and artificial intelligence will take on greater importance as businesses seek ways to hone their competitive edge by taking a customer-centric approach to bolstering their bottom line. And areas such as big data and the Internet of Things (IoT) will hold more appeal as channel players learn how to help end users leverage those technology sets to generate business outcomes.
Then there’s mobility, which has been a hot spot for some time, and will continue to be so in 2017. Enterprise customers across the board, of every size and in every vertical market, are cutting IT costs and realizing productivity gains by capitalizing on the BYOD trend. At the same time, they’re leaning on the channel to navigate around some of the bigger mobility “potholes” — managing heterogeneous mobile networks efficiently and keeping them secure at the same time. For those enterprise customers who are still focused on corporate liable deployments, they’re looking to the channel for services, deployment support and one-stop enterprise-grade shopping for their business needs.
According to a report released by IDC in October, worldwide mobility revenue is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.2 percent in the next four years, from $1.5 trillion in 2016 to $1.7 trillion in 2020. In the United States alone, the mobile workforce will reach more than 105 million users by 2020 — up from 96 million in 2015, according to the market research firm.
At Samsung, we’re excited to be exploring these mobile opportunities with our IT channel partners. While we’ve built strong relationships with IT solution providers through our collaborations around traditional mobile computing and digital displays, the emergence of unlocked phones is a huge, untapped area for partnership.
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Prepare for the Mobile Future
Taking advantage of the mobile opportunity will require a conscious shift in mindset for IT solution providers. A practical first step is to assess end users’ mobile infrastructures to gauge their performance levels, flexibility and scalability. Having the right hardware endpoints on a mobile network is only the beginning. Effective mobile device management tools need to be put in place, ensuring that business networks are being administered effectively and cost-efficiently. Then there’s the business of security — of protecting sensitive data and intellectual property.
In addition, partners need to tie together all the technology sets that make mobile a cornerstone of today’s businesses, including application development, unified communication and collaboration (UCC), virtualization and business intelligence.
With Samsung’s broad suite of endpoints — from our Galaxy enterprise mobility solutions to our Windows convertibles and detachables — businesses can meet every need, whether in the office or on the go. Recognizing that today’s businesses must be able to manage a patchwork of devices and operating systems while protecting their investment in the most popular platforms, we are continuing to create innovative devices for Android, Windows, Chrome and emerging platforms like Tizen.
Lead With Security
Securing mobile devices and the networks on which they run is of paramount concern to today’s businesses. It’s key that solution providers lead with a security message and build specialized expertise to address customer requirements.
With Samsung Knox, a multilayered security platform built into our latest Galaxy smartphones and tablets, partners have a strong foundation to deliver best-in-class mobile security. In a recent Gartner security comparison, Samsung Knox received the most “Strong” ratings of any mobile platform.
We’ve complemented this with core solutions such as Knox Workspace to enable separation of enterprise and personal data; Knox Premium for affordable, cloud-based mobile device management; and Knox Customization for flexible configuration of device fleets.
Of course, mobile devices and networks are only as good as the services that support them. Samsung’s end-to-end portfolio of services — technical and application support, mobile management and security — allow channel partners to help end users maximize the overall mobility experience, optimizing worker productivity, reducing IT costs, increasing efficiency, and securing mission-critical data, applications and systems.
As solution providers eye opportunities for revenue growth in 2017, mobility needs to be top of mind. Don’t let the new year arrive without a clear mobility strategy in place.
Interested in partnering with Samsung to grow your mobility practice? Register with our partner portal.
