Important Market Insights for Partners

The early part of every year is when business leaders plan for the year ahead, and I’m no exception. After adapting on the fly to the global pandemic in 2020, this year’s planning process remains a challenge as we look to find the most effective ways to respond to the ever-changing situation on the ground.

Like many people, I watch the news and emerging market research to keep my finger on the pulse of what’s happening here and around the world. Here’s a round-up of the reports and news that have hit my radar over the past two months.

Spending Stats

Gartner released their most recent reports on spending in a wide a range of categories. Here are some highlights:

·      2021 IT spending projected to reach 3.9 trillion worldwide, an increase of 6.2% from 2020. Enterprise software (8.8%) and devices (8%) expected to show the highest growth in 2021.

·      4th Quarter global PC shipments were up 10.7% from Q4 2019 ,and in the US, PC sales surged 20.6% year over year. For 2021, Gartner says “momentum is likely to continue through at least the first half of 2021, but it remains to be seen if it will sustain.”

·      The semiconductor market rebounded in 2020 reaching 449.8 billion worldwide. 65% of demand driven by servers, and Intel retains top spot in the global market.

·      I also found this report on the demand for robotic goods to person systems very interesting with demand projected to quadruple!

IT Leadership

The pandemic is continuing to fuel technology adoption and there are a lot of great insights and data points in the 2021 State of the CIO from IDG including:

·      49% of IT leaders expect their tech budgets will increase.

·      Top IT investments in 2021 will be data/business analytics, security/risk management, enterprise applications (cloud-based), customer experience technologies, and AI/ML tools.

·      In North America, investment in security tools is taking the top spot.

A vision for technology in 2021 and beyond!

We all know the pandemic accelerated technology adoption and the digitization of business. Accenture’s latest report shows that a decade of digital transformation has been compressed into a year or two. 95% of businesses report they are innovating with urgency to accelerate and master change across their organizations.

Deloitte’s 2021 industry outlook also focusses on the importance of digitization, but it dives into the impact on industry sectors (including the technology sector). For technology sector companies, Deloitte highlights three strategic opportunities – transformation, reskilling the workforce and manufacturing resilience, flexibility, and transparency.

Projection Hits, Misses and 2021 Expectations

You can’t always get it right!

Jay McBain and Forrester’s cybersecurity experts take a look back at what they thought 2020 would hold and whether their expectations were on target.

For added 2021 insights, Jay McBain’s predictions for the channel is a great read and covers topics like future of work, subscription models, white label/embedded products, channel process automation, and more.

For more insights about what is expected in 2021, analysts discuss what they expect for AI, IoT, blockchain and cloud technology in this 20-minute podcast.

More 2021 Predictions & Stats

·      Security: The pandemic and work at home has raised concerns over security and data protection that is continuing to top the agenda for businesses in 2021.

o  Gartner says 40% of boards will have a dedicated cybersecurity committee by 2025.

o  CPO magazine highlights top trends including Zero Trust security tools, compliance, and security as a platform.

·      IT/OT convergence: Top 10 IDC predictions include that 70% of industrial organizations will run software-defined compute and network infrastructure to support IT, OT, and CT functions

·      IoT: IDC’s Market Glance helps us see our market segment but also potential ecosystem partners.

·      Edge: 60% of all network resources will be deployed at remote edge or service provider locations, and more future of connectedness predictions.

·      Data: Priorities expected to transition from big data to small and wide data. This piece highlights all the data/analytic trends.

·      Work from Home: 81% of service leaders believe between 30% to 80% of their workforce work will work primarily from home two years from now.

·      Marketing Spend: Here’s the annual IT marketing benchmark survey from IDC. One interesting insight was that digital spend is at 51%, surpassing non-digital marketing investments for the first time.

·      Supply Chain Resilience: 87% plan to make investments to help adapt to changes and respond to unprecedented situations (like a pandemic). 60% admit that their supply chains are designed for cost not resilience.

·      Enterprise Application: Cloud computing and cloud-based enterprise resource management applications will account for more than 65% of the market by 2024. Beyond the market trends, this article hit my must-read list because it talks to characteristics of the new digital enterprise buyer.

To round out this edition of market insights, here are a few more articles that caught my attention.

Picking up Interview Snippets

We all know how valuable analysts and researcher are to help media frame context around trends. This piece is a wide ranging one that picks up perspectives from Forrester VP, Lori Wizdo that didn’t make the cut in the media but provide some great context into the issues of the day.

A Focus on Sales, Marketing and Partnerships

We all feel like the world has changed so much, it’s hard to find focus and direct sales efforts. This Forrester piece reminds us that we have the tools we need to navigate the sales process.

Personalization in B2B is accelerating: This podcast highlights the changes in B2B sales driven by our more virtual world post-pandemic and the shifts underway for effective B2B sales.

Events to Make a Comeback?

While our Intel Partner Connect Event for March will remain virtual, I am starting to see companies considering a return to in person or hybrid events. Forrester released their upcoming events and noted:

“The company will offer events scheduled in the first half of 2021 as live virtual experiences — with a plan to transition to integrated experiences, combining in-person and digital components, in the second half.”

So perhaps, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and we will get to connect again soon in person. In the meantime, I am looking forward to what’s ahead for 2021 and the opportunities for technology companies to accelerate change together.