INDUSTRY VIEW
THE CHANNEL’ S MID-MARKET OPPORTUNITY
Mid-market organisations are increasingly adopting technologies once reserved for large enterprises, creating a significant opportunity for the channel. Abdul Rehman Tariq Butt, Regional Director – Middle East at SolarWinds, explores how partners can help these businesses embrace enterprise-grade solutions while addressing their need for simplicity, flexibility and measurable value.
For many technology partners, the SME segment has historically been difficult to get excited about. Deal sizes were smaller, customers were highly price-conscious, and the effort required to pursue an opportunity could be difficult to justify when the same sales team could focus on a much larger enterprise deal. These perceptions weren’ t necessarily misplaced. They were grounded in years of experience selling into a segment where controlling upfront technology costs was often the overriding priority.
But markets mature, and across the Middle East, the economics behind many of those assumptions are beginning to change. SMEs themselves have changed considerably, as have the technology environments they now operate. The organisation may still be relatively small, but its technology estate increasingly isn’ t. That is forcing a reassessment of what technology really costs and, in turn, creating an opportunity for channel partners willing to reconsider how they approach the commercial market.
Abdul Rehman Tariq Butt, Regional Director – Middle East at SolarWinds
The fragmentation bill comes due For years, the logical approach for many smaller organisations was to solve each technology requirement individually. When a new need emerged, they found a product that addressed it at an attractive price. Another requirement emerged and another solution was added. Each decision could make perfect sense in isolation, particularly for an organisation trying to avoid the upfront investment associated with a broader enterprise platform.
34 www. intelligenttechchannels. com / middle-east-africa