Everyone in the business community understands the great challenges companies have had to overcome over the past three years. From the pandemic and supply chain woes to inflation and rising interest rates, organizational leaders needed to respond quickly and effectively to navigate through the various difficulties that seemed to shift each day. Those in the IT services community understand that well.

With great perseverance and expertise, the channel responded admirably to those challenges, and most experts agree that the IT industry is more strongly positioned today than ever. The shift to Work From Home (WFH) and hybrid workforces would have been impossible for many companies, especially SMBs, without solution providers, technology vendors and distributors. Channel companies quickly filled the void in the early days of the pandemic. Through those initial efforts and ongoing endeavors to solidify and secure those IT environments, technology partners elevated their status with end-users and decision-makers – tightening bonds with existing clients while gaining new prospects and customers.

With a new year come new expectations. Most businesses are likely moving full-speed ahead with their 2023 initiatives building off the previous year, targeting improvements in sales, margins, operations or other key objectives. Based on last year's results, that baseline is clearly quite healthy for many IT-related companies.

According to the IDC North America Distribution Tracker, powered by GTDC, indirect sales through distribution grew 6.8% year-over-year to $84.4 billion in 2022 (up from 1.1% in 2021). Gains in network infrastructure (+20%), storage (+13%) and security (+12) helped fuel those increases. Despite softness in Q4, distribution revenue trends over the past three years show measurable growth, despite all the uncertainties, further validating the value of the IT industry and distribution.

CONTEXT market intelligence shared similar results for European IT distributors, with 2022 sales up 2.5% (2.6% excluding telecoms) over the previous year. Infrastructure (+11%) and software and services (+11%) lead the way in growth in Q4 versus the same period in 2021.

While the uncertainties and the devastating impact of the war in Ukraine continue to impact people and organizations across the globe, the technology industry is on fairly firm footing heading into 2023. The channel community, supported by IT distributors and an ever-expanding community of software and hardware companies, can solve even more of the world’s problems in the new year.

Reflecting on Past Achievements

While concerns like “quiet quitting” and chip shortages captured business news headlines, the IT industry, with little to no fanfare, is soaring to new heights in mission, market expansion and sales. Successful organizations rely more than ever on technology, and the channel plays an increasingly larger role in that equation. Not only do businesses need innovation to keep pace with their competition today, but to optimize their operations and investments.

The GTDC understands those dynamics and the expanding role of distributors in the continually evolving IT paradigm. Though channel partners still highly value the procurement, logistics and financing functions, ancillary services like cloud enablement and sales, engineering and marketing support are gaining significant traction. Even the most advanced innovators need help reaching the masses – and IT distributors are uniquely positioned and prepared to satisfy those demands.

GTDC’s role is to educate, advocate and influence the greater tech and business community on the specific of those capabilities. Our members and staff collaborate on creating and delivering a multitude of new resources to raise awareness and tighten the bonds between IT vendors, distributors, and their corresponding partners every year. Those actions were considerable in 2022, including:

• Four insightful research projects covering leading-edge channel topics.
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1. Investment Trends in the IT Industry provides a comprehensive view of the trends in venture capital, private equity and other funding activities within the IT community. This study looks at the drivers and market expectations from high-growth startups to publicly-traded organizations going private.
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2. The Hyperscaling Report comprehensively looks at the channel’s involvement in the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) space. This study explores how distributors, hyperscalers, and other channel partners can collaborate to deliver these extremely scalable and high-demand cloud models. The IT Industry Embraces Environmental Sustainability report provides unique insight into resource conservation efforts and ‘green’ initiatives in the global vendor and distributor community. This research underlines the key obstacles and opportunities with efficiency-driven programs, including C-suite support and evolving regulations and cultural standards.
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3. In Distribution as a Recession Countermeasure, GTDC partnered with Channelnomics to provide vendors with specific suggestions to defray fixed costs and offset in-house support and sales expenses.
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4. Beyond Distribution with GTDC Podcast. With a strong community of IT industry subject matter experts, we created a new on-demand audio (and video) forum for them to share updates and insight on important channel topics. You can listen to or download episodes from your favorite podcast platform, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music, or on the GTDC website.
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• Bi-Weekly IT Global Supply Chain Bulletins. GTDC partnered with Futurum Research to deliver periodic updates to keep industry professionals abreast of disruptions and supply chain concerns. Check out the latest version here. 
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• The GTDC Diploma Course. Virtual, instructor-led sessions designed to help experienced vendor channel teams and their counterparts in distribution understand how to drive better business outcomes for both sides. This program is a great starting point for those wishing to take the Quadmark Diploma Accreditation exam.

Powering the Next Wave of Technology

While 2022 was a year of positive action for the IT industry and GTDC, prospects for the future burn brightly for the entire community. As business leaders increasingly look to technology to ease, if not solve, staffing and operational problems, demand for firms that can design, implement and support those applications and systems will continue to rise. That also means that vendors and distributors must do more to help channel partners address their clients' and end-users' constantly shifting needs. Innovation and an enhanced focus on “the customer experience” are essential pieces of that equation.

Those two topics are among the key conversations at our 2023 in-person events. At the GTDC Summit North America, February 8-10, 2023, at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, attendees will learn how vendors and distributors can work better together to power the next wave of technology. Attendees can expect insightful discussions from the renowned economist Doug Holtz-Eakin and IDC president Crawford Del Prete. We’ll explore key industry trends and highlight exciting new opportunities for the IT industry, emphasizing collaboration between the vendor and distributor communities.

In June, we’ll shift continents for the 2023 GTDC Summit EMEA. With a similar focus on innovation and growth opportunities, the event will also emphasize regional topics such as the latest ESG initiatives, supply chain issues and economic challenges. More details will come, but now is the perfect time to save the date and check out the preliminary agenda.

2023 should be an exciting year for the IT industry. While we can expect to encounter challenges along with all the new business opportunities, with the value and demand for IT services rising, the future looks bright for the innovators. The challenge for channel executives – solution providers, vendors and distributors – is to ensure their companies are properly positioned to take advantage of those prospects.