CCC RECAP: Sustainability Takes Root in the Channel

July 25, 2023
Posted by: T.C. Doyle
Category: Blogs

How tech vendors are extending corporate sustainability efforts to their partner networks and programs

By T.C. Doyle

Environmental sustainability is in the air these days, which is why Channelnomics devoted the bulk of its July 2023 Community Call to the topic.

If you work in the channel, you might have noticed that vendors big and small are extending key parts of their corporate environmental sustainability initiatives to their go-to-market channel strategies. By doing so, they hope to burnish their images as responsible business partners, create new revenue opportunities for themselves and their partners, and meet growing demand from end customers for more sustainable IT solutions.

Many vendors provide their partners with a number of resources to aid in their sustainability journeys. Those include education and awareness training. Others go even further with financial incentives, new specialization programs for helping partners build sustainability practices, and recycling programs that encourage end customers to trade in old gear for new products sold by channel partners.

Channelnomics has examined several vendor programs and believes the tech industry and the channel that serves it have reached a tipping point. What was once a nice-to-have corporate commitment has now become a business priority. And so has embedding sustainability goals and initiatives into channel strategies. But there are risks.

Recently, corporate giants including Delta Air Lines, H&M, and Nike have been ensnarled in lawsuits over public commitments to improve their environmental records. Each has been accused of “greenwashing,” which amounts to making public statements about embracing environmentally friendly business practices without actually doing much to reduce carbon emissions from core activities.

If you missed our discussion on the topic, be sure to pick up a copy of our upcoming report on the subject, “Sustainability Takes Root in IT Channel,” which will be available to CiQ subscribers this month.

Why Incentives Fail

During the call, Channelnomics also discussed the correlation between failed incentives and human psychology. As it turns out, there’s an intrinsic relationship between bad thinking and doomed incentives, including those for channel partners.

In “Mixed Signals: How Incentives Really Work,” a new book by Uri Gneezy, a researcher and economics professor at the University of California at San Diego, the author discusses how incentives often result in unwanted or unsustainable behavior.

Gneezy observes that incentives fail for a number of reasons, including the following:

They’re the wrong size.
They’re designed for the wrong audience.
They unwittingly reward inappropriate behavior.

For our take on the subject, be sure to check out “Why Incentives Fail” in our Channelnomics CiQ repository — free to Channelnomics subscribers.

WHAT’S NEW AT CHANNELNOMICS

There are several other new items awaiting you in our CiQ (née Brainstorm) repository.

Analyst Note: AI and the Changing Face of Tech Support — The embrace of AI raises several issues for vendors that rely on channel partners to provide the front-line tech support that customers need. This includes questions over whether AI can provide the proper level of support required to satisfy evolving customer needs, how channel partner hiring practices will change over time as a result of AI’s increased use, and whether vendors themselves should consider using AI technology to augment or even reclaim the tech support they essentially outsource to their partners.

In the Margins: The Magic of Simply Showing Up — Vendors spend billions of dollars developing channel programs, systems, and resources with the singular intent of driving partner performance that results in sales generation and revenue growth. Success, though, comes down to one simple factor: showing up. Listen in to hear what that means for you.

Channelnomics Promotion: Become a CiQ member today! It’s hard to believe, but here we are amid the dog days of summer. Soon it’ll be back to school, football, and (hopefully) cooler temperatures. Before you run out of summer days, don’t miss out on our CiQ summer promotion. With a CiQ subscription, you’ll have access to the industry’s best research and intelligence on channel trends, performance metrics, and best practices. Learn more about how to become a CiQ member here.

NOTE: There will be no Community Call this August, but mark your calendars for Sept. 7, 2023, when we move to a new day and time. Starting then, the calls will take place on the first Thursday of every month at 2 p.m. ET. Join us in September for what’s sure to be a lively discussion.

Channelnomics Community Calls are open to any channel professional and practitioner. If you’re a Channelnomics iQ subscriber looking to request your monthly one-on-one call or schedule your annual channel program review, send an e-mail to Laura Maziejka at info@channelnomics.com.