2022: ‘Dare to Be Boring’

Yes, the year will usher in a continued focus on digital transformation, automation, and collaboration, but focusing on the fundamentals will prove key.

On this year’s first episode of SAP’s “Out to Lunch” podcast, Channelnomics CEO and Chief Analyst Larry Walsh sat down to discuss his business predictions for 2022 with guest host Meaghan Sullivan, head of global partner marketing and SME at SAP.

Citing January as the time of year for pundits to “prophesize” about what’s to come in the next 12 months, Walsh said the trends cited by experts – namely, a continued emphasis on DX, automation, and collaboration – shouldn’t come as a surprise. They’ve been unfolding for years.

Calling 2022 “the year to dare to be boring,” Walsh commented on the economy’s move from a quantitative growth cycle to a qualitative one, anticipating an increase in optimization rather than in entirely new technology. He advised partners to keep an eye on the fundamentals. “There needs to be more attention paid to what makes the machine work rather than trying to find the shiny new machine,” he said.

He’s optimistic about the opportunities that the automation trend could create for technology companies and their partners in addressing optimization. “[Automation] means going in and actually making systems work better,” Walsh said. “It means actually getting the greater value and the greater experience from the investment.”

“I think that 2022 is going to be a year where referral programs lose their stigma” as “an unnecessary expense.”

He also stressed the need to recognize the value of non-transacting partners, saying, “I think that 2022 is going to be a year where referral programs lose their stigma” as “an unnecessary expense.” Walsh has foreseen a higher-profile role for referral partners for quite some time now. Channelnomics research has reinforced that hunch, finding an array of untapped opportunities for vendors that can formalize their referral programs and offer partners the right rewards and incentives for taking on the role of referrer.

Looking forward to the year ahead, Walsh emphasized the unique role of the technology industry in turning challenges into opportunities: “We have the ability to morph around problems in ways that others can’t,” he said. “We make other industries better.”

By Alice Gunther & Michele Warren

If Data is King, Vision is Queen

In this special episode of Out to Lunch, guest host Meaghan Sullivan sits down with Channelnomics CEO Larry Walsh to hear his predictions for business in 2022 as well as what trends partners should follow to succeed in this rapidly changing world.

LISTEN NOW: outtolunch.buzzsprout.com