More than a quarter of the channel’s Top 100 solution providers reported growth of 20 per cent or more in 2022, according to the annual Top 100 Channel Benchmark Report, with total revenue of this hundred companies just over $10 billion, almost identical to the previous year.
While the past two years have been chaotic, many companies have experienced significant growth, creating a sustainable base for new customers, improving recurring revenues, and expanding their business portfolios. Another indication of the strength of business growth despite the pandemic was the fact that more than 60 per cent of companies did not participate in “partner assistance” programs, and those who invested the money to increase their sales and marketing activities.
Companies surveyed in the report were also positive about future growth prospects: 99 per cent of companies plan to hire, and 74 per cent stating they will have to increase their staff by between 6 and 25 per cent.
The Top 100 solution providers represent a variety of companies and different business models. Forty-one per cent of the companies in the sample described themselves as Value-Added Resellers (VARs), 37 per cent described themselves as Managed Service Providers (MSPs), and 12 per cent described themselves as IT consultants. Most of the remaining 22 per cent describe themselves as cloud service providers, independent software vendors, system integrators or volume resellers.
Hardware resale remained the largest source of revenue, but most of the channel’s revenue shifted to services. Managed services and security solutions were also areas of strong growth.
But the big growth story remains the acceleration of migration to the cloud for companies of all sizes. Simplifying IT operations, improving security, and overcoming the difficulties in finding qualified employees in the era of the “Great Resignation” are driving the move to the cloud.
Not surprisingly, companies predicted that services that would increase in the coming years would be dominated by cloud services, security services, and Managed Services.
This year’s report also highlighted a number of important trends: it covered the continued growth and consolidation demonstrated by continued M & A activity, examined hiring intentions, and documented current challenges and other areas of key interest to those who follow the channel.
The report surveyed more than 120 companies between January and March 2022, focusing on the channel’s top companies, sponsored by cybersecurity and data protection firm Acronis and the Canadian Channel Chiefs Council (C4).
A full copy of the report can be downloaded here.