The 2023 Digital Workplace: Are You Ready to Become Your Customers’ Most Valuable Business Advisor?

By Dan Foster, Chief Revenue Officer

If I had to name the most exciting and attainable business opportunity for virtually all our technology partners and their customers in 2023, it’s the digital workplace. There’s no arguing the power and sustainability of shifting more businesses—and business processes—into the digital realm, where workplaces are technologically connected without regard to geographic boundaries.

Catapulted by the pandemic, we have entered a pivotal shift from a digital infrastructure driven by LAN lines and ISPs to the digital workplace driven by cloud services. The cloud enables a new world of productivity and collaboration, with data security advancements to boot.

Consider this:  

• The price per megabit per second of cable broadband service has declined by 98% over the last twenty years — from an average of $28.13 in 2000 to $0.64 in 2020.
• As of April 2022, Amazon Web Services (AWS) has reduced prices 107 times since its launch in 2006.  
• In Q3 of 2022, Microsoft Azure grew 46%, Google Cloud grew 45%, and market leader AWS grew 40%.
• Telarus has made a strategic shift to accommodate market demand, with over 60% of our business falling within Advanced Solutions.
  

Business leaders have new opportunities to create value for their employees and customers and scale for the future, but the complexities of where and how to begin can be overwhelming. With Telarus Advanced Solutions at your disposal, you can play a critical role for your customers as they look to navigate digital transformation across cloud, security, mobility, IoT, CX, and more. Moving away from the vendor role to that of a trusted business advisor will set you apart from your competitors and position you well for expansion as you help your customers solve their biggest business challenges in the year ahead.

3 Key Challenges for CIOs in 2023  

In my conversations with CIOs across industries, I notice three common themes that keep them up at night:  

1) Cybersecurity: Ensuring the security of digital assets and protecting against cyber threats will continue to be a significant challenge for CIOs. This includes protecting against data breaches, phishing attempts, and other cyberattacks. 

2) Remote work and collaboration: As more companies adopt remote work policies, CIOs will need to find ways to enable employees to work effectively from anywhere and collaborate with colleagues remotely. This will involve providing employees with the necessary tools and technologies to work remotely and ensuring that data and communications are secure. 

3) Managing digital transformation: CIOs will need to lead their organizations through the process of digital transformation, which involves the integration of digital technologies into all aspects of the business. This includes identifying which technologies and digital solutions will have the greatest impact on the business and then implementing them in a way that is efficient, effective, and secure.  

These challenges also drive innovation. Over the last few years, many of you have already introduced the cost-savings, productivity boosts, and customer experience benefits of web-conferencing, virtual desktop, and initial cloud-based applications to your customers. Our partners across multiple industries are seeing their most profitable year yet. And this is just the beginning. As we enter 2023, Forrester estimates 1.5 B digital workplace users powered by the next generation of technologies. Just like that, Amazon-like digital employee experiences (DEX) for all business sizes are within reach.   

Digital Workplace Meets Enterprise 4.0  

Call it a catchphrase, but Enterprise 4.0 has arrived. And per the examples in the previous section, chances are many of you are already helping your customers lay the foundation. In essence, Ent. 4.0 is a world where not only computing workloads and storage live in the cloud, and all applications services (e.g., website, customer interfaces) are available seamlessly on mobile, but also where analytics systems that collect, clean, transform, and aggregate data are used for decision-making and further leverage for AI-based models that elevate customer service and support.   

Here’s the 10,000-foot view of the stages of Enterprise development: 

Your Opportunity: Tying Technology Solutions to Business Outcomes  

My peer Chuck Robbins, CEO of Cisco Systems, insightfully states that customers are increasingly less interested in tech management and more focused on overall outcomes. Telarus develops education programs to help partners understand new tools to have outcomes-focused conversations for the new 4.0 era and, more importantly, where to begin the conversation. With so many opportunities to choose from, new technology can be overwhelming for a customer. Work under the assumption that most organizations are not ready to move to a fully integrated solution during a single transformation. Many tend to implement a single solution, evaluate results, then gradually move towards bolting on additional services as budget and resources allow. So, start with one solution that meets an immediate need rather than trying to sell an all-in-one package. As you add onto the menu, each tier should tie back to the customer’s desired outcomes.

Conclusion

I could not be more excited for the growth and productivity opportunities that lie ahead for our partners and their customers in 2023. Telarus is passionate about helping partners understand the new opportunities this digital landscape provides. We continually add new suppliers and educational support to ensure you are well-positioned to remain competitive and meet customer needs in the new digital workplace. This is your moment to be a trusted business advisor – not just a technology vendor – for customers as they navigate the complexities of Enterprise 4.0, regardless of where they are in their digital transformation journey.  

In upcoming blogs, we’ll dive deeper into use cases for AI and Telarus Advanced Solutions to help guide your success in 4.0 and beyond. 

Learn More 

If you have immediate questions about our many Advanced Solutions, please contact our team below:  

Sam Nelson, VP of Contact Center/CX
Jason Stein, VP of Cybersecurity
Koby Phillips, VP of Cloud