Canalys recognizes Champions in the 2024 Asia Pacific Titans Channel Leadership Matrix

Eight vendors achieved Champion status in the 2024 Canalys APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix: AWS, Check Point, Cisco, HP, Lenovo, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro.

Canalys recently published the latest edition of the APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix, adding to its series of Leadership Matrix reports. This matrix’s objective is to assess which vendors are playing an integral role in driving the success of the Asia Pacific partner ecosystem across their respective channel and technology areas. Among the Champions in the APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix, two vendors, Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro, retained their Champion status from the year before – an impressive accomplishment, requiring them to deliver improvements to already strong performances.

Defining Champions and vendor inclusion in the Canalys APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix

The Titans Channel Leadership Matrix considers the channel performance of vendors that operate in Asia Pacific with at least US$12 billion in global sales (over 25% delivered through partners) or between US$2 billion and US$12 billion in global sales (over 50% delivered through partners). Among a pool of 135 vendors under consideration in the APAC region, 26 qualified for placement.

A vendor’s position in the APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix is based on three primary inputs: partner ecosystem feedback, performance metrics and Canalys analysts’ assessments. Vendors rated as Champions showed the highest levels of excellence compared with their industry peers throughout 2023. These thought and innovation leaders in the channel also demonstrated some consistent characteristics, including positive partner sentiment, a commitment to improving ease of doing business, a willingness to boost growth opportunities and increase profitability for partners, a focus on program innovation, and a commitment to growing the share of revenue generated through and with the channel.

Enabling partners in a localized way will be vital for the APAC channel

2023 wasn’t the easiest year for the APAC IT channel. Following a sluggish 2022, when channel growth rates slowed, macroeconomic uncertainties continued to cast a shadow – with inflation, currency fluctuations and shrinking budgets affecting economies across the region. Some economies, such as India, saw incredible overall growth, but as budget pressures loomed across APAC, many hardware resellers struggled to achieve growth. A growing number of companies are pivoting their businesses toward outcome-based selling, consumption-based models and providing services to their end customers to drive revenue growth. Though slightly behind other regions, more APAC businesses are starting their cloud journeys, with the support of partners with cloud practices. With the increased adoption of cloud and the rise of technologies such as generative AI, the awareness of the importance of cybersecurity has increased significantly, driving strong growth. The channel remains vital to help customers manage IT complexities and help vendors grow in this highly fragmented region.

Vendors that can support a complex partner ecosystem in a localized way will stand out. This means developing partner programs that acknowledge the increasing complexity of the partner ecosystem, supporting partner profitability amid macroeconomic challenges, and investing in enablement to ensure partners have the skills to meet the evolving customer demands when talent shortages remain a key challenge.

Among the various successful channel initiatives that Champion vendors rolled out, some were particularly important in supporting partners for current and future growth opportunities:

• Simplifying partner programs and introducing defined partner tracks with differentiated support and benefits.
• Developing new models to support increasingly diverse partner business models.
• Investing in partner training and enablement to equip partners to capture new revenue opportunities.
• Investing in the development of tools and resources to enhance partner capabilities.
• Introducing localized channel strategies and support within different markets.
• Increasing financial incentives to enhance partner profitability and growth.
• Enabling access to co-creation, co-selling and co-delivery with vendors, as well as partner-to-partner collaboration opportunities.

Retaining Champion status in the APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix will be harder than ever over the next 12 months, as competition intensifies and more technology vendors shift their focus toward the channel for their APAC expansion plans. Partners’ business models will evolve rapidly to meet customer demands, and technology vendors will have to be able to support the varying routes to market. Technology vendors must focus on increasing awareness among partners and prioritizing partner enablement to grow their businesses while achieving positive partner sentiment. The challenge for technology vendors in the region is to drive localized efforts in a scalable way in the next 12 months.

Congratulations to AWS, Check Point, Cisco, HP, Lenovo, NetApp, Palo Alto Networks and Trend Micro for achieving Champion status in the APAC Titans Channel Leadership Matrix 2024.