Nine vendors have been crowned EMEA Champions in the Canalys EMEA Titans Channel Leadership Matrix

Nine vendors have been recognized as Champions in the 2024 EMEA Titans Channel Leadership Matrix: AWS, Cisco, Dell, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Nutanix, Palo Alto Networks, Schneider Electric and Trend Micro.

This is an impressive achievement, with Champions showing high levels of excellence in channel management compared with their industry peers while also improving their performance on the previous year and investing for the future. These vendors cover a wide range of technology sectors, spanning hardware, software, cloud and cybersecurity. But Champions share some common characteristics, including a strategic commitment to driving growth through and with partners, investments in partner profitability and ease of doing business, a focus on program innovation and high levels of partner satisfaction.

Of the nine Champions, six achieved the difficult task of retaining their top-level status from last year: Dell, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Nutanix, Schneider Electric and Trend Micro.

The EMEA Titans Channel Leadership Matrix report assesses the EMEA channel performance of around 30 technology vendors 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). A vendor’s position in the Canalys Leadership Matrix is based on channel partner feedback collected over the last 12 months, recent performance metrics and an assessment of their channel performance and future prospects by a panel of Canalys analysts.

A changing set of partner ecosystem skills is needed by vendors

Business pressures have intensified for technology vendors in the face of economic volatility, geopolitical turbulence, supply chain instability and changing customer behavior. Critical skills in key growth segments – cybersecurity, hybrid cloud, edge, software and AI – continue to suffer from shortages, which threatens to constrain growth. Enterprise customers are embracing new consumption, subscription and marketplace models, requiring deeper, continuous lifecycle support and managed services. Sustainability is becoming a key customer requirement. In this complex and rapidly changing environment, the role of channel partners becomes ever more important. Over 76% of IT business in EMEA is delivered via the channel and an even greater proportion of customer investments are influenced by partners. Vendors across the technology industry are shifting to partner-led go-to-market models, recognizing the importance of partners to drive scale, improve sales efficiency and deliver an enhanced customer experience. Vendor success is increasingly dependent on building and executing strategies that support a diverse partner ecosystem.

Channel partners, meanwhile, are seeking to prioritize relationships with vendors that align with the transformation in their business models – toward, for example, managed and professional services, while investing in co-sell and multi-partner collaboration, reducing process complexity and equipping partners with the skills to meet new customer demands. As partners rely more on wrapping their own services and solutions around vendors’ products to deliver customer value (and less on simple reselling), they will become more selective about investing strategically in vendor partnerships. Champions will, therefore, find themselves at an increasing advantage against less partner-centric competitors.

Other vendors are classified as Contenders (high leadership ratings in the areas assessed but have yet to capitalize fully on channel opportunities), Scalers (improvements in channel management and performance but yet to achieve the highest levels of channel excellence) or Foundation vendors, which have the lowest ratings and have also suffered a deterioration in partner sentiment over the last 12 months.

Congratulations to AWS, Cisco, Dell, Juniper Networks, Lenovo, Nutanix, Palo Alto Networks, Schneider Electric and Trend Micro for achieving Champion status in the EMEA Titans Channel Leadership Matrix.