LogMeIn this week appointed Rick Ribas to be vice president of global channel sales at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is driving increased demand for many of its offerings.
Previously, Ribas was senior vice president for national partner sales and national channel alliances for Intelisys Communications Inc., a distributor of IT products and services.
With more employees working from home usage of communications and collaboration services along with cybersecurity and remote management tools are all up, says Ribas. Demand from the education, healthcare and financial services sectors has been especially robust.
In the wake of the pandemic, Ribas says demand for these offerings should continue to increase as more organizations adjust to having employees working from home in larger numbers to reduce real estate costs.
“This is the new normal,” says Ribas. “I don’t see that many people going back to 20 and 30,000 square foot offices.”
That transition should also drive increased demand for managed services as more organizations rely on external IT services providers to support remote workers, adds Ribas. In effect, the COVID-19 pandemic will primarily serve to accelerate a set of trends that have been evolving over the last two years, notes Ribas.
Ribas says LogMeIn is unique in its approach to the channel in that it drives sales leads to partners versus relying on partners to generate those sales leads.
The one other shift that will occur in the wake of the pandemic is partners will also diversify the number of vertical industry sectors they focus on. Partners that prior to the pandemic might have focused on, for example, hospitality are generally experiencing a tougher time right now than those that focus on education as schools rushed to enable online learning.
It’s too early to say what the ultimate impact on the channel might be, but Ribas says rather than seeing a massive decline in spending there will more likely be shifts in IT spending as customers establish new priorities. Whatever the outcome, channel partners that pay close attention to how those changing priorities as they evolve are likely to continue to thrive.
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