According to a recent article on ITPro, businesses are being negatively impacted by tool sprawl: they rely on vast security ecosystems that include, on average, 83 different security solutions from 29 vendors. Rather than seeing sturdier threat responses, organisations are being negatively impacted by fragmented networks, wider attack surfaces and slower detection timescales. An additional challenge to this issue is the increasing number of products claiming to be powered by AI, resulting in companies “throwing money at pilots and proofs of concept, but most can’t scale them as the underlying data is a mess.”
Businesses are finding it hard to manage an ever-expanding array of solutions and providers, while being pressured to invest in new technologies in a bid to increase productivity, save operating costs and stay ahead of competition. According to the EY Reimagining Industry Futures study 2025, nearly half (47%) of businesses are investing in generative AI (GenAI), 43% are investing in IoT, and 33% are investing in 5G.
But while businesses are driving investment in new technologies, they are struggling to convert trials into live deployments, resulting in missed opportunities to combine them for larger impact. An active part of the issue is organisations’ lack of awareness of the supplier landscape, leading to security flaws, costly ecosystems and lack of value. This represents an opportunity for suppliers who can help their customers overcome these challenges by emphasizing their ecosystem relationships and alliance strategies.
In the current context, regulatory bodies and compliance, as well as needs for faster maintenance and scalability have encouraged some companies to buy rather than build. This comes after survey results showing that 71% of in-house IT builds fail to deliver on time or on budget, and are eventually abandoned. The data shows that “while building in-house can feel like control, it often comes at the expense of time, security, and scalability.”
Businesses are thus looking for providers that can fill a precise gap in capacity, knowledge and robustness. As an IT vendor, the onus is to demonstrate the business value beyond the simple product offering, detailing partnership opportunities, measurable outcomes and ability to scale while offering robust security assurances. In many cases this will mean answering specific case requirements where businesses need reducing costs and system fractures as well as consolidating their ecosystem to only the most vital tools.
This represents an opportunity for suppliers who can help their customers overcome these challenges by emphasizing their ecosystem relationships and alliance strategies.
In this sense, for suppliers, the task is to align their core speciality to the problem at hand facing their prospective customers. To help matching these, we’ve put together a list of strategies:
- Define your ICP so you can align your product, messaging, and GTM to serve one segment
Understanding your ICP forces you to consider who is your best fit as a customer, what is their pain point, where your product can solve it, and where business value can be added. Get started with customers who have a clear problem and customize a solution for them before refining your go-to-market strategy
- Define what adds value to their lives right now that you can provide
This goes beyond simple product and service offering: content, frameworks, conversation, tools, etc. Identify those which serve as a logical value extension to your product and tailor them specifically to the needs of your partner
- Seek effective partnerships with complementary businesses and run cross-promotions
Boost your supplier stock by offering an extensive network of tools and partners that can easily integrate with third party solutions and be a cost and customer-friendly alternative to existing builds
- Take your proven solution on the road
Once you have a proven value proposition and a targeted list of prospects, now is the time to create awareness, capture demand and generate leads with high interest. Remember to tailor your messaging and offering based on specific verticals and sectors
