Steve White 
Program Vice President, Channels & Alliances | International Data Corporation (IDC)
Toronto, ON, CANADA
Steve White is Program Vice President for the Channels & Alliances team.
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Biography
Steve White is Program Vice President for the WW Channels and Alliances research team. He manages a group of channels and alliances analysts as well as their related research products, with extended teams in EMEA & APeJ.
The Channels and Alliances research team focuses on research around changing partner ecosystem dynamics, following the trends and best practices to allow benchmarking. As part of the channels subscription programs, the WW team also run 'Leadership Councils' where industry channels and alliances leaders & their peers attend twice a year to discuss the latest research, trends, and drive the future research agenda. These councils enable unique analyst hosted conversations around the burning partner ecosystem topics.
Prior to joining IDC, Steve spent over seven years at Microsoft both in the United Kingdom and Canada, and has over 20 years experience in senior marketing roles in enterprise, services and partner businesses with leading technology vendors such as Microsoft, Compaq and Digital Equipment Company in the UK.
Originally educated and trained as a management accountant in the UK, Steve progressed via business analyst roles into marketing early in his career, and enjoys working with clients on their partner ecosystem challenges with a focus on better outcomes for vendors and their partners. He is located in IDC's Toronto office.
Areas of Expertise (4)
Strategic Alliances
Channels and Alliances Trends
Cloud Solution Providers
Partner Marketing
Associated IDC Services (3)
- Strategic Alliances
- Software Channels and Ecosystems
- Infrastructure Channels and Ecosystems
Links (1)
Media Appearances (9)
IDC says 25% of channel partners will change focus, be acquired, or fizzle out in 2021
Channel Daily News
2021-02-18
A greater focus on partner training from both vendors and partners will help each side find more opportunities and make their channel more competitive. Steve White, program vice-president of channels and alliances at IDC, stressed the importance of culture change. “I think the culture of being a very training-oriented partner is actually very cool. We see a number of partners who do this, who really understand that their capabilities, and building them, drives their own credibility. This is a big area, and definitely something that’s not been in focus as much before,” he said.
New normal can be a time of opportunity: IDC
IT Business
2020-08-17
CMO Talks with IDC Program VP, Channels and Alliances Steve White With two years of digital transformation taking place in just a few months, IDC Program Vice President, Channels and Alliances Steve White says companies need to be cautious about the money they are spending.
Google Cloud partners could be in for a profitable five year outlook
ARN Channel News
2020-08-11
Partner revenue from Google Cloud opportunities is expected to more than triple over the next five years as the cloud market continues to evolve beyond lift-and-shift engagements to cloud-based solutions that address business outcomes. “The cloud market continues to evolve beyond lift-and-shift engagements to cloud-based solutions that address business outcomes,” stated the IDC paper, which was jointly penned by IDC software channels research director Paul Edwards and IDC channels and alliances program vice president Steve White.
Cisco Enhances Marketing Velocity Program To Follow B2B Buyers’ Digital Journey
Chanbel Marketer Report
2019-10-04
“This further evolution of Cisco Marketing Velocity displays how committed Cisco is to help their partners grow their digital marketing capability and, more importantly, outcomes,” said Steve White, Program Vice President, Channels and Alliances at IDC. “Marketing Velocity was already a leading light in the partner marketing space, but these changes really do show that Cisco is the benchmark for marketing with partners.”
MSP? VAR? Who cares! It’s about what you can do, not what label you fall under, says IDC analyst
Channel Daily News
2019-03-08
IDC’s Steve White recently got a friendly reminder about how far the channel partner community has come when he interviewed an executive and asked him to fill out a questionnaire. One section, about partner types, drew an interesting reaction. “I gave him a list of partner types. He looked at me and asked, ‘Did you write this question 10 years ago?’” the vice-president of channels and alliances told CDN. “Most partners we speak to now are doing multiple activities. And that’s we try and get at, rather than partner types we talk about partner activities.”
Artificial intelligence market: Weighing the IT channel's role
Tech Target
2017-08-16
Like mobile technology, cloud computing, big data and IoT before it, artificial intelligence may just be the next big thing that channel partners should have on their radars. But as with any new technology that comes along, partners need to ensure they have the right business skill sets for system implementations.
New Google Cloud CEO has to engage Canadian enterprise customers, partner says
Computer Dealer News
2018-11-22
Dianne Greene did a good job getting North American customers to take the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) more seriously, and as incoming CEO Thomas Kurian takes over, that work has to continue with Canadian enterprises, says Jeff Telford of Onix. Steve White, vice-president of worldwide channels and alliances research for IDC, says he thinks Google has been very engaged with Canadian partners this year, and are actively modernizing their partner programs. “We did a bit of work with the Google Partner team last year and they were looking to reinvent their whole partner program. They’re in the midst of that work right now,” White told CDN, explaining how Google is looking to roll its smaller channel programs into one to make it easier for partners to work with them. “They’re really investing.”
IBM’s acquisition of Red Hat gives it access to crown jewels: OpenShift and Ansible
Computer Dealer News
2018-11-20
Business opportunities today rarely involve IBM Corp. software, says Kyle Bassett, with only a few IBM-loyal customers using BlueMix (now part of IBM Cloud) requiring his company’s services. But after the largest software acquisition to date, Bassett, partner at Arctiq: Intelligent Solutions, expects that to change. BM is playing catch up with other cloud providers, says Steve White, vice-president of worldwide channels and alliances research for IDC. But it’s not too late for it to turn the ship around, and Red Hat might be the answer, he adds. “There are still a lot of customers that are on the outside looking in on cloud and open source,” says White, noting IBM and Red Hat’s 20-year relationship as partners has laid a strong foundation for whatever comes next. It also provides Red Hat partners with significant opportunities to scale their business.
IBM keeps pace with evolving IBM business partners
Tech Target
2018-02-01
IBM recently updated its ecosystem approach to attract a new generation of partners. Meanwhile, the company is seeking tighter alliances with its traditional partners.
Event Appearances (1)
Channels & Alliances Best Practices During COVID-19 & For The Next Normal
Preparing for the Next Normal: Practical Advice to Stay Top of Mind with Your Sales & Channel Teams in a Virtual World Webcast
2020-06-18
Reports (25)
Ecosystems as Integral Systems of Engagement in Digital Economies
IDCFrank Della Rosa, Rory Duncan, Deepak Mohan, Pam Miller, Larry Carvalho, Margaret Adam, Steve White, Ali Zaidi
2020-09-30
This IDC Market Presentation highlights ecosystems as the integral systems of engagement in digital economies. Market forces have permanently changed technology ecosystems, blurring relationships and the lines between buyer and supplier. Collaboration is needed to keep pace with demand for innovation in the face of new business models and emerging technology. Cloud continues to strengthen resiliency during periods of disruption and enabled adaptive and sophisticated cocreation ecosystems whose members are more interconnected and interdependent. Digital ecosystems differ from traditional business networks. These communities share five important attributes that can be monitored and measured. Important to the success of modern ecosystems is the keystone role who coordinates network behavior improving the collective and individual performance of its members.
Google Cloud Channel Strategy Update
IDCPam Miller, Paul Edwards, Steve White
2020-08-31
This IDC Market Note discusses the virtual Google Cloud Next analyst event held July 14 and 15, 2020, during the first week of the nine-week customer and partner Next event. Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet, Google Cloud's parent holding company, set the stage highlighting the company's mission, "Accelerate every organization's ability to digitally transform and reimagine their business through data-powered innovation." Kurian also emphasized the company's focus on open source and its 100% channel partner go-to-market strategy. "Google's commitment to have 100% partner attach shows great intent. Couple this with open source commitment, its drive toward industry solutions with partners, this shows why its partner growth is positive across the board." — Steve White, program VP, Channels and Alliances at IDC
Cisco Live Channel Strategy
IDCPam Miller, Paul Edwards, Christopher Webber, Steve White
2020-07-30
This IDC Market Note discusses the Virtual Cisco Live event held June 16–17, 2020, for partners and customers, which was held in conjunction with the Cisco Live US Partner Analyst Summit on June 18, 2020. Cisco is asking partners to transform by adding customer success programs, development capabilities, and line-of-business selling capabilities to their business model. The company has also asked partners to grow their share of recurring revenue. The company is offering numerous programs outlined in this document to help support partners' effort to achieve these goals. "As DX becomes the priority for companies worldwide and as technology decisions are increasingly influenced by business and sponsored by the C-suite, solutions need to provide demonstrable business value." — Steve White, program VP, Channels and Alliances at IDC
Defining Value in the Journey to Cloud: Distributor Panel on Marketplaces
IDCSteve White, Paul Edwards
2020-04-15
This IDC Market Perspective provides the voice of three of the top distributors (Arrow, Ingram Micro, and Tech Data) on their marketplaces and their importance in the channel's journey to the cloud, including how the distributors have established their marketplaces among their respective partner customers and the attributes and successes that define them. "Marketplaces are becoming an extremely important attribute in the go-to-market strategy of vendors and partners, and distributors are important players in this trend." — Paul Edwards, director, Software Channels and Ecosystems
2020 Channels and Alliances Predictions
IDCPam Miller, Margaret Adam, Paul Edwards, Stuart Wilson, Brendan Rouse, Christopher Webber, Steve White, Andreas Storz
2020-03-16
This IDC Market Perspective provides IDC's top predictions about the market and technology forces that will shape IT channels and alliances in 2019 and beyond. As organizations from all industries look to technology to secure their market positions, their need for technology experts skyrockets. For channel partners and vendors to take advantage of these opportunities, they must be technology experts but also have deep domain expertise in their customers' needs and be digital transformation experts. "The shift from a linear channel structure to a more interconnected and complex ecosystem will fundamentally disrupt the way the IT industry is structured." — Steve White, program vice president, Channels and Alliances at IDC
IDC Worldwide IT Channels and Alliances 2020 Predictions
IDCSteve White, Margaret Adam, Paul Edwards, Daniel Liu, Pam Miller, Brendan Rouse, Andreas Storz, Christopher Webber, Stuart Wilson
2020-02-14
This IDC Web Conference discusses the key trends IDC's Worldwide Channels and Alliances team is seeing in software and infrastructure channels as well as in strategic alliances. The team will also review its 2019 predictions (and outcomes) and present its predictions for 2020 and beyond.
IDC Strategic Alliances Leadership Council Highlights, December 2019
IDCChristopher Webber, Steve White
2020-01-15
This IDC Market Perspective highlights key insights shared at the December 12, 2019, Strategic Alliances and Ecosystems Leadership Council. The council continued to focus on critical topics that would assist senior alliance leaders in creating and enhancing ongoing value. "Strategic alliances and related ecosystems provide a company with additional alternatives and options to improve its ROI and better leverage its internal assets. Alliances can enhance the overall customer experience, gain or retain brand recognition, provide timely access to critical markets, and accelerate growth of new product or solution adoption." — Christopher Webber, research director, IDC Strategic Alliances
Cisco Partner Summit 2019: Aligning Partner Value with Customer Experience
IDCPaul Edwards, Pam Miller, Steve White, Stuart Wilson
2019-12-31
This IDC Market Note provides a perspective on Cisco's annual Partner Summit, which occurred in Las Vegas, November 4–6. The event was themed around "own your edge," a reference to Cisco partners pushing the boundaries of their businesses toward greater customer engagement through their own unique value. This year's Partner Summit was all about Cisco and its partners executing on the strategy laid out at last year's summit that hinged on the mantra "perform and transform," which was also front and center this year.
Oracle Channel Strategy Update: No More Tiers
IDCPam Miller, Paul Edwards, Steve White
2019-10-10
This IDC Market Note discusses the key announcements that impact partners from the Oracle analyst summit and Oracle Open World (OOW), both held in San Francisco from September 11 to September 13, 2019. Perhaps most notable was the official announcement by Jennifer Birk, Oracle's senior vice president of operations, of a new "modernized" Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN). OPN is being positioned by the vendor as an innovative approach for its move away from the traditional-tiered program structure to a flat single tier that differentiates partners based on proven expertise in key activities. "IDC believes that Oracle's move to reevaluate and reengineer the company's partner program is a big step to deeper engagement with its partner ecosystem and may help initiate a market share boost across its cloud portfolio." — says Pam Miller, director, Infrastructure Channels and Ecosystems
Oracle OpenWorld 2019: Opening the Ecosystem and Automating the Enterprise
IDCEric Newmark, Jordan Jewell, Dan Vesset, Melissa Webster, Steve White, Stewart Bond, Paul Edwards, Lynne Schneider, Shari Lava, Pam Miller, Gerry Murray, Carl W. Olofson, Ritu Jyoti, Alan Webber
2019-10-01
This IDC Perspective summarizes key takeaways from Oracle OpenWorld 2019 for technology buyers, including discussion around new product releases, future product road maps, and Oracle's overall strategy. "Oracle OpenWorld 2019 delivered several exciting announcements, including Oracle's newly redesigned user interface and user experience, called Redwood, a modernized, more customer-centric restructuring of Oracle's PartnerNetwork Program, expansion of its partnership with Microsoft, and a newly formed partnership with VMware to help mutual customers advance their hybrid cloud strategy and make their move to the cloud easier. Many of these initiatives create exciting new possibilities for Oracle customers," said Eric Newmark, program vice president, IDC's SaaS, Enterprise Applications, and Industry Cloud research practices.
IDC's Worldwide IT Channels and Alliances Taxonomy, 2019
IDCMargaret Adam, Paul Edwards, Pam Miller, Stuart Wilson, Brendan Rouse, Christopher Webber, Steve White, Andreas Storz
2019-09-24
This IDC study presents the current state of the IT partner ecosystem. IDC's IT channels and alliances taxonomy is a comprehensive framework describing the different relationships, business models, coverage plans, and go-to-market (GTM) partnering activities across the IT industry. IDC has identified a multidimensional approach to describe and segment the IT partner ecosystem and offers different approaches to partner segmentation. "With the dramatic shifts in the IT industry in recent years, the partner ecosystem has also experienced some significant change to meet the new digital customer needs. This taxonomy is our effort to clarify some of the changes, and help vendors and partners have better outcomes." — Steve White, VP, Channels and Alliances
HPE Moving to an "as a Service" Business Model
IDCPam Miller, Steve White
2019-08-15
This IDC Market Note discusses the Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) analyst event and the Global Partner Summit held during the Discover conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 17–20, 2019. In attendance were over 1,300 strategic partners representing 80 countries from HPE's 23,000+ partners globally. The indirect channel represents close to 70% of HPE's revenue. The company is offering numerous new and enhanced programs outlined in this document to help support partners' effort to achieve their goals. "IDC agrees with HPE's investment in partner enablement and the company's integration of enablement programs for its direct and channel sellers. Channel partners and direct sales teams must sell together to win in this demanding ever-changing marketplace." — Pam Miller, director, Infrastructure Channels and Ecosystems
Incenting Cisco Partner Transformation While Achieving Current Goals
IDCPam Miller, Steve White
2019-08-01
This IDC Market Note summarizes the key announcements made at the Cisco C-Scape analyst event held during Cisco Live! and Partner Xperience in San Diego, California, from June 11 to 13, 2019. Cisco's SVP, Global Partner Organization, Oliver Tuszik's new strategic initiative is to "perform and transform," perform on current goals while investing in transforming for the future. Cisco is asking partners to transform by adding customer success programs, development capabilities, and line-of-business selling capabilities to their business model. The company has also asked partners to grow their recurring revenue's share of revenue. The company is offering numerous programs outlined in this document to help support partners effort to achieve these goals. "As the market continues to evolve and customers' expectations of technology solutions continues to reflect their experiences in consumer technology, partners will have to transform to meet these demands." — Pam Miller, director, Infrastructure Channels and Ecosystems
Strategic Alliances and Ecosystem Leadership Council Highlights, June 2019
IDCChris Webber, Steve White
2019-06-28
This IDC Market Perspective highlights key insights shared at the June 4, 2019, Strategic Alliances and Ecosystems Leadership Council. The council continued to focus on critical topics that would assist the participants in creating and enhancing ongoing value. "The foundation of continued long-term success is based upon appropriate planning and effective execution. As a result, alliance and ecosystem organizations' roles are becoming very complex and diverse. Expertise is necessary to assist their companies to identify market shifts, recognize customer value points, provide strong and effective partnership opportunities, and support efforts to achieve corporate and operational goals. Therefore, leaders need to adapt and continuously demonstrate value to the company to gain and retain executive support." — Christopher Webber, research director, IDC Strategic Alliances
2019 Channels and Alliances Predictions
IDCMargaret Adam, Paul Edwards, Pam Miller, Hannah Stubbings, Brendan Rouse, Christopher Webber, Steve White
2019-03-29
This IDC Market Perspective provides IDC's top predictions about the market and technology forces that will shape IT channels and alliances in 2019 and beyond. "IDC has long said that partner 'types' are a thing of the past, as the dramatic speed of change and complexity in the technology market, combined with customer expectations changing dramatically, has meant that most partners have already extended their businesses to deliver multiple activities." — Steve White, program vice president, Channels and Alliances at IDC
Microsoft Inspire 2017: Partners at the Center of $4.5 Trillion Digital Transformation Opportunity
IDCPam Miller, Paul Edwards, Steve White, Hannah Breeze
Aug 2017 This IDC Market Note summarizes announcements made at the July 2017 Microsoft Inspire event. The event unveiled significant product and partner announcements that affect how Microsoft partners will do business in the future. "IDC believes that Microsoft's six-industry focus will help the company better lead partners to digital transformation opportunities and greater customer success." — Steve White, vice president, Channels and Alliances
Dell EMC Channel Strategy Update
IDCPam Miller, Steve White
Jun 2017 This IDC Market Note presents detail from the Dell EMC World 2017 and Global Partner Summit events held in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 8–11, 2017. The event unveiled the company's vision for the Global Channels Organization, and the company made announcements concerning new partner program elements and pricing programs.
IBM PartnerWorld: Next Is Now
IDCPam Miller, Paul Edwards, Steve White, Christopher Webber, Raymond Boggs
May 2017 This IDC Market Perspective discusses announcements made at the 2017 IBM PartnerWorld conference. At the event, IBM introduced partner program changes, new initiatives, channel programs, and channel tools and provided insight on the company's strategic direction and positioning.
Partner of the Future: 10 Transformations IT Solution Providers Must Make in the Asia/Pacific Region
IDCChris Morris, Steve White
Apr 2017 This IDC study lays out a framework of 10 transformations that IT solution providers (i.e., VARs, MSPs, SIs, and ISVs) in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APEJ) have to address in the years ahead to be successful.
2017 Channels and Alliances Predictions
IDCMargaret Adam, Yash Ahuja, Paul Edwards, Pam Miller, Brendan Rouse, Christopher Webber, Steve White
Apr 2017 This IDC Market Perspective provides IDC's channel and alliance's' top predictions for the market and technology forces that will shape IT channels and alliances in 2017 and beyond. The influence of the 3rd Platform and innovation accelerators continues to be the main source of flux in the channel and alliances ecosystem. "As recurring revenue becomes a more significant portion of vendor revenue, vendors will build customer success metrics into partner measurement and look to focus and map partner support across the customer life cycle." — Steve White, program vice president, Channels and Alliances at IDC
How the Partner Ecosystem Is Evolving in the Digital Economy
IDCSteve White
Feb 2017 These event proceedings were presented at the IDC Directions conference in Boston in March 2017.
IDC Strategic Alliances Leadership Council, December 2016: Offers Key Insights, Trends, and Member Collaboration
IDCChristopher Webber, Steve White
Feb 2017 This IDC Market Perspective highlights key insights voiced at the December 2016 Strategic Alliances Leadership Council. The council provided key discussion on many challenges currently facing organizations and areas of opportunity.
IDC Strategic Alliances Leadership Council, December 2016: Offers Key Insights, Trends, and Member Collaboration
IDCChristopher Webber, Steve White
Feb 2017 This IDC Market Perspective highlights key insights voiced at the December 2016 Strategic Alliances Leadership Council. The council provided key discussion on many challenges currently facing organizations and areas of opportunity.
IDC's Worldwide IT Channels and Alliances 2017 Predictions
IDCMargaret Adam, Paul Edwards, Pam Miller, Christopher Webber, Steve White
Feb 2017 This IDC Web Conference discusses the key trends IDC's Worldwide Channels and Alliances team has been seeing in software and hardware channels as well as in strategic alliances. Hear a brief review of 2016 predictions and outcomes and then its predictions for 2017 and beyond.
AWS re:Invent: Partner Ecosystem Growth and Innovation
IDCPaul Edwards, Pam Miller, Steve White
Jan 2017 This IDC Insight provides IDC's perspective on the channel and alliance announcements from the fifth AWS re:Invent held in Las Vegas on November 29–30, 2016. The conference attracted 32,000 attendees, including end customers, developers, and partners.
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