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Forrester Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study assesses the partner opportunity for Red Hat Ansible
The adoption of automation technologies has grown rapidly. Red Hat® Ansible® Automation Platform is the foundation for building and operating automation across an organization and includes the tools needed to implement enterprise-wide automation. A Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study commissioned by Red Hat, The Partner Opportunity For Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform¹, reports that Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform created a potential revenue opportunity for partners up to 4.6 times the subscription revenues through architecture and implementation and ongoing use case deployment services, and ongoing managed services, which in turn helped increase the strategic value Red Hat partners provided to their customers.
This recent Forrester Consulting study reveals how Red Hat partners benefited from the Ansible Automation Platform, including potential opportunities for increased revenue, increased number of deals, creating longer engagements, and providing more strategic value to customers.
As part of the study, Forrester interviewed 14 decision makers from 10 different Red Hat partners about the business and financial value they have achieved with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
Financial results for Red Hat partners
There were five main revenue opportunities identified by the Red Hat partners who were interviewed.
- Forrester reports Red Hat partners’ average revenue opportunity is 10% gross margin on selling Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform subscriptions.
- Red Hat partners interviewed by Forrester reported an average of 40% gross margin from professional services opportunities deploying and implementing Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, as well as training customers to automate with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
- Red Hat partners interviewed by Forrester reported an average of 40% gross margin from follow-on professional services such as continued Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform work, related Red Hat work, further automation and digital transformation work, related consulting services, and more, beyond the initial deployment, implementation, and training.
- Red Hat partners who are selling managed services reported the managed services value was typically 50% of the total Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform subscription revenue.
- Red Hat partners interviewed by Forrester reported the total number of new deals is growing an average of 40% per year when Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform is included.
“The Ansible use case is a land play. It’s simple to get started. It’s a great door opener. There is other, more lucrative work to do once we get in the door.”
General manager, DevSecOps, ISV
Business benefits for Red Hat partners
In addition to the financial benefits, Red Hat partners who were interviewed reported experiencing other key benefits.
- Improved customer satisfaction and retention - Red Hat partners who were interviewed reported using Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform in their practices helped them better serve their customers, leading to increased satisfaction rates and higher retention rates.
- Expanded and enhanced managed services - Red Hat partners who were interviewed noted opportunities to expand and enhance their managed services offering with Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform.
- Increased employee satisfaction - Red Hat partners with a Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform practice enjoy working with Red Hat Ansible Platform and building their skillsets.
“We’ve had accounts do some hyper automation based on the framework. We have seen customer satisfaction improvements. We’re delivering a lot faster at a higher quality, delivering good value, and freeing up people to work on more customer-specific projects.”
Director of automation, RGSI/MSP
To learn more about the revenue opportunity you can gain by offering a Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform practice, download the full study.
Source: Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ Study commissioned by Red Hat, The Partner Opportunity for Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform, November 2022.
