
The $100B Evolution
Welcome to the Trusted Technology Advisor (TA) Channel in 2025 – a market segment that has experienced remarkable growth over the past 15 years, with an average compounded annual growth rate of 28% and projections to reach $100B in just 5-8 years. Do I have your attention?
Building on my recent Opex Private Equity Practice blog, where I formally introduced our practice, today’s blog will explore three key aspects of this thriving industry segment:
What is a Trusted Technology Advisor Business and Why Opex Technologies?
Key Drivers of TA Market Growth
Impacts on the Buying Process
My goal in these blog posts is to quickly and simply build awareness and share interesting and exciting anecdotes, be it about the market, Opex Technologies, a specific provider, technology or event. A keep-it-simple-stupid read over your morning coffee.
So, what is a Trusted Technology Advisor Business & Why Opex?
A Trusted Advisor is a strategic partner that helps businesses navigate the complex and rapidly evolving technology landscape in the As-A-Service marketplace.
Unlike VARs, audit firms, or integration businesses, TAs play a crucial role in assisting organizations to make informed decisions about their technology investments and digital transformation initiatives. Why Opex Technologies? Opex Technologies stands out as a top 1% firm in the TA channel for several reasons:
21 years of relentless execution
Exceptional culture focused on building trust and relationships
25+ experienced professionals across 11 advanced technology categories
In-house advisors, engineers, project management, and client success teams
Deep experience with middle-market to Fortune 100 enterprises
Dedicated Private Equity Practice
What have Been the Key Drivers of This Market Growth?
The unprecedented growth in the technology advisory market is driven by three main factors:
Technology Shift:
The industry is rapidly moving towards an "As-A-Service" model, diminishing the value of traditional channel services and creating new opportunities for Trusted Advisors to deliver meaningful and quantifiable value, be it technically, operationally or financially, to customers.
Increased Buyer Confidence:
Customers are showing growing trust in working with the TA community with some research indicating over 90% of mid-market and enterprise respondents expressing interest in partnering with new technology advisors.
Vendor/Provider Behavior:
Both new emerging and established companies are undeniably expanding their indirect channel presence, recognizing it as the fastest and most efficient way to go to market and scale operations providing a significantly better buying experience over a direct rep model where you are seeing growing issues such as underwhelming solutions knowledge, consistent churn, and a lack of incentives and motivation to keep a customer happy long term.
And This Has Changed the Buying Process How?
The evolving technology landscape has significantly impacted the buying process:
Budgets are shifting, and decision-making is no longer centralized, involving multiple stakeholders across departments.
The "dark funnel" phenomenon shows buyers are more well-informed before engaging with sellers resulting in information symmetry often causing more confusion and decision paralysis.
The traditional "responsive" sales approaches are becoming ineffective, necessitating a new "prescriptive" approach - hence the ever-increasing value of the role of the Trusted Advisor.
Trusted Advisors like Opex Technologies provide clear, data-driven recommendations, explain why options are the best fit, and deeply examine scenarios to empower clients and drive team success.
I will conclude with this comment by my college buddy, Drew Lydecker, Co-Founder of Avant Communications, that I believe rings so true. “Data is the new Oil, and Speed is the new Currency.” At Opex, we ensure our clients remain at the forefront of these continued groundbreaking technological As-A-Service advancements. You may not be a technology company, but you need to be thinking like one because your competition is. Direct selling is dead! If you are someone who currently leverages a TA, Good-on-ya! Happy Day! If you’re not familiar with the Trusted Advisor model, you need to be! Whether you are in the early planning stages of a project or already mid-transformation, and you have an interest in the TA model, let the Opex team prove our value to you and in the words of Winston Rodney, get you to a Happy Day! (And for those not familiar with Winston, Burning Spear, and their 1988 track, Happy Day, I strongly suggest you fire it up on Spotify, turn up the volume, and enjoy! You’re Welcome 😊)