(NOTE: This story was originally posted to CRN.com Dec. 1.)

How much can a more diverse work force help solution providers?

Apparently a lot, according to a panel of executives at this week's Women of the Channel Leadership Summit in New York.

Members of the panel said that as customers change the way they consume technology, vendors and solution providers need to break the mold and embrace employees with a more diverse set of skills and backgrounds to help them keep pace.

Chris Wolff, senior vice president of the Cisco Alliance Group at Dimension Data, compared the shift that businesses have to go through to a solid transitioning to a liquid and then a gas. That can cause businesses like Dimension Data, as well as its vendor partners, a lot of "heartburn" to navigate that shift, Wolff said.

[Related: Power 100: The Most Powerful Women Of The Channel 2016 (Part 1)]

To accomplish that shift, Wolff said technology companies need to bring in a more diverse employee base, including women and people from all backgrounds, to soften egos, look at problems a different way and provide more diverse points of view.

"It seems to me the folks who are winning really get it and see that this digital world requires a different type of thinking. … We need more women and all kinds of faces in that room," Wolff said.

While there is a natural fear of change, Jessica Couto, vice president of U.S. channel sales and marketing at Carbonite, said the transition plan should include a mix of generations, including experienced employees, those just entering the workforce who grew up with technology, and those in between.

"I think it's been a learning curve for everyone. … I think it takes experience, it takes hiring people in different avenues, and being open to those ideas and not putting all the eggs in one basket," Couto said.

This shift provides a particular opportunity for solution providers, said Valerie Singer, vice president, cloud strategy and sales, North America alliances and channels, at Oracle. Legacy vendors are still navigating the transition to the cloud and, on the flip side, born-in-the-cloud vendors face their own issues around scalability and forward momentum, she said. Partners can help "fill the gaps" between those two extremes, Singer added.

"In the middle there is a tremendous opportunity for the partner community to help fill in the gaps and help orchestrate to make our customers feel safe and secure and that we're leading them in the right direction. It creates a lot of opportunity in the channel," Singer said.

Jennifer Hewlette, director of global partner marketing at Cisco, agreed, saying that the "digital transformation is completely disrupting our go-to-market models" and makes the need for partners greater than ever.