Read the Full Arcticle: Forester Cloud Channel Trends 2013-14
…A lot of traditional reseller channel partner companies are now utilizing cloud computing advances to add to or remake their businesses — as hosters, integrators, syndicators, and service providers. Gone are the days when tech vendors can view the channel with a siloed eye. “Hybrid” is the new norm, as it applies to channel partners’ business models — and tech vendors and channel partners are going through a lot of relationship re-engineering, both with each other and with their mutual customers….
For VARs transmogrifying to cloud solutions providers. They are on a path to success, because they can give customers what they want: options regarding technology solution deployment/consumption models. The keys for them will be to: a) bolster their technical skills with financial modeling skills, and b) get savvy on hybrid cloud integration.
For VARs refusing to embrace cloud — R.I.P. (rest in peace). Without some stake in cloud solutions, their businesses are going to decline and lose value. Hardware resellers are particularly vulnerable.
For SIs. They will prosper by filling the void left by VARs that are not making net new investments in cloud-oriented professional services.
For MSPs/CSPs. Many are proving, from the other end of the spectrum (services versus resell), that hybrid is the new norm, by adding traditional resell to their business models. They will also be aggressive on the investment front in adding new services to their portfolios, as the number of MSPs/CSPs continues to increase.
For distributors. Some are searching for the right formula that will make them as successful as service provider enablers as they have been reseller enablers. But they face a new slew of competitors in the form of the telcos and service-provider technology platform enablers (Level Platforms, Kaseya, Parallels IP Holdings, SaaSMAX, Verecloud, etc.).
For SaaS vendors. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors in particular need to realize that there now exists a willing and increasingly capable channel for cloud solutions and that many customers are going to prefer to continue to source from their trusted advisors (i.e., channel partners). For those that haven’t done, the time is right for an amalgamated direct/channel go-to-market model.
The Future is...Cloudy 