On-Demand Webinar:
Does the XaaS business need distributors in 2021?

I. Subscription/Consumption business models came to stay, but why the channel is not prepared?
Last year, almost simultaneously the largest vendors in the industry announced new GTM strategies and the introduction of as-a-service models. Caused by the new way B2B buyers purchase, the changes will certainly affect how these vendors look at their traditional partner relationships: MSPs will become more relevant than ever before while the good-old VAR channel will have to justify its existence. Distributors must take actions to orchestrate the shift or they will be left out.

II. The future is in not SKUs but white-labelled solution bundles that sellers can easily bring to market and customers appreciate
Transactional business is not dead nor is the product business with all the SKUs, 3PL logistics, and credit facilities. Their market shares are, however, not expanding and even mostly shrinking. In the digital world, subscription and consumption models enabled thought marketplaces are the new fast-growing commodity. In such channel landscape, the distributor’s role is of the active aggregator that creates and orchestrates ecosystems of partners that altogether generate customer value.

III. Super Marketplaces, one of the biggest threats for distribution, are still widely underestimated
Marketplaces like AWS’s or Microsoft’s claim to reduce the cost and complexity of working with the traditional channel by paining the former resellers as affiliates or advocates and allowing vendors (including MSPs) to easily onboard their offerings. Customers use marketplaces to research and compare solutions but they also see them as alternatives to the traditional channel sales where they can enjoy a less complex buying process and receive better prices. Distributors need to build 'sticky' offers.