Cloud, Marketplaces and IoT

On the global stage the political and economic maps have shifted, stories of human struggle and strife have been all over the press, and the world continues to change. But what about the IT world and the channels in the IT world?

Thinking back over the course of previous years, many of the conversations I have had with clients have been about the ‘disruptive’ power of cloud, and about the implied new routes to market this presents. Vendors I talk to are certainly aware – or becoming more aware – of this change and the disruption it brings to channel models.

Here’s an example. Customers from Enterprise to SMB are wanting to pull together hybrid solutions to deliver the promise of cloud and take advantage of new technologies. There is a growth in the capabilities and complexity of these hybrid solutions. Just to focus on one part for example, there is a rise in software configured networks and data centres to provision hybrid solutions. MSPs are becoming more predominant in this space yet this model is being disrupted further by the likes of AWS. Which means CSPs are becoming more relevant as they offer service, advice and integration. Vendors are showing interest in these CSPs.

What do these CSPs look like? They all are - or aspire to be - trusted advisors, and sometimes suppliers, in this hybrid world to their customers. Some are ‘rebranded’ firms that we have known and loved for many years, and they have reengineered a part of their business to be in this CSP model. Some are cloud centric SIs, perhaps ‘born in the cloud’ and they have particular interesting characteristics:

• They are hungry to learn, develop, evolve, and are ready to get their hands dirty doing this.

• They thrive on innovation and adsorbing new capabilities … with the challenge they have to bet the right ones.

• They are after and are driving high growth … perhaps from a small base: Some will manage this well and come through.

• Because they are new and dynamic they are more agile than legacy companies and can adapt to take on new skills readily.

I’ve had this conversation now with many clients. They all see similar characteristics in these partner bases. The key question at the end of this year is this: is this a new wave of SI or VAR? We tend to think it is. And will they thrive and grow to significant numbers in 2017? We think so, but there are also other disrupting and challenging things happening that we will see more of in 2017. Largely due to the increased growth and predominance of ‘marketplaces’ … whether you consider a distributor marketplace (for example Arrow ArrowSphere or TechData StreamOne) or AWS as a marketplace or distributor in its own right.

Consider that earlier example of building a hybrid service now with a software configured network. Historically, and today, this might mean hardware switches from for example Cisco (or another suppliers), but there are increasingly options on software defined switches (F5, Cisco again, other suppliers), data services from AWS (or Azure or …), applications from Microsoft and Salesforce, Oracle and …. You get the picture. This environment is the primary reason for marketplaces. Vendors appear to be understanding this more and taking more advantage of marketplaces.

Who is making the decision here – the customer, the partner - and who is influencing decision – the partner, the marketplace provider? Difficult to call, but influence has been applied. Which increasingly brings into question as we get into 2017, what is the role of MDF, deal-registration or partner programs in this new world? Many vendors have – or will in 2017 – need to address this more comprehensively.

Here’s the last thought. We’ve heard a lot about IOT in past years. Moving forward are we going to see more of IOT and as a disruptive force on the IT channels we know it today? IOT has predominantly been in industry-vertical industry-specialised spaces so far. It is beginning to break out more into the traditional IT space – as clients need and vendors offer management and integration layers and platforms for IOT above the specialist networks and technologies. IOT technology plays directly to the ‘marketplace’ model. Will there need to be IOT-specific marketplaces or integrated marketplaces? We shall see. We’re not there yet, but this too will be a change-maker in the years to come.

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