Did We Have It All Wrong? The MSP Community Is Delving Into the Telecom Channel, but Not in the Manner Many of Us Anticipated.
When ScanSource acquired Intelisys in 2016, the entire channel community thought this marked the moment when VARs and MSPs across the globe would enter the channel to start selling SaaS and telecom services. Here we are, nearly eight years later, and it has yet to happen with the significance many of us thought it would. A few in the MSP community have recognized the revenue streams and the potential for increased evaluation from it, but the vast majority have yet to add those services to their lineup. However, we have observed several finding successes as suppliers in the channel and a multitude submitting applications to the TSDs.
There are two similar channels lying adjacent to each other. If you've ever watched Stranger Things, people often say that the MSP community is the "Upside Down" of the channel. It looks and feels almost the same, with a few slight variations. First, they want to put the services on their paper for billing purposes. Second, they aim to be the go-to support model and increase customer loyalty. If you look close enough, salespeople who left large supplier organizations to start their companies, pursuing the entrepreneurial dream, built out telecom partnerships, also known as Technology Advisors. Some lack the know-how in terms of how to provide the necessary support. Some didn't possess the engineering skills to delve into the details and assist when issues arose. What they did know was how to identify a customer with a problem in their company and learn to source technologies to help the customer overcome that problem by bringing in the right technology solutions. The MSP side of the Upside Down was built by individuals who also left corporate America to chase the entrepreneurial dream and knew how to roll up their sleeves and solve problems. They built organizations that would come into a company and fix the issues, now known as MSPs or Integrators.
So, is it any surprise to us now, looking at the grand scope of the ecosystem, that these two organizations work better together rather than competing? Companies like RapidScale, Flexential, TierPoint, or Rackspace Technology have figured out how to leverage this ecosystem to their advantage. Not by adding services to their lineup and starting to sell UC, CC, mobility, and internet as part of their packages. They leveraged the channel community to gain access to customers and opportunities with people who already had relationships with these companies.
There's a reason why AWS, Azure, and Google Clouds of the world aren't trying to sign direct agreements with the channel. These service providers need a middle company that can do the hands-on work. They don't provide that offering within their service stack and rely on MSPs to do that work. These organizations have built out ecosystems and marketplaces.
If you ask ChatGPT about the goals of AWS Marketplace, you get this answer:
AWS Marketplace, a dynamic platform curated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), aims to simplify software procurement, accelerate innovation, enhance flexibility, and ensure security and compliance for businesses navigating the cloud computing landscape. With over 8,000 listings from more than 1,600 software vendors, AWS Marketplace offers unparalleled choice and flexibility, enabling customers to discover, compare, and purchase software solutions tailored to their unique needs. Through features such as simplified procurement processes, flexible pricing models, and robust security measures, AWS Marketplace empowers organizations to streamline operations, optimize costs, and drive digital transformation initiatives with confidence. By providing a centralized hub for discovering, procuring, and deploying software in the cloud, AWS Marketplace catalyzes business success and propels organizations towards their goals in the digital era.
Seems like you could easily substitute "AWS Marketplace" with "The Channel."
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