Partners should take advantage of ecosystems vendors have built. The shift to cloud solution selling enable partners to develop value-add services around solutions and ecosystems. Executives from Riverbed, HPE, Liferay share their perspectives.
Ghassan Abou Rjeily, Regional Channel Sales Manager Emerging EMEA, Riverbed
With the appetite for cloud adoption having scaled exponentially in recent years, hyperscalers such as Microsoft, AWS and Google have grown by leaps and bounds. Today, their marketplaces have become the preferred procurement model for many customers. Channel partners that discount the significance of this trend will find themselves at a disadvantage and lose business to more advanced partners.
Instead of being intimidated by the shift, partners that are pioneering the very nature and role of the channel are beginning to build their own service offerings on these cloud marketplaces. They are combining cloud solutions from multiple vendors and packaging their value-add services around these to create compelling offerings that can be easily consumed by end customers.
Of course, for those channel players that are yet to embrace this shift – a key consideration pertains to which marketplace to build such a listing on. Here, my advice would be to consider where your customers are. After all, if your biggest customers already have commitment with a particular hyperscaler, it makes it simpler for all parties to transact business on the same platform.
While adapting to this model, partners should also aim to take advantage of the ecosystems that vendors have built. To deliver on the comprehensive solutions that enterprises now require, vendors have begun to collaborate more closely, developing deep, native integrations between best-of-breed cloud solutions, and creating compelling solution ecosystems.
This presents a significant opportunity for the channel. The shift to cloud solution selling and leveraging ecosystems enable partners to hit the ground running, as they can shift focus from managing the complexities of integration to instead developing value-add services around these solutions and ecosystems.
Moreover, partners who have invested to develop their skill sets around a particular vendor’s solutions will be presented with opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell other solutions within the ecosystem which can greatly increase the deal-size, and the value they deliver to customers.
Yacob Ahli, Commercial Leader UAE, HPE
HPE recognises the potential online marketplaces offer for channel partners to expand their reach, tap into new customer segments, and accelerate growth. These digital platforms provide a convenient and efficient way for partners to showcase their offerings, connect with customers, and drive sales. The opportunities presented by online marketplaces can be summarised.
There is enhanced market presence. By participating in online marketplaces, channel partners gain increased visibility within a broader customer base. This exposure helps them establish their brand, build credibility, and reach customers who may not have been aware of their offerings otherwise.
They provide access to new customer segments. Online marketplaces attract a diverse range of customers seeking various solutions. Channel partners can leverage these platforms to target specific customer segments, expand their customer base, and diversify revenue streams.
It is a simplified go-to-market. Online marketplaces provide streamlined processes for listing, marketing, and selling products and services. Channel partners can leverage existing infrastructure and marketing capabilities of the marketplace, reducing their time to market and minimising operational complexities.
However, while online marketplaces offer numerous opportunities, channel partners must also navigate several challenges to ensure the successful scaling of their business.
There is increased competition. With the ease of entry, online marketplaces attract a multitude of sellers, intensifying competition. Channel partners need to differentiate their offerings, deliver exceptional customer experiences, and continuously innovate to stand out from the competition.
There is pressure on margins. Online marketplaces often have stringent pricing policies and commission structures, which can impact channel partners’ profit margins. Partners must carefully manage pricing strategies and negotiate favourable terms to maintain profitability.
There is opportunity for channel conflict. Participating in online marketplaces may lead to potential conflicts with existing channel partners or direct sales teams. Balancing the distribution of sales leads and maintaining strong relationships within the channel ecosystem is crucial to avoid conflicts and fostering collaboration.
Ownership of customers and data. Online marketplaces typically control customer interactions and data. Channel partners should carefully consider the implications of reduced access to customer information and work closely with the marketplace to maintain customer relationships and gather valuable insights.
To help channel partners address these challenges and maximise opportunities, HPE is committed to providing comprehensive support. The vendor offers tailored programmes, enablement resources, and training to empower partners with the necessary skills and knowledge to navigate the online marketplace landscape successfully.
Through collaborative engagement and ongoing dialogue, HPE strives to help our partners drive growth, differentiate their offerings, and deliver exceptional customer value.
Brendan Binedell, Alliance Manager, Liferay
The marketplace is a key part of Liferay’s overall vision to deliver the best cloud platform for tailored solutions. According to Bryan Cheung, CEO of Liferay, the goal is to meet highly specialised B2B, B2C, and B2E use cases for businesses who need tailored digital solutions but do not want to build from scratch, saving resources to focus on generating value for their customers, partners, and suppliers.
Liferay partners are highly experienced in using the Liferay platform in a vast range of use cases. Marketplace empowers customers to leverage high-quality solutions that are already tested and utilised in the market.
Partners undoubtedly need to be well equipped with the online marketplace solutions to be able to unlock and maximise the power of the business model and provide optimum value to the customer. They need to have complete knowhow and understanding of the solutions and how to bring value to the main offering through marketplace solutions.
The marketplace encourages the partner to be creative and to become specialised in select fields they are working on to have a unique selling proposition.
Marketplaces offer partners the opportunity to scale in new markets, geographies, and customer segmentation. The often more standardised product offering can reduce their sales cycle and remove overheads from their sales motion.
Marketplaces also complement core products or solutions. Either the company itself, or the wider community, can create complimentary add-ons, new services, additional functionalities, and advanced integrations to name a few which all strengthen the core solution.
As such, the marketplace serves as a way to ensure many additional requirements and use cases can be catered for without having to invest in large capital investments.
Moreover, there are many marketplaces on many technology platforms, which certainly helps diversify the route to market and reach all corners of the addressable market.
The downfall is that organisations need to be structured in such a way that they can absorb an increase in sales coming from the marketplace. This holds true both from an administrative perspective as well as a product development perspective.
Companies need to ensure that it is easy for customers to buy the products in the marketplace, that the company can easily and quickly provision and administer the sales, that the product infrastructure is scalable, and all necessary metrics and KPI’s can be generated. Failing this it can quickly become a burden.
Companies do need to consider that marketing activities will be different and can be a challenge as they need to ensure that their products and solutions content is constantly updated, fresh, and eye-catching. Promotion within marketplaces often is neglected resulting in the true value not being achieved.
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