Techaisle Blog

Top 10 SMB Channel Partner Business Issues

Figure below from Techaisle’s SMB Channel Partner Trends coverage lists top 10 business issues being addressed by SMB channel partners in the next one year - a question that parallels the one that Techaisle uses to develop perspective on SMB buy-side business issues.

There are many ways that SMB channel partners can attack these business issues; in some areas, cloud is part of the problem, while in others, it helps form some of the solution. For example, cloud creates a requirement for new products and processes, which opens opportunity for firms that are effective in rolling out new offerings, but cloud itself is a major source of channel business uncertainty.

Improving productivity as well as improving quality of products and services are the top 2 business issues - they are ranked way higher than business growth and customer acquisition. It makes for a compelling attention that channel partners have realized the shift in technology and its acquisition and SMB channels are struggling to address these issues. Improved productivity is also often seen within the channel as a core attribution of managed services delivery – but growth in managed services portfolios will very likely encompass cloud-based systems. Cloud allows for new offerings to be brought to market quickly. And given the growth of cloud within the SMB market it could be fairly stated that cloud is central to both increasing business growth and keeping pace with competition. The impact of cloud on business activities expands beyond the SMB buy-side community into the channel itself. Cloud’s virtues are therefore apparent in several of the business issues that are of most concern to SMB channel businesses.

It is interesting to point out that "improving sales and marketing" is also among the business issues being addressed by SMB channel partners, but it not within the top 10 business issues.

Top 10 Current & Planned IT Offerings

Figure below lists the top 10 current and planned technology offerings, which can be treated as the starting point and the “next steps” in SMB channel migration. The findings illustrate the breadth of business opportunities available to the SMB channel – and also, the essential pervasiveness of the cloud as well as managed services.

Cloud is at the core of many of the IT solution offerings enumerated in both the “current” and “planned” lists, for example, managed services and of mobility management. It is intrinsic to social media, VDI, desktop as a service and IoT. It is the best, most cost-effective and most scalable approach to supporting collaboration and BI/Big Data. And cloud enablement and management is the key objective of deployments of server virtualization and converged infrastructure, and the key requirement for on premise/off-premise data integration.

Today, many of these IT solution offerings and their associated channel capabilities are largely commingled but within the next three years the depth requirements associated with these will force them to concentrate on some areas and de-emphasize others. Techaisle believes that channel organizations serving the SMB market will become increasingly defined by pursuit of one or two of four primary product/delivery areas.

There will also come points in the SMB Channel Partner migration where the connection between the starting point (for example, mobility) and the next application (for example, Big Data) will become tenuous. These cases will call for partner-to-partner collaboration structured around meeting evolving SMB customer needs. There is already evidence that firms adept in partner-to-partner collaboration are better positioned to build successful businesses in areas such as cloud than those that cling to a "go it alone" approach in all situations (Source: Techaisle’s Winning Strategies of Successful SMB Cloud Channel Partners). Partners and vendors who are effective in inculcating these relationships within their ecosystems will both achieve above-market growth rates. In the meanwhile IT vendors and distributors should really pay attention to the top business issues being faced by SMB channel partners. 

The SMB IT channel has hit a point of fragmentation. Today, channel can be all things to all people but not in 2018 unless channel finds a way to generate more than 150% of revenue. Faced with an expanded SMB buyer community and requirements for specialized skills to support different solutions, the SMB channel is beginning to segment by focus area. Although the different specialties are starting from a common point today, Techaisle expects to see each develop unique characteristics over the next several years.

Highlights of Techaisle’s report on State of SMB Managed Services Channel include:

The business of the SMB channel: migrating to specializations

• Overall, currently, the SMB channel has a reasonable balance between product and services revenue and engagements.
• There is no ‘silver bullet’ leading to financial health in the SMB channel. Execution, not time allocation, is the key to sales success.
• Sales cycles vary with several factors, including solution expertise. SMB-focused MSPs have relatively long sales cycles overall, but channel partners that are “very comfortable” with managed services have superior time-to-revenue results.
• Four key specializations are emerging in the SMB channel and this fragmentation will accelerate in the 2015-2018 timeframe.

Managed services in the channel: pervasive as a delivery vehicle, becoming more of a specialty

• MSPs are hardly the only source of managed services: more than 60% of VARs, SPs and SIs sell managed services today, and there has been an increase in managed services activity in all of these channels.
• The variety and depth of managed services will make it difficult for non-specialists to keep pace with MSP specialists.
• SMB preference for a single source of managed services will have an impact on managed services market and channel development.
• SMBs have a definitive view of pricing and per user/ per device is not the way forward 

The role of the vendor in the managed services channel

• Vendors must navigate a mix of generic channel requirements and requirements that are specific to managed services partners.
• Generic requirements for end-to-end solutions are less important in managed services (where best-of-breed is paramount) than in other areas.
• Vendors must understand and address the challenges faced by partners migrating to managed services specializations; this course will be complex and expensive.
• Vendors will benefit from aligning with managed services partners’ value propositions, which are in turn well aligned with business outcomes (and business buyers).

Working with the SMB managed services customer: managed services addresses key buy-side imperatives

• SMBs are more dependent on technology than ever before.
• Since 2010, IT staffing has dropped in microbusinesses, and increased in small and midmarket firms. Accordingly, managed services acts as a substitute for IT staff in firms with 1-19 employees, and as a means of augmenting IT management in larger SMBs.
• SMBs are struggling with IT complexity, and turning to managed services providers for support.

The survey data shows that channel partners struggle to transition from delivering some managed services to building viable businesses on a managed services model. To be successful, vendors will need to set objectives spanning a three-year period over which managed services specialization will emerge.

Many IT vendors will struggle with simply understanding this fundamental change in the market, and more will fail to understand the focus and investment required to grow with partners through this transitional period.

What are the obstacles to channel members achieving scale for their cloud businesses? Techaisle’s SMB Channel Partner Trends research and accompanying research The State of the US SMB Cloud Channel shows that increasingly, Walt Kelly’s famous line (from the Pogo comic strip) “we have met the enemy, and he is us” describes the most pernicious challenges associated with development of a cloud business.

Techaisle’s research explored data on 10 cloud sales challenges faced by SMB channel partners in selling cloud to SMBs. Four of the top five – “lack of in-house expertise”, “do not have financial resources,” “lack of knowledge about cloud computing” and “do not know how to implement [cloud solutions]” refer to internal issues, and two others, “do not understand the [cloud] business model” and “offering cloud-based services will necessitate elimination of jobs at our company,” also reference internal issues or concerns.

Interestingly, external barriers to developing SMB cloud business practices seem to be diminishing in importance.

The US SMB IT channel partner has reached an inflection point. Faced with an expanded SMB buyer community and requirements for specialized skills to support different solutions, the SMB channel partner is beginning to segment by focus area. Although different specialties are starting from a common point today, Techaisle expects to see each develop unique characteristics over the next several years.

Highlights from Techaisle’s The State of US SMB Cloud Channel report include:

The business of the SMB channel: migrating to specializations including (and/or based on) cloud

• There is a reasonable balance between product and services revenue and engagements
• Execution, not time allocation, is key to sales success
• While different channel delivery models (MSP, VAR, SP, IT consultant, SI) have different characteristics, they share an emphasis on small businesses as a key buyer segment
• Sales cycles vary with several factors, including solution expertise
• Cloud builder, cloud reseller and cloud provider approaches to building cloud practices within channel businesses all address common customer needs, but have unique challenges
• Channel conflict in the cloud is currently at a dangerously high level
• Lead generation relies on multiple sources, including referrals from customers, vendors, distributors and other channel members

Vendor positioning: breadth of channel requirements will strain available program resources

• Channels are likely to position themselves as best-of-breed suppliers, but both best-of-breed and single-vendor approaches carry risk
• Channels look primarily for vendor business stability and end-to-end solutions, but there are no suppliers perfectly equipped to meet these needs
• At a high level, channel members are looking for product training, pre- and post-sales technical support and effective incentive programs
• Cloud channel requirements are much more diffused. Various forms of technical support are essential, as are selected forms of enablement, economic and offering/portfolio support
• Vendor websites are the primary means of conveying marketing messages to the channel, but again, portfolio requirements are extensive and complex

Working with the SMB Cloud customer: the SMB channel struggles to keep pace with evolving SMB market demand

• Over 60% of channel members offer cloud solutions to SMBs today, and that proportion is likely to rise to nearly 80%; 62% of those who are offering cloud solutions expect increased revenue from these offerings in 2015
• Across the major cloud delivery models, channel support is strongest for SaaS, but it is also substantial for IaaS, PaaS and communications as a service (CaaS)
• The channel is actively supporting cloud storage and other capabilities (such as security and content delivery) that take advantage of inherent advantages of cloud. In many cases, support for common business application workloads also tops 50%
• The channel is progressing in its efforts to establish “truly consultative” relationships with SMB customers, and these relationships are positively correlated with cloud success
• The SMB channel is opting primarily for self-branded cloud solutions (supported either internally or by vendor partners), but there are benefits and risks to channel-branded and vendor-branded offerings, and channel or vendor-supplied support
• The key challenges to building cloud practices within channel businesses are primarily internal; market-based objections are falling away as SMBs embrace cloud as an IT service delivery platform

The SMB buy-side/business perspective: a tale of opportunity and limitations

• Cloud addresses important and clearly-defined SMB business and IT issues. As a result, demand for cloud will continue to be strong for years to come
• Cloud has more of a mixed impact within channel businesses: it creates major challenges in some cases, and addresses channel business issues in others. Channel businesses need to capitalize on opportunities while mitigating areas of exposure or uncertainty
• Hybrid on/off-premise infrastructure is a reality in the SMB market. Channel firms that can effectively integrate traditional and cloud environments are well positioned for success
• Technical expertise is an important attribute, but strong customer relationships rely primarily on working with customers over the long term, and understanding their industry requirements and business needs

Each of the topics is covered in depth in the report. What emerges is a portrait of a market that offers tremendous opportunity for SMB channel partners that are able to build and invest in a cloud strategy, but one that is marked by tremendous challenges for channel organizations that lack the will or capacity to adjust to a changing SMB business environment.

Similar state of SMB channel reports are being analyzed for mobility, managed services and virtualization.