The Channel, What Channel, Which Channel??????

At one of the Linkedin groups, there was an interesting discussion about SaaS in the channel.  As I read through the posts it hit me that "the channel" was being used as a catch all term.  The old days of VARs, dealers, systems integrators, OEMs and DMRs are long over.  Heck, It was dangerous to make global proclamations about "the Channel" in those days, now look out.  SaaS and cloud computing are the blame for some of this diversity.  Heck the iTunes App Store is extending the reach of the vendor and eliminating partners from the software sale.

If you're not confused, you're not paying attention.

                                                                                  .......  Tom Peters

Okay Tom we are paying attention, but what does it mean?  Partner selection is critical.  It always has been but now if you try to sell a SaaS product through a IT VAR channel, disaster is looming.  IT VARs typically sell to the tech side of the company where as the SaaS decision is driven by the business side and can be viewed a threat by the IT department.  I had this unfortunate experience during the early days of SaaS, we had a wonderful set of resellers to whom we proudly introduced our newly acquired SaaS service.  They were thrilled with the features of the service and how it fit our product family, etc.  However, the reward was sluggish sales and upon investigation we discovered that very discontinuity, ugh.  

Beyond the quintessential analysis of a partner's technical capabilities or vertical expertise or geographic coverage one is well served to understand where in the enduser organization the partners have relationships and is that a match for your product/service.  This is something that your team will have to dig deep for.  I suggest that the subject be addressed covertly, ask about how a typical sale is consummated by the VAR's sales people.  Who did they present to, who made the decision, etc. 

Okay, who do you sell your SaaS product to?  Managed service providers(MSP), VARs with an MSP department, hosting companies who are reaching toward the end user, even disti's with SaaS divisions.  Managed service providers come in many flavors and are typically a nice fit for SaaS partnerships.  However the challenge with MSP's is that they typically offer a limited number of services and few directly competitive products as it makes no sense for them to offer a wide choice. There is an integration challenge as many strong MSP's have a portal that they present to their customers with all of the service they offer.  Your product will need to be part of this portal.  As importantly, these MSP's have billings systems into which the service must fit.  It can be hard to get started with an MSP but unlike a VAR once your service is in, it stays in the offering without much competition.

VARs with an MSP division are quite seductive.  They can sell products and deliver managed services.  True in some cases, a pipe dream in others.  One ugly secret with a number of these VARs turned MSP's is that they have defined the old "break/fix" service as a "managed" service and that is not going to help them sell a SaaS service.  Look under the covers.

  

Some hosting companies have decided to provide services directly end users as well as to MSP's.  It is not clear yet as to whether that is a winning combination or not.  Engage these type of folks with your eyes open.  

Next up are the Disti's.  Most of these firms have designs on the SaaS revenue stream.  Ingram Micro seems to be in the lead with their Seismic division.  According to Ingram:

     Seismic is an exclusive Ingram Micro managed services portfolio that helps MSPs quickly and easily leverage and deploy a broad array of  managed services, enabling them to manage technical labor resources more efficiently, build and sustain recurring service revenue streams, improve service levels and customer satisfaction and increase profitability.

While I don't have experience with the division, it is at least well thought out and sounds good on the web site.

Lots of choices, certainly more to come as cloud computing takes hold.  It makes the job of channel development that much more challenging.

More Jobs?, iPad Debates and Google Answers the Call

Musings, musings.  Are there more jobs?  Is the economy up or down?  The second question no one knows but everyone has an opinion.  However on the first question there is an interesting new source of information.  Wavelength Market Analytics (http://www.wlanalytics.com/wordpress/) has produced The "Bay Area Tech Job Index".  I will save you from a rehash of their magic formula, the site explains it well.  However, they have cleverly analyzed the data to look for trends in the type of jobs one finds in high tech: product marketing, sales, etc.  They provide a more granular look at the High Tech job trends than one can find in your local newspaper, check it out.  The January index showed a glimmer of hope.

Google is such a wonderful success story that we all forget there are people behind the curtain and they make mistakes.  People who have questions about their phone might get a crazy idea that they could use such a device to get that question answered.  It is a wonder to think that they are surprised that consumer want to talk to humans rather than "googling" for answers.  Certainly they are not the only folks to be shy about providing effect customer support.  At least, Google is responding to the demands of the public.  Beyond Google there seems to be a niche of firms positioning themselves as the place where you can actually speak with humans. What a crazy idea.

Google (NSDQ:GOOG) has quietly added a support phone number for Nexus One, and although the search giant says the number is only for inquiries about phone shipments, it suggests Google is taking seriously the numerous customer support complaints that have dogged Nexus One since its early January debut.

Walt Mossberg, Charlie Rose, et all debate virtues of the iPad.  Interesting stuff, but enough already until there is a product to actually review.

SaaS Profits for the Channel, Why is it Always About Money?

Once again, Mike Allers joins the discussion.  He has been on the front lines in bringing SaaS to the channel both introducing SaaS to an established VAR channel as well as developing an existing SaaS channel.  

As many vendors struggle to work a SaaS offering into their portfolio, many are overlooking a key part to that strategy...how does the Channel Community stay profitable in that equation?

Honestly, there isn’t a silver-bullet, so get that out of your head right now. The first thing to understand is that BOTH vendor AND partner will have to adjust. 

Out of the gate, the responsibility will fall on the vendor to take initial steps to create a Channel-friendly offering. What does that mean? First and foremost, when developing the solution make certain to create multi-tiered management capabilities. This means that there needs to be the ability for the customer, partner and vendor to access and add, remove, and manage via a web-based portal.

Vendors will also have to set up a few SaaS go-to-market scenarios for the Channel Community. There should be options to allow the partner to resell the vendor solution as well as to private label the offering under their own or a generic name. Ultimately, this opens the door for the Channel Community to pool together several SaaS offerings from multiple vendors to create specific solutions tailored to each market segment or customer type and let’s them decide how to package it.

The Channel Community will have a few things to pick up as well. It means that the days of only reaching out to customers to every quarter just to see what you can sell them are over. Partners will have to remain in constant contact with customers, staying in tune with day to day activities of the customer. They will need to beef up technical staff to not only include engineers for design, implementation and troubleshooting, but will need administrative technical staff as well to manage the portals. As the Channel Community begins to add multiple SaaS offerings from multiple vendors, they will need to consider what options they need for a front-end portal to manage everything. 

Also, a very clear communication path will be absolutely necessary! Without it, you will be fighting over customers and not even know it. This means that things like deal registration and rules of engagement must be clearly defined and vehemently adhered to.

Rolling out a SaaS offering to the Channel won’t happen overnight and what works for one vendor won’t necessarily work for another. If you spend the time to understand your business and your partners, you can make a very successful SaaS Channel Program. This may be your chance to break away from the peloton and lead the pack...

You can follow Mike on twitter, at MikeAllers

I am a supporter or the iPad, but this video is pretty funny I must admit.

It's coming!! IPad

Just because....we need yet another iPad review.  Whether you like it or not Apple has created yet another device that doesn't easily fit established categories.  The historical IT approach is to ignore it until the users create a stink or simply start using the device in great numbers.  Remember the iPhone, lots of pundits said that it was not enterprise ready.  Well there are 2 million units purchased by enterprises and an additional 5 million that users have put in use in the enterprise.

It is not a PC (or Mac), true.  However, much of what we "knowledge" workers do is consume information and this is a great device for consuming while being mobile.  It is an enabler for mobile access to "your" cloud.  Think about doctors, during each visit they consume information about your heath history in far greater volume than they create about you.  

The iPad conceivably could be enticing to enterprise IT. This isn't a huge leap; the vast majority of personal computers are lap tops.  Heck there was much conversation about tablet PC's, many enterprise's were abuzz with the idea of a computer that could be used like a clipboard, more conveniently in the course of normal business. Alas, the tablet PC was still too clunky to fill the role envisioned everywhere from doctor's offices to factory floors, but the iPad, with it's speed, form factor, and intuitive interface might not be. Is it more suited to business than consumers?  

Well, there are rumors that the folks at Apple have a few business features that will emerge over the next few months.  But before that, think about the iWork application.  While they gave it a multitouch upgrade, it is still an Office-compatible productivity suite.  In the fine print, you can learn that it is a nice presentation tool, it supports VGA output for driving a projector, users can market up slides and point with a virtual laser pointer during the presentation.  The rumors say that there will be direct printing network printing iPad applications and support for dealing with a local file server

For the reseller or vendor, this signals a need to get ahead of the curve on iPads.  Get ready and become the expert for your customers.  Help them in assessing their business uses before users start bringing them in.  Whether you are a reseller, software developer or SaaS provider.  Enterprises will need to support them and as important secure them.  I can see the headlines now, as an iPad "walks away" with a million social security numbers on the disk.  Save your customer, help the CIO's drive their bus, they may get to keep some control if they get ahead of their users. Otherwise there may not be a seat. 

Time for my pet peeves:

     1) Why does my iPhone change "iPad" to "Olaf", did Microsoft slip code into the iPhone as a joke?

     2) Of the many iPad comments, the jokes have been pretty funny, but one pundit went all politically correct and argued that the name "iPad" showed that there weren't enough women in high tech.  I guess she never used a "pad" of paper.  I am waiting for someone to complain that it is code for corporal punishment for kids, iPad(dle) and file suit.