All that's hosted is hot. Many vendors are finally warming up to the idea that delivering their functionality as a service is not such a bad idea. In turn, they are turning to an agency model for indirect sales of these new remotely delivered infrastructure management and hosted applications.
For some traditional VARs/solutions providers that are used to being the service provider, this idea may not set well. On the other hand, getting into the “as a service” business is not cheap, requiring not only heavy IT investments but changes to staffing in support of technical and sales requirements.
It’s not surprising then that while many vendors offer private-labeled options of their hosted apps as an alternative to starting from scratch, the channel is gravitating more toward the agent model.
An agent, as a representative of the service provider, advises the customer on services, creates a package, processes paperwork and then hands off to the service provider for fulfillment. The agent gets a commission for his trouble.
The agent model, therefore, is less risky for the while still enabling the solutions provider to offer solutions as a service.
As to claims the model marginalizes the solutions provider, one can argue that major vendors still need feet on the street to get in front of SMBs.
