https://www.channelfutures.com/wp-content/themes/channelfutures_child/assets/images/logo/footer-new-logo.png
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
Channel Futures
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Technologies
    • Back
    • SDN/SD-WAN
    • Cloud
    • RMM/PSA
    • Security
    • Telephony/UC/Collaboration
    • Cable
    • Mobility & Wireless
    • Fiber/Ethernet
    • Data Centers
    • Backup & Disaster Recovery
    • IoT
    • Desktop
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Analytics
  • Strategy
    • Back
    • Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Channel Research
    • Business Models
    • Distribution
    • Technology Solutions Brokerages
    • Sales & Marketing
    • Best Practices
    • Vertical Markets
    • Regulation & Compliance
  • MSP 501
    • Back
    • MSP 501 Rankings
    • NextGen 101 Rankings
  • Intelligence
    • Back
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • From the Industry
    • Reports/Digital Issues
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
  • Channel Futures TV
  • EMEA
  • Channel Chatter
    • Back
    • People on the Move
    • New/Changing Channel Programs
    • New Products & Services
    • Industry Honors
  • Resources
    • Back
    • Channel Futures 20: Top Tech Providers
    • Advisory Boards
    • Industry Organizations
    • Our Sponsors
    • Advertise
    • 2023 Editorial Calendar
  • Awards
    • Back
    • 2022 MSP 501
    • Channel Influencers
    • Circle of Excellence
    • DE&I 101
    • Technology Advisor 101 (TA 101)
    • Channel Leaders Lists
  • Events
    • Back
    • 2023 Call for Speakers
    • CP Conference & Expo
    • MSP Summit
    • Channel Partners Europe
    • Channel Partners Event Coverage
    • Webinars
    • Industry Events
  • About Us
  • DE&I
    • Newsletter
  • REGISTER
  • MSPs
  • VARs / SIs
  • Agents
  • Cloud Service Providers
  • Channel Partners Events
 Channel Futures

Data Centers


Digital Disruption

Digital Disruption: 70% of MSPs Will Be Gone in 3 Years

  • Written by Tom Kaneshige
  • March 5, 2018
Disruption wreaks havoc on channel’s old ways of doing business, and channel companies must pivot to survive.

If channel companies, especially managed services providers (MSPs), think they can ride the digital disruption wave without wiping themselves out, they’re sadly mistaken. Disruption is wreaking havoc on the channel’s old ways of doing business.

This means channel companies must make a couple of pivots, says Mark S. A. Smith, owner of consultancy Bija Company and author of “Pivot to Profit from IT Disruption” and “Security in the Boardroom.”

Bija Company's Mark S.A. Smith

Bija Company’s Mark S.A. Smith

For starters, the channel must move away from hardware and software, and toward cloud services that bring recurring revenue streams. Channel salespeople also need to stop selling to the tech pros and start selling to the line-of-business (LOB) executives.

At stake is the very survival of channel companies, Smith says. He says doomsday analysts predict that 70 percent of MSPs won’t be around in three years.

At the upcoming Channel Partners Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, April 17-20, Smith will deliver this tough talk. As part of the IoT conference track on April 18, in a session called “Profitably Pivoting to Embrace New Business Models,” Smith will explain why these pivots need to happen and why some channel companies won’t be able to make them.

In a Q&A with Channel Partners/Channel Futures, Smith gives a sneak peek into his session.

Channel Partners/Channel Futures: What is the new business model?

Smith: I’ll be talking about the shifting business models in the world of IT and how disruptive they are to traditional service providers, such as MSPs. The challenges that we face today are extraordinary.

The services that we’ve traditionally delivered over the past 50 years are no longer desirable or valuable. Nobody is architecting five years’ worth of IT to be purchased at the maximum possible price, chronically overprovisioned for two years and underprovisioned for three years.

Everything is in the cloud, and this radically changes the value that IT providers bring to the party.

CP/CF: What should channel partners do?

MS: The pivot they must make is to stop selling exclusively to the data curators — server admins, storage admins, system admins. Traditionally, business partners and IT resellers have had an exclusive relationship with the data-center curator.

Most of the vendor value propositions today are about the value of data. This has zero value to the data curator, which is why it’s getting harder and harder to sell to the data curator. As long as the data is secure, safe and available, the data curator doesn’t care about the data.

The next level are the data creators — CFOs, marketing departments, sales departments, manufacturing departments. These people generate data for the LOBs to consume. Data creators couldn’t care less about how the data is curated. All the shadow IT stuff exists because …

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
Tags: Agents Business Models Channel Partners Event Coverage Cloud Data Centers

Most Recent


  • Making Waves
    7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at TD Synnex, Veeam, Kaseya, Zendesk, More
    Microsoft has discovered malicious activity by a state-sponsored threat actor based in China.
  • Businessman reading cloud computing news
    Cloud Computing News: VMware, Celigo, Google Cloud, AWS Dominate the Week
    Find out what the vendors are up to this week and how partners are impacted.
  • Tech investments
    3 Ways Businesses Can Optimize Their Tech Investments
    Help customers start small, minimize risk and demonstrate business value in a condensed time frame.
  • zero day vulnerability
    Barracuda Networks Identifies Long-Exploited Zero-Day Vulnerability
    The earliest identified evidence of exploitation dates back to October 2022.

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your Channel Futures account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • hybrid clouds
    Nutanix, HPE Team on Hybrid, Multicloud via GreenLake
  • Cloud Certification
    CompTIA Updates Cloud+ Certification, Drops New AI Guide for Businesses
  • Cloud security
    VMware Debuts Cloud Web Security on SASE Platform
  • Partner programs
    Commvault Adds New MSP Partner Program with Specific Pricing

Upcoming Events

View all

Channel Partners Europe

June 13, 2023 - June 14, 2023

Channel Futures Leadership Summit

October 30, 2023 - November 2, 2023

Channel Partners Conference & Expo

March 11, 2024 - March 14, 2024

Galleries

View all

7 Channel People Making Waves This Week at TD Synnex, Veeam, Kaseya, Zendesk, More

June 2, 2023

Cloud Computing News: VMware, Celigo, Google Cloud, AWS Dominate the Week

June 2, 2023

Channel People on the Move: HPE, Lumen, Sophos, TD Synnex, AireSpring, More

June 1, 2023

Industry Perspectives

View all

Dell Technologies World: Dell Apex Expanded Across On-Premises, Cloud and Edge

May 22, 2023

Identity Is Increasingly Valuable – and Targeted

May 18, 2023

Gaining a Competitive Advantage through AV Managed Services

May 10, 2023

Webinars

View all

From Problem to Profit: Mastering the Science of Selling Using Business Outcomes

May 9, 2023

Meet the 2023 Channel Futures Channel Influencers

April 13, 2023

DE&I Dialogue: How the Right DE&I Initiatives Can Propel Your Business

April 5, 2023

White Papers

View all

6 UCaaS Reseller Challenges and How Real World Businesses Solved Them

February 1, 2023

Frost Radar: North American UCaaS Market, 2022

February 1, 2023

The Complete Guide to White-Label UCaaS for Reseller Success

February 1, 2023

Channel Futures TV

View all

Coffee with Craig and James Episode No. 123: MartinWolf M&A Advisors, CP Expo Preview

UScellular Takes On Rivals with Partner Program Simplicity

April 21, 2023

OpenText Simplifying Deal Registration, Doubling Down on MDF

April 21, 2023

Everything-as-a-Service: CloudBlue Touts Critical Customer Transition

April 18, 2023

Twitter

MSP 501

The industry's largest and most comprehensive partner awards program.

Newsletters and Updates

Sign up for The Channel Report, Channel Futures Update, MSP 501 Newsletter and more.

Live Channel Events

Get the latest information on the next industry-leading Channel Partners event.

Galleries

Educational slide shows and images from live events.

Media Kit And Advertising

Want to reach our audience? Access our media kit.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • Channel Partners Events
  • Telecoms.com
  • MSP 501
  • Black Hat
  • IoT World Today
  • Omdia

WORKING WITH US

  • Contact
  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Newsletter

FOLLOW Channel Futures ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.
This website uses cookies, including third party ones, to allow for analysis of how people use our website in order to improve your experience and our services. By continuing to use our website, you agree to the use of such cookies. Click here for more information on our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
X