Jolene Langford

Jolene Langford, president of Athenium Technology Group, offered nuance on the marketplace trend.

“Once upon a time I worked for a little startup marketplace. I was employee number 26, and we all had big dreams and high hopes. Fast forward, and they are now one of the largest marketplaces in the world. All it took was to land one global client and then the snowball effect happened where one Fortune 500 after the next started buying into this new way of procuring services,” she told Channel Futures.

“The marketplace isn’t the end-all way companies buy, but it’s enough of a preview teaser for people to get some legs under their thinking before calling to speak with the real consultants. And who will they call? The people with the marketplace. Most of enterprise clients didn’t buy from the marketplace, but it’s the tool that invited them in to have further dialogue.

“I’m certainly not alarmed by the Upstacks and AppSmarts, but I do think they should be viewed as a credible threat. Maybe not right this moment, but down the line.”