On a call today listening to partners complain about Zoom being channel un-friendly. It makes me laugh for two specific reasons.
One, many vendors are not channel friendly. AT&T changes its program frequently. Verizon is in and out of the channel. Cox is barely in the channel. Apple. Then there are a number of vendors in the channel without a structured program, without support and hoping for the best while doing the bare minimum (giving lip service to the channel). I don’t hear too many complaints about those vendors (any more).
“Your frustration is due to your own expectations and what you want instead of just dealing with what it is.” – Peter Radizeski
Two, companies don’t necessarily NEED an indirect sales force. For all of the love that partners have for Microsoft and Cisco, both vendors have fought partners over accounts, particularly mid-market, government and enterprise. Zoom has grown using some of the RingCentral playbook. Start selling direct then find providers to bundle your services. Next, Zoom is leveraging the VAR/VAD channel instead of the agent/master agent channel. Who is to say if that pays off or not?
As I have mentioned before, the indirect channel does not create demand – it simply supplies the demand. The demand for Zoom is high right now; partners are frustrated because they want to supply it – but there are too many bumps in the road (friction) to do so.
It is safe to say that competitors of Zoom are getting beaten – and may not even be in the race. Video calls front and center; UC as a secondary thought (sale) due to user adoption and ease of use. Can you say UX ( User Experience) wins?
On a side note: there is a segment of the business community that still requires PBX hardware on premise and will not move to the cloud for a few years yet.