The panel yesterday on Channel Convergence at Channel Partners Evolution in DC was the most fun I have had a panel in a while. Spirited debate in front of a large crowd.
Is there convergence in the channel? Sure. Vendors are becoming MSPs. A few master agencies are becoming MSPs. A few masters are becoming VADs (see AppSmart). But as Datto’s Rob Rae says the chasm between partner business models is widening. Traditional agents are not rebilling and MSPs are not out slinging bandwidth.
The winner is one who understands their strengths and leverages them for success.
The other big worry is that the largest master agencies are sucking the air out of the room — but are also worried about losing their subs to other masters or directly to the vendors. (Not much has changed there, I guess).
I think that the master agency space will look different in two years.
I also think that in the Cloud Comms space the landscape will change in two years. Microsoft is killing it with Teams. Cisco is starting to figure out how to get partners to sell Webex Teams. Zoom blind-sided everyone, winning market share with simplicity, execution and focus.
Dave Gilbert and I were guessing why didn’t Salesforce ever team up with twilio to offer telephony? All that is missing from SF is WebRTC.
Phil Edholm says UC pricing will continue to decrease, becoming a commodity like bandwidth. Gilbert says that verticals and niches will prevail.
Edholm also says that WebRTC has made voice and chat possible in almost any app, so providers either need to become a platform (RingCentral, 8×8, Nextiva, Vonage and to some extent twilio) or bundle better (like Evolve IP).
Meanwhile, Q Advisors is UCaaS has outlived its usefulness as a term in defining ever-evolving cloud comms and collab space. It is now Enterprise Coolab or Customer Engagement & Collab. Differentiation will come in the integrations, verticals and niches.
Didn’t know that Bandwidth.com has 50 million VoIP numbers in service for Google, Microsoft, Dialpad and surprisedly RingCentral!