Emerging Vendors Need To Build Channels Earlier, Not Later
Engaging the channel later in a company's evolution may have made sense back when the channel's chief role was sales fulfillment – selling and distributing a vendor's products in markets and geographies that it couldn't otherwise reach. But the role of the channel is changing – indeed, it already has changed – from a sales and distribution focus to providing solutions around a vendor's products and, more recently, providing strategic services around those solutions.