What’s the Future of the Channel? Verizon, T-Mobile, Vonage, HPE Talk

CHANNEL PARTNERS CONFERENCE & EXPO — From navigating the new normal of work to predicting what’s on the horizon, four big-name vendor channel leaders on Wednesday took to the stage to talk about the channel. Verizon, T-Mobile for Business, Vonage and Hewlett Packard Enterprise each joined Channel Futures’ Kelly Danziger and Bob DeMarzo for “The Future of the Channel: The Ultimate Vendor Power Panel.”

Yet before talking about what’s coming, participants first assessed how the post-COVID-19 world is impacting the channel now.

It’s pretty simple: “[C]ustomers have different expectations,” and everyone continues to “evolve and change our leadership styles,” said Michael Caralis, vice president of business markets at Verizon.

Kim Chau, vice president of marketing for T-Mobile for Business, agreed. As the nature of work changes with the pandemic (hopefully) in the rearview mirror, the wireless provider is working with partners perhaps more “strategically” than ever. The key is “being able to adapt and change,” Chau said, echoing Caralis.

Indeed, one of the big changes comes in the form of who is driving growth within the channel. For Vonage and HPE, that means managed service providers — they will prove core to the future of the channel.

“MSPs are becoming more of a part of the partner ecosystem where it was once separate,” said Reggie Scales, senior vice president of global sales applications at Vonage. “[W]e’ve all had to evolve,” he said, similar to his peers.

“We’ve all gone from being telco leaders to now being more SaaS-focused, value selling, solution selling,” he added. “We can’t do that without the partner ecosystem, with the value an MSP brings.”

Phil Soper, North American head of channel sales for HPE, concurred. MSPs, he noted, “provide incredible value. They’re closer to the market and have skills and reach that we do not have.”

So, as HPE shifts from a legacy infrastructure company to a cloud provider, he said, expect to see partner programs restructured accordingly.

That will happen as change affects the channel as a whole. At the same time, look for companies including Verizon, T-Mobile for Business, Vonage and HPE to embrace the channel even further, vendors said.

“We see a tremendous amount of growth in channel … and continue to invest … because of the power in this room,” Caralis said.

Vonage, too, “is all-in on the channel,” Scales said. “But no question,” he noted, “I’ve had to explain why.”

That’s because not all C-suite executives understand the value the channel brings. When they do, however, they support initiatives for partners. That’s happening at Vonage, Scales said, and it’s happening at T-Mobile for Business and HPE too.

“We’re all in on the channel,” Chau said. Reflecting that, T-Mobile for Business has increased funding for partners via marketing, engagement, tools and processes, she said.

“It’s raining at T-Mobile for Business,” Chau said, half-joking about the availability of money for partners. Chau must, of course, commit to executives about return on investment when securing more funding, but that’s the normal course of business.

“Yeah,” she said, “it’s raining.”

The same goes at HPE, especially looking ahead to the future of the channel.

“The pandemic reinforced the importance of channel to HPE, completely,” Soper said.

That’s why the company recently teased Partner Ready Vantage, in “recognition of the role the partner community plays” at HPE, he said.

“We want you to build your services around our platform,” Soper said. “We’re giving you a program that you can evolve at your own pace.”

In terms of the future of the channel at each of the vendors, it’s not too complicated. Each firm is looking at how to …

… diversify the way it teams with the channel all while growing their involvement existing partners. For Verizon, that looks like becoming “a little less rigid in our programs because the channel is big and business needs to adapt and change over time,” Caralis said. To that point, Verizon is working on an initiative called Partner Your Way. Stay tuned for details as the company unveils those.

Panelists on Cloud Marketplaces, 5G

There are a couple of big opportunities for partners amid all the change — think marketplaces and 5G. The cloud providers (Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and so on) started the marketplaces craze some years back and the vendors featured on the panel are focused on being part of the wave. They also see the capabilities as foundational to the future of the channel.

“It’s probably one of our greatest challenges,” said HPE’s Soper. The company is tapping into distribution partners’ marketplaces and predicts a future “where you can look at a hybrid cloud workload … and be able to turn it on in five, six clicks.”

Vonage is having a similar discussion, Scales said. Even as the provider has automated APIs, that’s not the same as marketplaces. But, he said, marketplaces are “where we’re headed.”

There’s also a push toward understanding what 5G means for partners. Chau encouraged Channel Partners attendees to consider use cases such as video telehealth, which requires unbreachable security. Or, Caralis suggested, think about multilocation pharmaceuticals that could take advantage of fixed wireless versus fiber.

“It’s an enormous opportunity for the channel,” he said of 5G.

Views of the Future

All in all, the four vendors on the panel are, as Scales put it, “super excited about the future.”

“The game has changed and I’m super excited to be a part of that,” he said.

Soper agreed.

“I’m in my passion job. … I want the channel to be viewed as cool.”

Getting to build something every day is the key for Chau.

“This is the moment, this is the time,” she said.

For Caralis, dedication to the channel comes down to “the relationships I have with our partner community.”

“I love seeing my partners be successful … and that is what motivates me every day.”