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Partners Share How They're Using Tech Services Distributors
Channel Futures' latest partner survey tackled TSD market share and resources within the TSD bench.
4 Min Read
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Quoting and vendor research are two key functions performed by technology service distributors (TSDs), according to a recent survey of channel partners.
TSDs provide an important nexus in the technology advisor (agent) channel, maintaining supplier contracts on behalf of partners to minimize their risk and delivering to agents the industry's signature evergreen residual commissions. But TSDs are out to prove that they are more than financial and legal institutions. They tout the investments they've made in platforms and personnel to help partners grow their businesses and sell more technology.
Channel Futures' latest quarterly survey asks partners where they're getting value from TSDs. After the Q4 survey focused on how often partners used TSD resources over the course of a month, the Q1 survey focused on how often TSD resources played a role in customer deals.
The Role of Technology Services Distributors
Channel Futures asked partners to share the areas in which they are leveraging their TSDs over the last six months, aside from the supplier contracts TSDs hold on behalf of agents and the commissions that TSDs pass through to agents.
The resource partners were most likely to use on every deal was quoting and pricing (23%). A further 25% of partners used TSDs for quoting and pricing on more than 50% of deals, meaning that 48% of partners used TSD quoting/pricing on all or most deals. Furthermore, only 14% of partners said they did not leverage TSD quoting/pricing resources.
Overall, 79% of partners reported using TSD quoting and pricing resources for at least some deals.
Tied for the most frequently used resource was back office and commissions delivery support, with 23% of partners using it for every deal. In total, 41% of partners said they use TSD back office resources for all or most deals.
The survey results also showed that most technology advisors used their TSD partners to research and vet vendors (77%), though not necessarily for every customer engagement.
Q. Over the last 6 months, for how many customer deals did you use the following TSD tools or resources? (size: 65)
Source: Channel Futures Q1 Market Outlook
When it came to the TSD personnel actually joining TAs in selling to the end user, 12% of partners said such an activity occurred on every deal. A further 20% said the TSD would sell with them on most deals.
TSD marketing resources weren't as heavily tied to customer deals – though that is understandably difficult to measure how marketing ties to sales. But 59% of tech advisors did say that they used TSD marketing resources on at least some of their deals.
TSD Market: A Big Four?
Technology advisors responding to Channel Futures' Q1 Market Outlook survey shared the TSDs that they are transacting business with, and how that share is shifting.
Four companies stood out for a double-digit percentage of partners reporting an increase in bookings with them: Avant (27%), Sandler Partners (20%), Intelisys (20%) Telarus (19%).
As Channel Futures has observed in the previous survey results, most of the TSDs are gaining new partner business more than they are losing it. One exception is AppDirect, which saw a decrease of 10% and an increase of 6%. In Q3, the decrease was 14% and the increase was 10%. It should be noted, however, that an increased sample size of agents in the survey is needed on these numbers.
Pax8, the cloud distributor known for its MSP focus, saw an uptick of 7%. Different partners have told Channel Futures that they've turned to Pax8 for Microsoft and SaaS offerings. In some cases, the correct vendor did not exist in the standard TSD portfolio or did not offer high enough margins.
That being said, 78% of partners said they don't use Pax8, so its rise to being a mainstream TSD may still be ongoing. Pax8 last fall announced that it now acts as a supplier in Sandler Partners' portfolio for different SaaS offerings.
Q. How did your number of bookings/ accounts in Q1 2024 compare to Q1 2023 for the following companies? (size: 62)
Company | Decreased | No Change | Increased | Don't Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Avant | 6% | 21% | 27% | 45% |
Sandler Partners | 5% | 20% | 20% | 55% |
Intelisys | 7% | 23% | 20% | 51% |
Telarus | 13% | 18% | 19% | 50% |
Pax8 | 0% | 15% | 7% | 78% |
AppDirect | 10% | 21% | 6% | 63% |
Ingram Micro | 0% | 12% | 5% | 83% |
CX Effect | 0% | 15% | 5% | 80% |
ScanSource | 0% | 17% | 3% | 80% |
Bridgepointe Technologies | 3% | 16% | 3% | 77% |
Jenne | 2% | 8% | 2% | 88% |
TD Synnex | 3% | 7% | 2% | 88% |
Other | 0% | 19% | 14% | 67% |
See other findings from Channel Futures' Q1 2024 partner survey:
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