#142 Ashley Speight: Why Everything Will Soon Be "As A Service"

Ashley Speight, Co-Founder of Channelyze, joins Chip today in this episode of Ecosystem Aces! In this episode, Ashley provides a more Euro-centric view on distributors and vendors.

He goes on to emphasize the need for a single marketplace for organizations to access their channels and communicate with their partners. To Ashley, gone are the days of the SKU. Now, businesses need services more than ever. 

Ashley discusses:

• How Channelyze is giving visibility across the entire channel
• The death of the SKU and what it means for you
• What’s next for Channelyze

How Channelyze is Giving Visibility Across the Entire Channel

Ashley started Channelyze to understand pain points across all tiers of a channel, including the vendors, distributors, MSPs, resellers, etc. Channelyze offers a single platform for all partners. Every partner can log into the system and work with vendors from this place. Every single vendor gets full visibility all the way down to the channel. 

Ashley emphasizes that in the US, there are four or five major distributors, but in Europe, there are between 150 to 200 distributors working in individual countries in local languages. 3 or 4 man bands run operations in specific countries, getting added value for years, and they are proper extensions of the vendor. There are multiple vendors that work with one distributor, and the distributor gets all its vendors from one portal. This allows distributors to build their own partner ecosystem. 

Distributors can transform their marketplace when their vendors use Channelyze to manage partner programs. They get a single marketplace for all vendors, and this helps with billing and consolidation of other operations. Channelyze helps with lead generation via marketing automation through social media and integrating with Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. 

Channelyze works on a horizontal ecosystem model where all vendors, distributors, and other partners are linked together. If a business is co-selling with multiple partners, it’s possible for one set of vendors and distributors to talk to others, creating a larger ecosystem entirely. In an environment with a vast array of distributors and a wide set of languages being spoken, Channelyze can help in better, more effective collaboration.

Death of the SKU and What It Means

A lot of organizations working with Channelyze still use the SKU model, but they don’t need it. They are selling services, and it does not need a secure attachment to them. Software as a Service is taking over, and many vendors are transitioning to monthly billing. Earlier, vendors would sell SKUs for one year or multi-year, but now they have to change it to monthly billing.

Some vendors are struggling to make this shift because they don’t have the technology and support to make this transition. Earlier, vendors made 20% on the annual bill, but now they are making small amounts on monthly bills. As the margins are low, vendors will take some time to make this shift successfully. 

Ashley believes that everything will soon be sold ‘as a service, and its not just a single SKU product anymore. It is a bundled package of software and hardware services together. When all services are included in one deal, partners make money by offering additional services. As technology catches up, vendors and distributors can collaborate better, enhancing the overall partner experience. 

What’s Next for Channelyze?

Channelyze released a fully automated marketing automation tool using which retailers can enroll into a campaign with a single click, and it automatically posts to their social media about the products they are able to sell, in their local language. There is no need to build custom campaigns and emails. 

Through this platform, partners can use Channelyze to access all joint marketing campaigns, all vendors they work with, etc. A partner can choose their desired vendor from the filter, click on Enroll, and the automation tool does everything itself. 

Channelyze is also focused on working with distributors and ensuring that they’re properly included in business partnerships and ecosystems. After all, distributors are a crucial part of the market-building process. Distributors, especially in Europe, are well-versed in the specific demands of their respective local markets, and a standard reseller cannot replace them.

Conclusion

The European market has a lot of distributors present because of language barriers and other parameters. As there is a lack of uniformity, distributors form a big part of business models, and Channelyze uses a horizontal ecosystem model to connect all distributors, resellers, vendors, etc. together. This helps in better lead management, communication, and overall collaboration.

To know more about Channelyze and what Ashley Speight is working on, follow him on LinkedIn.

Links & Resources

• Learn more about how WorkSpan helps customers accelerate their ecosystem flywheel through Co-selling, Co-innovating, Co-investing, and Co-marketing.
• Subscribe to the Ecosystem Aces Podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcast.
• Join the WorkSpan Community to engage with other partner ecosystem leaders on best practices, news, events, jobs, and other tips to advance your career in partnering.
• Find insightful articles on how to lead and get the most out of your partner ecosystem on the WorkSpan blog.
• Download the Best Practices Guide for Ecosystem Business Management
• Download the Ultimate Guide for Partner Incentives and Market Development Funds 
• To contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about modern partnering, he can be reached on Twitter, LinkedIn, or send Chip an email at: chip@workspan.com