Dawn of Solutions as a Service
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Value-added resellers can no longer afford to think of themselves as the deliverers of hardware, software or even services. Solution providers are-as the moniker applies-selling solutions that meet customers' business needs. Now comes the rise of "solutions as a service."
If there's going to be an "IT 3.0" or a "Channel 3.0," the marketplace masters will be those companies that crack the code for "solutions as a service." Two years ago while working at the now defunct VARBusiness, I coined the term "Channel 2.0." At the time, the channel was already showing shifts in the way IT technology product and service delivery was conducted, the relationship between vendors and solution providers, and the needs of the business-technology consumers. Channel 2.0 intended to look five years into the future to divine the shape of the channel of the future.
Lawrence Walsh is editor of Baseline magazine, overseeing print and online editorial content and the strategic direction of the publication. He is also a regular columnist for Ziff Davis Enterprise's Channel Insider. Mr. Walsh is well versed in IT technology and issues, and he is an expert in IT security technologies and policies, managed services, business intelligence software and IT reseller channels. An award-winning journalist, Mr. Walsh has served as editor of CMP Technology's VARBusiness and GovernmentVAR magazines, and TechTarget's Information Security magazine. He has written hundreds of articles, analyses and commentaries on the development of reseller businesses, the IT marketplace and managed services, as well as information security policy, strategy and technology. Prior to his magazine career, Mr. Walsh was a newspaper editor and reporter, having held editorial positions at the Boston Globe, MetroWest Daily News, Brockton Enterprise and Community Newspaper Company.
