'They become irrelevant': Vendor's blunt warning to resellers

The UK general manager of one cloud-focused vendor tells CRN why some resellers are heading for trouble

Resellers that fail to embrace the cloud are going to struggle due to the "inevitable" future success of the technology, according to one vendor.

The European cloud computing industry is forecast to have generated total revenues of $18.9bn (£14.4bn) in 2016, according to analyst Research and Markets, while Gartner predicts the worldwide public cloud services market will grow 18 per cent in 2017 to $246.8bn, up from $209.2bn in 2016.

Gavin Fell, UK general manager at Exact, told CRN that the further success of cloud was "inevitable" and resellers that fail to embrace cloud are heading for trouble.

"Those resellers become irrelevant, to be blunt," he said. "The young entrepreneurs of today don't want to be in an office, they are using their iPhone and iPad to work. We are moving away from that nine-to-five office set-up."

Exact provides business management software and is courting channel partners as it looks to wrestle market share from industry giants such as Sage and SAP.

"Currently, we accrue around 35 per cent of revenue through resellers, and we expect to stay around the 35 to 50 per cent range of business through the channel," said Fell.

Working directly with resellers, Exact has 12 active partners and is on the hunt for 10 further resellers. Its channel presence works alongside direct sales and endorsements through accountants.

"We don't want to flood the market," added Fell. "The resellers have to be the right resellers. There are too many resellers selling the same product in the same five-mile radius."

Exact hopes the focus on its partner programme will assist its aim to target mid-market companies that have outgrown Sage and do not need "the extensive bulk of SAP and Oracle".