Top VARs video: Why the proportion of IT spend going through the channel is increasing

Our Top VARs panel discusses why the channel is more becoming more important in the SaaS era

The percentage of business customers put through the channel versus going direct to vendors is going to increase over the next five years, data from CRN's Top VARs end user survey says.

This is in spite of some analysts believing that a shift to direct sales is already underway, particularly around the public cloud and enterprise marketplaces.

But many customers are turning to the channel to help them understand how to optimise and integrate new technologies, according to Softcat chief technologist Craig Lodzinski.

"We've seen customers fail to understand the cost implications of consuming certain SaaS services," he said.

"[They'll say] ‘Slack is free', but to make it enterprise grade and integrate it as part of your business isn't free.

"As everything becomes increasingly complex they're looking to the channel for things like cost optimisation in the cloud and managing their billing."