"2024, in the history books, will be known as an š inflection point. 43 years into our broader partner channelā¦ major things are happening" - stressed the magnitude of the shift Jay McBain in our recent How to Unlock Next-Gen Cloud GTM event.
Jay McBain is Chief Analyst, Channels, Partnerships & Ecosystems at Canalys, whose insights on partnerships are unmatched. Jay has been a pioneer in recognizing the shift towards cloud marketplaces as they become essential GTM strategies.
In his keynote, he outlined the rapid evolution of GTM caused by the new digital-first buyer, rise of marketplaces as ultimate tech platforms, and how this transforms the role of partners.
3 Insights from Jay's keynote:
š Marketplaces Orchestrate the 7-Layer Stack
Jay highlighted how modern deals involve multiple layers and partners, with the average deal having 7 different companies involved. He sees marketplaces as the ideal way for the new digital-first buyer to build their multi-layer stack.
"Marketplaces are that perfect integration-first buyer tool that they can build their seven-layer stack. The average hyperscale deal today, AWS, Microsoft, Google, is seven layers, seven different companies. The average SaaS deal, Salesforce, ServiceNow, is seven layers."
š Hyperscalers Vie for Platform Dominance
"There's this linkage between marketplace being the center of a platform. The person who owns the biggest marketplace or the biggest platform is correlated as the winner in that economy."
As a result, hyperscalers and major tech companies strive to become a "platform for the buyer".
"They want to own the marketplace. They want to own the seven-layer stack. They want to own seven partners." - explains Jay.
š¤ Partners are Indispensable in a $5 Trillion Market
This year, businesses and governments will spend $4.94 trillion on hardware and software. Despite significant tech market realignment, partners maintain a vital role, Jay emphasizes:
"73% of that entire $5 trillion goes to, through, and with partners of some type. And marketplaces where they've done the most development recently in the multi-partner, in the private offers, in the distributor sellers of records, in the architecture within the actual marketplace to provide for this market, which is highly indirect."
Jay explains the shift in buyer mindset, where they want to see and work with multiple partners, rather than buy a single entirely white-labeled solution from one vendor. He likens the new "partner + marketplace" model to a "team sport" where marketplaces support this by enabling each partner to play their role.
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š Accelerate your Growth in Cloud Marketplaces
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