Analyst(s): Alex Smith, Tiffani Bova
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
Cloud marketplaces, partner evolution, and AI agents are some of the key topics that will impact channel executives in 2025. Some companies will be well positioned to take advantage of these trends, while others will fall behind. Overall, partner leaders should be optimistic about the opportunities ahead.
Overview:
The technology ecosystem is experiencing a golden age of partnering, with collaboration becoming the cornerstone of go-to-market strategies. While this presents exciting opportunities, navigating this complex landscape presents unique challenges.
To help channel leaders navigate this evolving terrain, Futurum Research has released five key predictions shaping the 2025 partner ecosystem.
Vendors’ Partner Teams That Embrace AI Agents in Their Operations Will Gain a GTM Edge Over Rivals and Emerge as Winners. “Every vendor will invest in and experiment with AI agents in the coming years across multiple parts of the organization,” says Tiffani Bova, Chief Strategy and Research Officer at Futurum. “However, those that do so in their partner organizations will stand out from their competitors in partner performance and overall market coverage including the intersection of direct and indirect sales.” AI agents and large language models (LLMs) will become embedded into channel operations, and free up wasted time spent on bureaucratic and administrative tasks that take up so much time.
Cloud marketplaces will become as big a GTM for SaaS companies as traditional distribution is for hardware. As more of the technology market transitions to SaaS, cloud marketplaces have emerged as one of the fastest growing routes-to-markets for those software companies, predominantly driven by the major hyperscalers. “Cloud marketplaces are rapidly becoming a dominant distribution channel for SaaS companies,” says Alex Smith, VP Channels Research at Futurum. “Hyperscalers are incentivizing marketplace adoption through competitive pricing and robust partner programs. SaaS companies planning their GTM strategies going forward cannot afford to ignore the impact that cloud marketplaces will have.”
The Next-generation Channel Partner Will Look Similar to the Old, but with Major Upgrades Including Its Ability to Deliver End-to-End Cloud & Software Services. Channel partners always seek to reflect the current technology landscape, being a conduit for the major platforms, architectures, and products demanded by customers at any given period of time, especially in the small and mid-size business (SMB) space. As major shifts occur, the strongest partners always make the leap, even if it takes some time. A mixture of organic evolution and strategic acquisition ensures that these partners remain at the forefront with some even building capabilities that are not yet in demand outside of early adopters.
Vendors Will Narrow Their Partner Focus; Meanwhile, Partners Who Are Resource-constrained Will Do the Same. Increasingly, vendors are prioritizing co-sell activities with strategic partners rather than taking a broad-based transactional approach. This is reflected in strategic alliance agreements, which are becoming increasingly common frameworks used by go-to-market teams. Expect vendors to narrow their focus further in 2025 to partners that can drive scale into the most important customer targets, deliver high-value software and services needed as part of digital transformation initiatives, or are closely aligned with the vendor’s strategic priorities.
The ‘No-tier’ Partner Program Gains Momentum as Competencies and Specializations Take Priority. Vendors want to track, recognize, and reward a broad set of behaviors, as well as align partners to specific parts of their solution portfolio. At its latest Partner Summit, Cisco announced Cisco 360, one of the biggest overhauls to its partner program arguably since inception. But it is not the first major vendor to move away from a metallic-tiered program model. HP and Microsoft have made the transition away from their tiered programs, with the former also adopting a duo-track program.
Conclusion: These predictions underscore the dynamic and evolving nature of the technology partner ecosystem. Channel leaders who embrace these trends invest in their capabilities and leverage the power of AI will be best positioned for success in 2025 and beyond.
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About the Futurum Channel & Go-to-Market Practice
The Futurum Channel & Go-to-Market Practice provides actionable, objective insights for market leaders and their teams so they can respond to emerging opportunities and innovate. Public access to our coverage can be seen here. Follow news and updates from the Futurum Practice on LinkedIn and X. Visit the Futurum Newsroom for more information and insights.
Author Information
Alex is Vice President & Practice Lead, Ecosystems, Channels, & Marketplaces at the Futurum Group. He is responsible for establishing and maintaining the Channels Research program as part of the overall Futurum GTM and Channels Practice. This includes overseeing the channel data rollout in the Futurum Intelligence Platform, primary research activities such as research boards and surveys, delivering thought-leading research reports, and advising clients on their indirect go-to-market strategies. Alex also supports the overall operations of the Futurum Research Business Unit, including P&L segmentation, sales and marketing alignment, and budget planning.
Prior to joining Futurum, Alex was VP of Channels & Enterprise Research at Canalys where he led a multi-million dollar research organization with more than 20 analysts. He played an integral role in helping the Canalys research organization migrate into Omdia after having been acquired in 2023. He is an accomplished research leader, as well as an expert in indirect go-to-market strategies. He has delivered numerous keynotes at partner-facing conferences.
Alex is based in Portland, Oregon, but has lived in numerous places, including California, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the UK. He has a Bachelor in Commerce and Finance Major from Dalhousie University, Halifax Canada.
Tiffani Bova is Chief Strategy and Research Officer at The Futurum Group.
Ranked for the last six years in the Top 50 Business Thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, Tiffani Bova is a thought leader who Forbes says “reshapes our perception of growth.”
As both a practitioner and academic she offers a unique perspective and has helped lead the tech industry through several evolutions over her nearly 30-year career as Salesforce’s former Growth and Innovation Evangelist, and previously as a Distinguished Analyst and Research Fellow at Gartner and a sales, marketing and customer service executive for start-ups and Fortune 500 companies. She is the author of two Wall Street Journal bestsellers: GrowthIQ and The Experience Mindset.
