Ecosystems, Channels, & Marketplaces

Winning with Channels, Marketplaces, and Next-Gen Partners

Enterprise Applications are the lifeblood and framework for accomplishing work in the modern organization. We examine 12 categories of applications used in the enterprise, including Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship  Management (CRM), Workplace Collaboration, Human Resources, Supply Chain & Logistics, Analytics & Business Intelligence  (BI), Project & Portfolio Management (PPM), Industry/Vertical-Specific Applications, and Communication Services, and delve into how they shape the broader enterprise information architecture. We also focus on the underlying technologies and systems that power these applications, including artificial intelligence and automation, and assess how trends in employee engagement and experience impact the market. 

When working on strategy, product, marketing, and sales initiatives, consider intelligence from our expert analysts – planned deliverables for 2026 include:

  • Market Data – bi-annual market sizing & five-year forecast  
  • Decision-Maker Survey – bi-annual IT Decision Maker survey  
  • Analyst Insight Report – a report on critical issues in the industry  
  • State of the Market Report – a report on technology, markets, products, and vendors
  • Futurum Signal Report Access – any Signal Report published in the relevant practice area

Market Taxonomy

The Channel Ecosystems Market, by Submarket

The submarkets Futurum's Market Data model sizes and forecasts across this practice.

  • AI, Data & Analytics

    Foundation model APIs, MLOps, data warehouses, and analytics.

  • App Development & DevOps

    CI/CD, testing, automation, and developer-productivity tooling.

  • Infrastructure

    Operating systems, networking, middleware, and cloud-optimized software.

  • Security, Identity & Management

    Identity, compliance, threat detection, and workload protection.

  • Business Apps & Productivity

    Vertical and horizontal SaaS delivered via marketplaces.

  • Professional Services & Migration

    Managed-service bundles, migration accelerators, and integration.

Scoped to third-party software and services transacted through hyperscaler marketplaces.

The Latest Insights On Ecosystems, Channels, & Marketplaces

Nomios Acquires Orbcom to Plant Its Flag in Iberia

Nomios Acquires Orbcom to Plant Its Flag in Iberia

Nomios, backed by Keensight Capital, acquired Orbcom, a €15M Portuguese cybersecurity firm with 80 professionals, establishing its first Iberian presence [...]
ANZ Distribution ERP

Epicor Deepens ANZ Distribution ERP Channel With Conveyance Solutions

Keith Kirkpatrick, Vice President, Research, at Futurum, covers Epicor's partnership with Conveyance Solutions, which the company says delivers faster time [...]
Persistent Lands Nagarro: A Channel-Ready AI Services Play

Persistent Lands Nagarro: A Channel-Ready AI Services Play

Persistent Systems secures 83.25% of Nagarro SE in voluntary takeover, combining European engineering talent with AI consulting capabilities as channel [...]
Wayve Lands Mercedes-Benz: Embodied AI Enters Premium Auto

Wayve Lands Mercedes-Benz: Embodied AI Enters Premium Auto

Wayve and Mercedes-Benz will integrate Wayve AI Driver into premium vehicles within two years, marking the first generalized AI driving [...]
Stablecoin Meets Mainstream: NBX Taps Tieto Banktech for Card Infrastructure

Stablecoin Meets Mainstream: NBX Taps Tieto Banktech for Card Infrastructure

Norwegian Block Exchange signs with Tieto Banktech to offer digital and physical Visa payment cards for stablecoin users, marking a [...]
Adyen Bets on SMB Embedded Finance With Flatpay Partnership

Adyen Bets on SMB Embedded Finance With Flatpay Partnership

Adyen's partnership with Danish fintech unicorn Flatpay positions the payment giant as the financial infrastructure backbone for SMB embedded finance [...]

The Latest NEWS

Partner Growth Polarization 51.5% Expect Strong Gains
August 28, 2026

Partner Growth Polarization: 51.5% Expect Strong Gains

Partner growth polarization is splitting the technology channel in 2026: 51.5% of partners now expect strong growth while the moderate middle collapses and the flat-or-declining group quadruples, The Futurum Group...
The Orchestration Era Why Your GSI Program Is Already Behind
April 17, 2026

The Orchestration Era: Why Your GSI Program Is Already Behind

Futurum’s Tiffani Bova and Alex Smith explore how AI is collapsing the GSI consulting pyramid, ushering in the Orchestration Era. Vendors must shift to outcome-based partnerships....
Marketplace Ecosystem Map Companies Reshaping Software Buying - Report Summary
March 26, 2026

Marketplace Ecosystem Map: Companies Reshaping Software Buying – Report Summary

Alex Smith at Futurum shares insights on the transformation of the enterprise technology marketplace into a complex ecosystem of Hyperscaler, SaaS, Agentic/LLM, and Distributor archetypes, reshaping software procurement....
Co-Sell Support Jumps 14.6 Points to 39.2%, Displacing Developer Tools as Channel Partners' #1 Vendor Priority
March 4, 2026

Co-Sell Support Jumps 14.6 Points to 39.2%, Displacing Developer Tools as Channel Partners’ #1 Vendor Priority

Futurum survey of 400 channel partners finds channel partner co-sell demand surged to #1 vendor priority while training collapsed to last, as portfolio competitiveness anxiety doubled....
The Journey to Agentic Commerce Has Begun, and Marketplaces Will Be at the Nexus – Report Summary
January 8, 2026

The Journey to Agentic Commerce Has Begun, and Marketplaces Will Be at the Nexus – Report Summary

Alex Smith, analyst at Futurum, shares insights on how autonomous AI agents and new interoperability standards are redefining B2B transactions and positioning cloud marketplaces as the nexus of the digital...
Hyperscaler Marketplace Spending Surges as Enterprises Shift Software Budgets
December 17, 2025

Hyperscaler Marketplace Spending Surges as Enterprises Shift Software Budgets

Alex Smith, Research Director at Futurum, shares insights from new research showing hyperscaler marketplace spending surpassing $21B in 2025 and accelerating toward $42B by 2029 as enterprises shift software procurement...

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Welcome

The vision behind everything in Futurum’s Custom Research practice is this: research should show you what is happening, what comes next, and what to do about it. It should be personal to each audience, easy for people to grasp, and structured so LLMs can reason over it accurately. And it should be fast and turnkey; you want answers now, not another project to carry for quarters.

Whether you are defining business, channel, or go-to-market strategy; evaluating vendors or justifying ROI; or commissioning research to fill an emerging market need, we have your back, with a program that answers your questions with the objectivity and credibility to drive real decisions.

To do it, we bring unmatched data to bear: Futurum research, surveys, and market projections; validated market feeds; ETR’s 15 years of insight from 10,000 technology decision-makers; G2’s buyer and user data; and what our analysts hear every day. Add leading primary collection, from AI-moderated voice interviews to surveys and analyst-led interviews, all turnkey, and every project comes out credible, nuanced, and actionable.

And we don’t just drop the results in your lap. For internal work, we provide analyst-led sessions, interactive dashboards, and a range of formats. For market-facing work, Futurum delivers turnkey activation and amplification that actually gets seen, by people and by LLMs, through our media and share of voice. This is research that moves decisions and markets.

We will meet you wherever you are, from a fast-turn brief to a multi-year program, and shape the work to your goals, timeline, and budget. The right program for your moment.

If any of this is useful, I would love to talk.

Benjamin Brown, VP Custom Research, Futurum Research

Benjamin Brown

VP, Custom Research · The Futurum Group

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