The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it a need to invest heavily in digital transformation. Businesses that once had brick and mortar premises were suddenly forced to go offline.

As such many businesses chose to explore the realm of ecommerce and many have found success in online sales. However, an alarming trend has raised its head according to Infinidat in which vendors are seemingly overlooking channel partners in favour of their own direct-to-customer sales solutions.

While this is all good and well, by overlooking channel partners in countries such as South Africa, vendors stand to great more harm for themselves than good.

“The reality is that channel partners are an integral and essential part of the route to market in South Africa and other developing countries. They are an effective extension of vendor business, helping to create a presence and geographic reach in more areas, as well as offering service, support, maintenance and other value-added services that enhance a vendor’s brand. Without channel partners, vendors may find it difficult to serve these markets effectively,” explains Hayden Sadler, country manager for Infinidat in South Africa.

The aspects of support and maintenance are incredibly important here as these can’t always be accomplished abroad. Having a point of presence with channel partners who have a deep understanding of the product gained through training and working with it is invaluable.

Of course, if vendors are willing to establish support services in a country, then selling directly to customers could be a good idea. However, the value that channel partners provides stretches further as they are often seen by customers as trusted advisors.

A good channel partner can and should be platform/vendor agnostic which likely isn’t attractive to vendors, but this helps establish trust and can potentially lead to sales in future.

This is a matter of playing the long game and while it may be tempting to see profits climb right now through direct sales, the potential damage this could do to the channel ecosystem is not something worth risking.

“Taking a long-term view is essential to creating sustainable business models and cutting channel partners out is the antithesis of this approach. Our focus now, more than ever, should be on supporting partners with training and development, building trust and loyalty, and maintaining relationships that will inevitably prove critical to future success,” adds Sadler.

Of course, this all comes down to what is best for your particular business, but it’s worth taking a hard look at your ecosystem and what you plan to risk by going direct to the customer.