Is it time for Microsoft to go direct?

Microsoft is one of the few large tech companies that rely on an indirect channel. Using resellers made business sense when Microsoft was growing and their products were sold in boxes. As Microsoft’s solutions grew in complexity, resellers took on the role of consultants, and adding value to the solution became their mantra. But the cloud and the SaaS delivery model changes the picture. The trend in SaaS solutions is to deliver an ever more “out of the box” and hassle (and when I say hassle I mean consultant) free experience. That doesn’t fit the reseller channel model of adding value. Worse, cloud solutions support small and medium sized companies which are far less profitable, if profitable at all, for resellers. Resellers were an asset to Microsoft in the early days and a value for a long time, but they’re starting to look like an inefficient layer that separates the customer from Microsoft. That’s bad, and with the ongoing march of SaaS, it’s not going to get better. It may be time for Microsoft to start seriously considering a transition plan to a direct sales model.