The Role of Distribution in Service Delivery

As more legacy technology vendors transition from transactional to service- or consumption based sales models, they’re asking what role the traditional two-tier model of selling through distributors will play going forward. This question isn’t new.

Since the dawn of the Internet, everyone from futurists to pundits have predicted the disintermediation of distribution resulting from more technologies being sold online through marketplaces and e-commerce. To some, the role distribution plays in the service-based market seems to decline as fewer tangible products and durable goods need warehousing, logistics support, and credit and financing facilitation.