Mark Iles, Chief Analyst, APAC Channels, Omdia, said at the Canalys Forums APAC 2025 that partner programs are changing.
The industry is facing friction ranging from complex program design to execution challenges such as speed, over automation and lack of human touch, along with localization gaps. His remarks during a panel discussion on Future Partner Programs at Canalys Forums APAC 2025 reflect a transformation in the channel as vendors and partners recalibrate their strategies.
Canalys’ latest analysis on the future of partner programs shows a major shift as partners move away from hardware driven businesses toward services, software, cloud and recurring revenue. Hardware contributes only about 13 percent of partner profitability, indicating a long term decline as customers demand integrated solutions, managed services and specialized expertise. Partners are now operating with an average of more than three business models, combining consulting, integration, managed services, software development and cloud delivery to remain competitive.
This transition is pushing vendors to rethink their partner engagement. Traditional reseller frameworks are no longer adequate, and vendors are expected to simplify incentives, support recurring revenue, expand training and certifications, and enable partners to build and deliver solutions instead of focusing on product resale. Canalys highlights that for every one dollar of hardware opportunity, there is almost two dollars in managed services potential, reinforcing the need for partner programs to evolve.
Catherine Lee, Director, Global Partner Programs, CrowdStrike, said partners are clearly benefitting from the company’s programs as they expand their capabilities and revenue opportunities.
Jonna Bell, Global Director, Channel Marketing, Qualcomm, said the company has introduced a fundamental shift to ease collaboration, bringing more transparency in co selling and co creation and taking the Snapdragon story to customers for outcome driven partnerships.
Lovelesh Parasher, Director, Orbit Techsol, said partners are solving real customer issues and programs are pushing them to elevate their capabilities. He said most programs are now built around customer success and partners are delivering outcomes that benefit both sides.
He added that even adding one LLM certification can be a major challenge for partners, but partner programs are gradually becoming simpler and more supportive. He said customers are moving to subscription or opex models and increasingly expect multi platform skills, from on premises to cloud based capabilities. He said new vendor programs will help partners evolve faster.
Liong Eng, CEO of Silverfern IT, said customers are seeking outcome based solutions supported by lifecycle ecosystem programs. He said more engagements are happening through SaaS and his company has transformed into a solution focused business over the last 34 years. He said lifecycle focused vendor programs will support partners as they retrain teams, build stronger relationships and form solution based engagements despite limited resources. He said training programs are already helping partners adapt.
As changes in customer engagement reshape partner incentives, the discussion on the Future Partner Programs track at Canalys Forums APAC 2025 highlighted how vendor programs are evolving across the customer lifecycle. The speakers emphasized that partners who embrace new reward structures, outcome based sales motions and recurring service models will be best positioned for long term growth in a rapidly shifting channel landscape.
Canalys reports highlight that global vendors are redesigning partner programs around customer lifecycle value rather than traditional resale margins. Incentives are increasingly tied to adoption, consumption, retention and customer success. Partners must build deeper technical and consulting skills to capture these incentives. Vendors like CrowdStrike, Qualcomm and Orbit Techsol are aligning programs to reward solution integration, recurring revenue and cloud-driven engagement.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
