This is an interesting perspective we having been hearing a lot about in the partner community some time. Undoubtedly the classic VAR business model is under extreme stress and needs to evolve. Volume licensing cloud-based IP with self-service provisioning is certainly one viable path forward for partners, but I doubt many have what it takes to transform into true SaaS providers. The real opportunity for VARs - and what most customers really want I think - is to step up their offering around adoption and value realization. As an industry we typically pushed adoption and value realization into the "customer responsible zone". It's messy business because it requires us as consultants to step into all of the customer's messiness and complexity, and in doing so accept uncomfortable risks. Historically the Microsoft partner channel, and many other vendor channels, existed for the sole purpose of transferring capability in the form of enterprise software, into a customers hands through the implementation process. What the customer has always wanted however is an OUTCOME - not in the form of a deployed software solution, but a measurable change in their business. For channel partners who are bold enough, the Cloud offers an opportunity to enthusiastically dive in with customers to optimize the outcomes they receive from the product. Cloud customers don't want to license software assets or manage complexity, they want to pay for an Outcome-as-a-Service. Elliot Fishman CEO Catapult