Strained Relationships With Customers?

Six in 10 channel firms said cloud had "generally" strengthened their ties with customers, down from seven in 10 in 2014, according to the State of the Channel study.

However, 24 percent – about one in four- said the model has "generally weakened" their customer relationships; that's up from 17 percent in 2014.

Part of those shifts may be linked to a fear among many channel partners that cloud vendors would begin doing more direct sales, "siphoning off potential revenue for the channel and diminishing their relevance" with customers, the report from that study said.