When the Vendor Becomes the Competitor: Is the Line Between OEMs and Channel Partners Blurring?

For decades, the technology channel operated on a broadly understood model where OEMs directly managed a limited number of strategic and large enterprise accounts, while partners extended the vendor’s reach across the wider enterprise, mid-market, SME and startup ecosystem. That balance appears to be coming under pressure as some partners increasingly point to situations where OEM teams are engaging directly with customers that have traditionally been developed, managed or serviced through the c