The traditional partner model was built for a very different era of technology and go-to-market execution.

If you lead partnerships, channels, or ecosystem strategy, you’re likely seeing the shift firsthand. Modern partner ecosystems are evolving rapidly, yet many organisations are still trying to run them on assumptions designed for a previous era.

For years, channel programs were built around resale. Partners sold products, vendors drove demand, and distributors helped scale reach. That model worked well when technology was simpler and go-to-market motions were easier to define.

Today, the structure of the technology ecosystem looks very different.

Partner ecosystems are expanding, marketplaces are accelerating new buying motions, and artificial intelligence is reshaping how customers adopt, deploy, and operate technology. As a result, the role partners play in the technology value chain is changing quickly.

In this episode of the Investible Partnerships™ Podcast, Des Russell speaks with Alex Smith from the Futurum Group about how partner models have evolved across major industry shifts, from the client-server era and traditional channel resale, through the rise of cloud platforms, to today’s ecosystem-led and AI-driven go-to-market models.

Together they explore:

• Why the traditional resale-driven partner model no longer explains how value is created

• How marketplaces are changing procurement while increasing the need for partner expertise

• Why simply signing more partners rarely solves ecosystem growth challenges

• How the growing complexity of ecosystems is forcing organisations to rethink partner roles

• What Futurum Group describes as the next generation of “frontier partners,” and how AI may reshape partner operating models