Social Media or the so-called Web 2.0 applications are undoubtedly changing the consumer’s behavior. Channel strategies have to adapt to the dynamic environment created by the Internet’s presence. What are going obsolete? Traditional sales techniques, local sales territories, and named accounts are giving way to virtual customer communities, small but frequent deals, and citing expert opinions. In technology, packaged and complex software needing installations are being replaced by Software as a Service (SaaS), Hardware as a Service (HaaS), cloud computing, and open source technology.

In channel marketing, social media, partner virtual communities, wikis, RSS feeds, Twitter, etc. are in and partner portals, lead generation, and classroom training are heading out. It was only a few year ago when consumers search items on the net to find information on the product but still visit the actual store to buy it. Now, users read blogs, forums, ask friends on their social network and buy the product directly from the website.

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