Introduction

Curious what the key differences are between a software distributor and channel
partner? It’s important to understand that a distributor is a type of channel partner, so
it’s not a case of one versus the other. 
The main differentiator between distributors and other types is that they communicate
with other partners rather than with end-users. If successful, they act on your behalf to
grow program participants and manage the relationships, further enabling scalability
and international expansion without burdening your team. For these reasons, many
popular SaaS companies leverage distributors to achieve rapid growth, but this strategy
is not without potential downsides.

Learn whether distributors make sense to use with your channel program, how they
compare to other types of channel partners, and what software we recommend to help
support the relationship.