Take the software out of the name, and you identify the problem. Service(s) are not products, not matter how much we want to believe we can “productize” them. Products can be returned, services can’t. Products can be replaced (if broken), with a bright new shiny one, services can’t.

Successful distribution of products relies on the “producer” to establish itself in the market. SalesForce is a great example — there are resellers of SFDC, and they can make money. SFDC has created market demand, resellers can in many cases, service a market (or geo) much better than SFDC — and add some level of value. Accenture has a had a very successful SFDC integration service for years.

It can be done. The role of resellers is not to make the product “sell” in the market, their role is to fill demand created by the “maker” — in more efficient and “valuable” way.