Q&
EDITOR’S
F
or a partner programme to be truly
successful it needs to be relevant in
the current market and address both
current and future industry and technology
trends. With technology areas such as
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning
(ML), Big Data and IoT now increasingly
available, vendors need to ensure partners
can access and take advantage of these
emerging areas of innovation.
It is also important to recognise that all
partners will be at different stages of cloud
adoption. For example, there are cloud-
native partners, partners that have made
INTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
INTELLIGENT
TECH CHANNELS
Issue 28
PAUL FLANNERY, VICE PRESIDENT,
CHANNEL SALES, INTERNATIONAL
REGION AT EPICOR SOFTWARE
the transformation to selling cloud and then
partners that still need to make the transition.
An effective partner programme needs
to address all of these areas and recognise
that for partners to make the move to cloud,
there are different business challenges that
need to be addressed. For example, moving
customers to the cloud and away from
on-premise means moving from upfront
margins and guaranteed revenue streams to
monthly, or even annual, agreements.
This can present a number of potential
issues for resellers – from cashflow and
revenue management to a lack of long-term
customer relationships. Vendors should be
aware of these challenges and prioritise
resolving these so that partners can move in
line with the direction the market is heading.
To do so, vendors should be creating solid
annuity-based revenue streams that
reward partners for continued margins and
customer retention. This will help support
business growth and predictability.
To build a partner programme that
works – and continues to work through
both market and technological advances
– vendors should be considering how they
can create further opportunity for their
partners. After all, partners won’t be in the
programme for a one-off deal – they need
to develop a business focused on value
creation that is also built for sustainability.
Any partner programme or agreement
must support partners to add more value
beyond the products they are offering to
give customers a better experience in order
to encourage brand stickiness. By doing so,
partners can guarantee reoccurring revenue
streams and vendors can ensure long-
term partnerships.
To further support and enable partners,
vendors should be working closely with them
through joint planning sessions, ensuring
they have a shared vision and financial
model. Easy and open communication and
collaboration across the channel will only
build for further success, so ensuring a
strong cultural fit between partner and
vendor is essential.
While it may seem simple, in order for
partners to thrive, vendors should be making
sure they are ready and aware of how to
address market opportunity, focusing on
how to not only create demand for the
product/service but how to then manage
this demand. It is the responsibility of the
vendor to ensure partners are equipped
with the right skills sets and are able to
understand customer problems and how to
address them on time and on budget.
Ultimately, vendors should be
empowering channel partners to represent
them in the best way possible. As an
extension of the brand, it is in the best
interest of vendors to provide them with the
correct tools for success.
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