When it comes to modern businesses, organizations that have a need and/or desire to scale quickly. Undoubtedly, they will choose to invest in technology to act as a force multiplier within their various areas of focus. Specifically in the channel, PRM software is often regarded as the go-to solution having channel automation. Especially for organizations that are looking to automate their various routes to market via partners; which leads to increased market share and brand recognition. Whether your organization is just launching its first channel program, OR your
partner program is mature and in need of a refresh; the challenges you face will be the same. Ultimately, by leveraging PRM software your organization will be able to eliminate - 1) low-level tasks 2) reduce errors 3) decrease the cost of going to market via a partner program.
Automation, automation everywhere (except channel)
Your marketing team is using
marketing automation to identify and nurture potential customers through the pipeline. Marketing automation kicks in again when marketing is tasked with driving upsells to current customers via customer marketing campaigns. Your development team is using tools like GitHub to push new code onto your cloud servers, your sales team is using automation to prospect, and customer success is using tools like Gainsight to automate which playbooks to run in which scenarios. Often, it seems like the only part of the company not using automation is the channel. So why is channel automation usually the last toolset to arrive within the technology stack of an organization? Stepping into the modern era,
PRM software is seeing wider adoption. Various technology companies have built configurable and customizable solutions that organizations can choose from to meet their channel automation needs.
Automation doesn’t guarantee success, but it sure can be a catalyst
Even in 2021, we come across organizations that would largely be considered laggards when it comes to the deployment of channel automation to augment their partner program efforts. Big and small, old and new, vertical doesn’t matter. There are still organizations today that fail to comprehend the impact that Channel automation can make on everything from the top line, all the way to the bottom line. Spreadsheets, manual notifications, box folders... you name it, we have seen it. It doesn’t have to be this way. Implementing PRM software can help with everything from lead management, distribution tracking, duplicate management, approval workflows, renewal management, content sharing, enablement, and everything in between. For example, by leveraging automated
deal registration organizations can save seven to eight minutes off every deal registration they process. Multiply that by hundreds or thousands of registrations a year, and those minutes add up to a full-time employee doing nothing more than data entry.
Channel Automation is equal to No worries
One of the worries when considering the adoption of
PRM software is that they will lose a handle on the true definition of “partnership”. Fear of putting a layer of technology between reps will tarnish or diminish the relationships between the people putting in the work. We believe this could not be further from the truth, as channel automation removes the low-level tasks that often get in the way of focusing on relationships. Another concern organizations have is that automation will cause channel leaders to lose sight of their brand, position in the market, and competitive pressures. By allowing technology to handle the distribution of content, and enablement less focus is put on those resources daily. This results in a potential gap between a change in the market, and the ability to immediately adapt the content being driven to partners. We also believe this to be false. Modern
PRM software enables channel leaders to make changes on the fly, often times right from their CRM. Instead of managing one-to-one enablement, and emails with requests for materials from the field; channel marketers can streamline the process by automating the delivery of that via their partner portal.
Conclusion:
It is fair to say that the days when organizations trusted humans more than computers are behind us. With today’s technology, moving data, eliminating errors and tracking progress are table-stacks; and tasks we are happy to relegate to a time long ago. Why take eight minutes processing a deal registration when we can hire software to do it for us in seconds? The indirect channel business is definitely adapting technology faster today than it did yesterday. To not only stay competitive but also reduce costs and increase the return on the overall investment in the channel. With a properly configured channel automation platform, organizations will see partner engagement increase almost immediately. The result, partners are more informed, have more trust in your organization, and will send deals your way more often. It is beyond question that channel automation will result in increased partner satisfaction, and engagement but the ultimate goal is channel revenue.
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