What 2021 taught us about Channel and Partners

02.24.22 07:00 PM By Vartopia Team
Yet again, the adage “when the going gets tough, the tough get going” has come true. 2021 saw some companies accelerate their growth, while others struggled or even went under. “The Obstacle is The Way”, written by Ryan Holiday, provides great examples of companies who persevered through some of the hardest times modern civilization has seen. He cites an example that 50% of all Fortune 500 companies in business today were started during the worst economic times possible. 2021 showed us that organizations who raced to perfect digital transformation of their channel far outperformed organizations still stuck in 2018 relying on tradeshows. Organizations that have shifted to SaaS models, historically relying upon layers of distribution as a route to market are now being faced with the harsh realities of margin stacking, and pricing models that don’t hold up to two parties taking their fair share. MSPs, MSSPs, VARs, and everyone in between are now faced with a new reality that the world has choices, managed services historically performed by low-cost resources are now being automated and everyone is being forced to adapt. 2021 was a year where partners and vendors alike were forced to reinvent either a portion or their entire channel due to market changes. It really became a tale of two sides to the problem, with a winner and clear loser emerging as the year closed. M&A in the reseller world also stole the headlines of channel websites, exposing a world most had not yet been previewed to. Acquire to grow, acquire to stay alive in the world where ARR is the gold standard of measuring growth. HoJin Kim, Vice-President of worldwide and North American channel sales, SonicWall also mentioned that “the evolution will begin in the channel when partners acquire smaller partners who hold specific expertise around verticals or new revenue streams and when regional partners start acquiring local companies in order to increase their geographical footprints and acquire more technical expertise. With leveraging M&As to tap into the new market, the channel ecosystem will continue to differentiate and add business value to customers.” At Vartopia, in 2021, we continuously worked hard towards making the year count. We rethought all our plans, streamlined the products & services, explored new avenues, reconfigured our offering to the customers, and trained the internal team and ourselves with ample room to continue to learn & grow. 2021 taught us quite a couple of additional lessons, like: For Vartopia, 2021 was no different. We heard from our prospects, partners, and customers that they had begun to recognize that deploying a PRM was no longer the only way to get partners' attention. Our customers told us that they cannot compete with partners who have 50+ portals to login to. So, 2021 was for Vartopia, what it was for many technology companies. A foundational year for future growth, and springboard for the next wave of channel management technology.

Vendors recognized that their Partner Portal was no longer a competitive advantage

It is impossible to compete with all the Partner Portals available in the market. Hence, vendors look for different opportunities that they can apply to their strategies so that the partners don't feel the need to log in to the partner portal. It is impossible to compete for mindshare at resellers like CDW when 10% of the vendors they work with spend more money on funded heads a month than your entire partner program budget has annually. A partner portal, with a “build it and they will come mindset” is a key recipe for grand expectations and a decent ROI not being recognized.

Creating a partner experience is more than just having a Partner Portal

A partner’s decision to do business with you is driven by a combination of factors, the least of which is usually whether you have a pretty partner portal or not. We saw increased vendors coming to Vartopia acknowledging this fact and asking for ways outside of the typical partner portal deployment to solve this. “How do we humanize our partner program?” has become the biggest question vendors are looking to solve in a day and age when everything is digital. Partnerships rely on people working together and forcing technology into the mix sometimes isn't the answer. Partner programs that are built to drive engagement, along a thoughtful journey that mixes in equal partners human connection and automation via partner portal technology will thrive in 2022.

Sophistication in simplicity

The main challenge is not with the program, but the difficulty lies when the partners do not participate, qualify, or even engage with your program. This could happen when the program is too confusing and complex and the partners' earning criteria are not clear. Usually, the main challenge of a partner program is in the difficulty or frustration experienced when partners do not even engage with the program at all. Your organization has invested time and resources thinking through the strategy, content, tools, and humans needed only for the program to fall flat. That being said, always KISS (Keep it simple, stupid). If it is even remotely confusing for folks inside your organization, how would it be received for folks outside your organization?
  • Clearly communicate how to earn incentive dollars and put that information front and center!
  • Just because your organization sees it as a “benefit” does not mean your partners do.
  • Do not spray and pray with your partner recruiting, be a sniper and go after partners who you know you will win together with!

The Year has just begun!

The learnings from 2021 should be considered, and the focus should be made on providing personalized experiences for every partner with appropriate rewards and tailored offers, materials, and support based on the organization's needs. As with everything in life, hindsight is 20/20. We should always use some introspection to make sure the same mistakes are not made as we head off into the remaining chunk of the year. It is not too late to make 2022 the best year your channel has ever seen! Request a demo today to find out how Vartopia’s customers are leveraging these learnings to help our customers accelerate their channel!

Vartopia Team