08.17.16
By Chris Smith, VP of Technology
PRM stands for Partner Relationship Management and is a critical set of tools for companies hoping to engage and empower their channel partners. Whether it’s family, friends, co-workers, customers, partners or the over-achieving neighbor down the street, all relationships are unique and above all, challenging. But the good ones, the thriving relationships, are built around these four things:
Topics: Channel Best Practices, PRM
This week, hosts Charlene O'Hanlon, channel industry editor & writer, and Diane Krakora, CEO of PartnerPath, chat about the 2016 CRN Women in Channel list. What's the relevance of this list and what does it indicate for the channel?
Topics: videocast
The following is an excerpt from our 2016 State of Partnering report: 10 Trends for a 2020 Vision, using survey responses from over 100 vendors, 200 solution providers and years of industry data.
As the transaction model shifts to the cloud and channel partners become more ingrained in developing full solutions for customers, they will develop more partnerships as well. We’ve been talking about peer-to-peer or partner-to-partner relationships for almost a decade. In the age of reselling in 2006, the thought was almost unimaginable. VARs only partnered with other VARs under duress – in cases when they needed to partner for the bench strength to service customers with dispersed regional offices. This year, nearly 40% of solution provider respondents reported regularly partnering with an average of three to five other solution providers. And 30% of respondents regularly partner with six to eight other solution providers. This is a 10% increase over just last year. And less than 10% reported they didn’t partner at all with other solution providers. In ten years, we’ve had a complete reversal of these metrics.
Topics: Channel Best Practices
This week, hosts Charlene O'Hanlon, channel industry editor & writer, and Diane Krakora, CEO of PartnerPath, attempt to finish off our ongoing conversation started through blogs and a recent webinar about the evolving role of the Partner Account Manager (PAM).
Topics: videocast
By Diane Krakora, CEO
How would you define your partner account managers (PAMs)? Are they reactive, fighting fires and responding to partner issues, or are they proactive, helping partners improve their relationship with your company?
If you answered “reactive,” you’re not alone. For so long, the role of PAMs has been just that, focusing mainly on onboarding new partners and taking care of the needs of current partners. The PAMs of yesterday were designed to be reactive in nature.
Topics: Partnering Tips, Channel Best Practices
07.27.16
By Diane Krakora, CEO
I was a Channel Account Manager two, maybe three, decades ago. Way back then, the role was primarily reactive and somewhat administrative. I recruited new partners into my territory, harangued them to a sales goal, ate a ton of bad pizza during “lunch and learns,” and chased stocking orders through distribution. Although the role of the Partner Account Manager has changed to a more pro-active business adviser to your set of partners, the underlying traits of a successful PAM haven’t changed much.
Topics: Channel Best Practices
By Chris Smith, Vice President of Technology
Is your PRM solution (if you have one) built to turn your Partner Account Managers (PAMs) into rockstars? PAMs (or Channel Account Managers – CAMs) are the face of your company to your partners. According to our 2016 State of Partnering Report, the preferred way a partner would like to interact with their vendor is through a Partner Account Manager.
Topics: Channel Best Practices, PRM
This week, hosts Charlene O'Hanlon, channel industry editor & writer, and Diane Krakora, CEO of PartnerPath, ponder some of the recent announcements coming out of the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference that took place July 10-14, 2016 in Toronto, Canada.
Topics: News and Programs, videocast
The 2016 Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference attracted 16,000 attendees from 144 countries over 3 days (July 10-14) in Toronto, Canada. Drinking thousands of beers (and tweeting even more) we knew there would be some great quotes to share. We pulled together 16 of our favorites. Which do you like best?
Topics: News and Programs
It is always sad when a relationship doesn’t work out. Both sides have put time and effort into the partnership, and at least one side didn't get the results they wanted.
You may think this is harsh, but we consider the partner account manager (PAM) at fault for every solution provider relationship gone awry. Don’t scream. We know they can’t control every factor of the vendor/solution provider relationship. However, as the designated primary point of connection between the two organizations, they are responsible for communication and collaboration.
Topics: Channel Best Practices
