Partner relationship management (PRM) software helps channel organizations with recruiting new channel partners and selling products or services. A well-designed partner management application helps such organizations and their channel partners to align their business goals. In addition, access to holistic data from their PRM software allows these channel organizations to better evaluate their partners’ performance.
According to Forrester, partners are giving their loyalty to brands that offer the best PRM systems to smooth their business processes and facilitate knowledge transformation and drive joint opportunities.
In general, a PRM system should provide two environments. One environment that is solely dedicated to the organization’s channel managers and one for partners’ access.
From their Partner relationship management software channel managers should be able to manage their partners and:
- Share important documents and announcements with their partners
- Manage partners, enrollments, and partner onboarding
- Train partners and issue certifications
- Monitor reports, partner activities, and performance
- Manage sales, claims, promotions, and marketing programs (MDF)
PRM software market will grow to $679 million by 2023, a CAGR of 14.2 percent.
The Forrester Wave™: Partner Relationship Management, Q4 2018
At the same time, from the same PRM software, partners and their sales teams should be able to:
- Register deals and opportunities
- Request marketing funds
- Submit claims
- Have access to downloadable documents from their vendor
- View announcements from their vendor
- Receive vendor-approved certifications
End-to-end partner management is critical to reach new buyers.
The Forrester Wave™: Partner Relationship Management, Q4 2018
Components of a Partner Relationship Management Software
Due to the exponential growth in number and types of channel partnerships, channel sales and marketing programs have become more customized and scalable with an automated workflow. Nonetheless, the majority of the PRM platforms in the channel provide the following capabilities to the users:
- Signups as well as contract supervision
- Partner onboarding
- A centralized hub for communication and collaboration
- Partner performance management
- Opportunity distribution and management
- Deal registration management
- Sales enablement
- Co-op and market development fund management
- Claims, rebates, and SPIFF management
- Point-of-sales and inventory management
- Partner training and certification
How to Choose the Right PRM Software
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a partner relationship management software that appeals to all of your different partners and partner programs. However, we recommend selecting PRM software that is easily configurable, flexible, and customizable.
Before starting your PRM platform evaluation, outline your channel program goals. Also, determine which partner and at what level will they participate in each program. Once you have a clear picture of your objectives, define the requirements and criteria a PRM Platform needs to have in order to help manage your partners. For example, if your organization is using or plans to use enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, make sure the PRM solution is able to offer integration.
Search for an intuitive and straightforward software that is easy to use without the requirement of an IT department. Therefore, the decision-making process should involve a wide range of people in your organization. You may want to even reach out to your channel partners and take into consideration their opinion.
After choosing a PRM solution comes the challenging, yet rewarding, task of implementing your new platform. Prior planning will make the deployment easier on all involved. Make sure to add a timeline and cost to your PRM system implementation plan. Prepare the necessary material for training internal staff and your partners thereafter.
Our experience as a SaaS PRM provider has shown that companies that measure and monitor their partners’ usage as well as seek continuous improvement, gain the greatest benefit from using a partner relationship management (PRM) software.