CHANNEL PARTNER PROGRAM ENABLES BUSINESSES TO SCALE UP SALES FASTER AND MORE EFFICIENTLY

RASHMI BHARGAVA
Chief Revenue Officer, ESDS Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

NEED OF A PARTNER PROGRAMME

For a company with an aggressive growth plan, it needs an accelerator and this can be achieved through Strategic Partnerships, where the partners can expand their influence and create captive market share, leading to a significant increase in revenue. Channel partner program enables businesses to scale sales faster and more efficiently. A single channel manager paired with multiple channel partners can accelerate growth and bring in the same amount of revenue as five or six sales reps, at only a fraction of the cost.Basically, Channel partners facilitate accelerated growth, higher brand awareness, increased revenue, presence in new markets and verticals.

IMPORTANCE OF A PARTNER PROGRAMME

Creating a comprehensive portfolio of products and services to meet customer need while juggling cost and resource constraints is an ongoing struggle for nearly any business. Partnerships can help improve the range of products and services to create more value for customers. Creating or curating a partner program is an investment of time, effort and resources to align it with company strategy and vision. Investments on partner programs largely depend on the value a company is building for its customers.

MAIN CONCERNS TO ADDRESS

The most critical and highly influential factor to be considered while designing a partner program is “Go-to-market strategy” which is uniquely focused on partner relationships. A clearly defined strategy towards the type of partners that the organisation would like to have in its eco- system will reduce bottlenecks. Your strategy can straightaway point out if you need MSPs, VARs, or Consultants, SI, OEMs and ISVs etc.