As a vendor, there are many reasons why you should be using a partner performance dashboard to manage your partner ecosystem. Forrester, for example, notes “Managing a channel is much more complex (and expensive) if it isn’t data-driven.” Here I note just three reasons why you need a partner performance dashboard.
3 Reasons Why You Need a Partner Performance Dashboard
1. Instant Snapshot of the Business
With a partner performance dashboard, a partner can log on, and they’ll see an instant snapshot of their business with the vendor in one screen. At the click of a button they are able to see where they stand on metrics such as sales, incentives, deal registration, program compliance and MDF. And more importantly, their view is completely personalized to them.
In the same vein, a partner can run scenarios on customer opportunities so they can see the total value of the deal upfront. (And if it comes down to two competing vendors, the vendor with the partner performance dashboard will have the advantage. Why? Because that vendor can demonstrate on the spot how much the partner could earn, if they brought the deal to them.)
The ability to provide this level of detail is a significant value-add for any vendor – and a differentiator in a crowded market.
2. Drive Partner Behaviour
Not only does a partner performance dashboard provide a single view of everything the partner is earning – and what they need to achieve to maintain the relationship – it provides a crucial level of insight to the vendor.
For example, a vendor may want to distribute different incentives across their partner ecosystem. This may be discounts off the list price, MDF, rebates, spiffs or even special bids. And it might have the potential to span products, services renewal or subscription pricing. A partner performance dashboard allows the vendor to slice up this data and present it in any way the vendor wants. In addition, the dashboard can highlight how well a partner is doing, against their targets.
Moreover, the vendor can get a detailed picture of how their business in faring in a geography or vertical. This insight gives an opportunity to make any adjustments needed to drive partner behaviour. And like in any business, if a vendor is investing in their partner ecosystem, they want to see a return on that investment.
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3. Lose the Heavy Lifting
Historically, both vendors and partners have spent far too much time and effort trying to harness the data that comes with their relationship. Partner data can be located in a host of different systems, applications, spreadsheets and inboxes. However, having a partner performance dashboard takes all that heavy lifting away. It brings all that data together in one place so the user can quickly and easily leverage it to make critical business decisions.
To summarize, a partner performance dashboard is beneficial on many levels, to both partner and vendor – not least because it takes the guesswork out of the relationship. And put simply, if you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it.
If you are interested in learning more about Partner Performance Dashboards, check out my recent webinar with Jeremy Butt, SVP, International & Strategic Alliances Partners at RingCentral and Balaji Subramanian, Global Channel Chief, SVP Channel Sales at IGEL as we discuss Partner Performance Dashboards for Tomorrow’s Channel Ecosystem:
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