Ease of Doing Business

By Cecilia Valdes, Consultant

The ease of doing business is a common goal between channel partners and technology vendors. However, the rapid change in technology has added to multiple partnering business models in offering technology solutions. Only a few years ago the predominant partner types were value-add resellers, corporate resellers and systems integrators. Now there are Infrastructure as a Service Providers, Managed Service Providers, Outsourcers, Software as a Service Providers, Storage as a Service Providers, Technology Providers and many more. In addition, many partners have multiple business models. As we continue the migration to service delivery models via private and public clouds, partnering business models will also have to continue to evolve.

Providing Real Value With a Partner Development Manager

By Susan Pessemier, Consultant

As vendor technologies and partner business models have become more complex and focus more heavily on services, engagement has become most crucial for determining channel relationship success. If done right, little else matters.

So what is currently missing? Solution providers expect more from the vendor enablement process than ever before. It’s not enough to simply get a welcome letter from a channel manager and login credentials to the channel partner portal.

Partners want more hands on support, better guidance during business planning and faster deployment of resources to achieve a quicker return on their vendor relationship. In fact, most partners expect to start selling in the first six months of entering a vendor relationship and to achieve an average ROI of 200 percent in the first 12 months.

Vendors need to start transitioning partner management from a program management function to a true business development function within the next 2-5 years and the way to begin this process is to build a suitable role for someone to lead the charge. In Amazon Consulting’s Thought Leadership Brief on “The Strategic Role of the Partner Development Manager,” we discuss what it takes to enhance your team with this new channel leadership role.

6 Key Steps to Partner Automation

“Doing the Right Things – Now”

Kevin Rhone – Director, Client Services

Justifying budgets is an unending task for most companies. Can we justify an investment in automation technology? Is our business mature enough to absorb the time and expense to grow to the next level? Is now the right time?

In Amazon Consulting’s last Webinar, “Engaging and Empowering Service Providers Through Partner Automation,” I had the opportunity to interview Patrick Simonds, Partner Program Director at Ciena Corporation, to discuss some of the lessons that Ciena  learned while implementing a partner automation system. 

“Automation for Ciena has been about making our newly documented program real,” said Mr. Simonds. “It makes our partners accountable and helps them see what their program participation looks like. Through automation, we can share requirements and benefits with partners so they always know where they stand.”

The Secret Weapon: Partner Automation

Kevin Rhone– Director, Client Services

Picking the right time for your company to automate makes me think of the question, “What comes first, the chicken or the egg?” Understanding your partners’ needs and then developing processes and technology to make business easy seems to be a no-brainer. So what is the big roadblock for taking that plunge to automation?

In Amazon Consulting’s Webinar, “Engaging and Empowering Service Providers Through Partner Automation,” I had the opportunity to interview Patrick Simonds, Partner Program Director at Ciena Corporation, to discuss some of the lessons that Ciena learned while implementing a partner automation system. We looked at one of our most recent exclusive channel study, “Service Providers and Cloud Services – Leaders or Laggards” to set the stage for this discussion.

Whose Job is it Anyway? Partnering Automation Imperatives for a Cloud World

Cary Tengler– Director, Client Services

It would be odd to sign up for wireless phone service and not get a detailed monthly bill, right?

And these days you get on-line bill-pay, web chat and customer service options as well. You’re also able to view your voice, data, and text rates, usage and activity in excruciating detail. All of that information, however, comes not from Apple, Google or Nokia, but from your service provider – the wireless carrier. AT&T or Verizon or Sprint is your service provider, so that’s where you expect the “service.”

But in the world of Cloud and SaaS computing solutions, where do channel partners go for support? IT VARs have historically worked with their vendors and distributors, while agents have worked with carriers, CLECs, and other voice and data providers. The increasing adoption of Cloud-based services is causing IT vendors and service providers alike to rethink the role and investment requirements of partner automation, communication, and collaboration tools.