The customer experience is the new Holy Grail that defines business success. And for a company that sells through indirect channels, the front gate of that experience is the partner portal. This eBook delves into what you can do to improve your partners experience and thus increase success.

1. To be successful with partners, you need a good product, right? You need to be profitable
for them to sell, correct? And, you need to be easy to do business with? True enough?
Unfortunately, the last one is the stumbling block for many…and yet, in today’s market, it’s
becoming what can ultimately make or break a businesses. The customer experience is the
new Holy Grail that defines business success. And for a company that sells through indirect
channels, the front gate of that experience, is the partner portal.
To be successful with partners,
you need a good product.The No. 1 reason your
partners may not love
you anymore...and
what to do about it.
Hint: It’s probably
not your product,
it’s your portal.

2. pg 2
You need to be profitable for them to sell. Correct? And, you need to be easy to do
business with. True enough? Unfortunately, the last one is the stumbling block for many…
and yet, in today’s market, it’s becoming what can ultimately make or break a business. The
customer experience is the new Holy Grail that defines business success. And for a company
that sells through indirect channels, the front gate of that experience is the partner portal.
To be successful with partners,
you need a good product. Right?
For many, being easy to do business with is
the stumbling block for success in today’s market.

3. pg 3
Often, it’s a home grown, cobbled together site that’s built onto or cut out of a CRM system.
Typically, these sites have a huge tech debt, with a dated look and feel, dated content,
technology that’s years old and are a single sign on nightmare.
It’s ironic then, that for many companies,
the partner portal is the “ugly step child”
of their company’s Web portfolio.

4. pg 4
Partners have had enough. They want what can feel like a fictional “one site to rule them all”
experience from the vendors they do business with – or they will go somewhere else.
Independent analyst research proves this over and over. Falling behind your competitors on the
“ease-of-doing-business” front is unforgivable in today’s market.
“The transacting business element of their vendor relationships is the most burdensome to
customers and is the one thing that causes them to shift their investments and wallet share to
other vendors. Given that partners closely associate ease of doing business with your channel IT
systems, if your partner loyalty is waning, it’s time to reinvest in a more robust, modern Partner
Relationship Management (PRM) capability.”
— Principal Forrester Research Analyst Tim Harmon, “Partner Relationships Need Their Own Management System.” August 2013
What’s the real danger to your business?

5. pg 5
...Sadly, not only is a poor partner
portal experience turning off your
customers, it’s costing you money to
maintain legacy systems. Plus, the
potential for compliance issues abound,
given dated PRM systems often fail
compliance audits because they lack the
necessary documentation processes for
remuneration and MDF allocations.
You’re not just losing partners…
And what’s worse, your legacy PRM is depriving
you of your ability to truly manage your partner
relationships. CRM systems have long helped
companies see their customers and optimize their
performance, but those systems are designed for
end users. They are not purpose built to optimize
partner relationships, depriving you of your ability
to manage the predictability and repeatability of
the team that in essence, IS your sales team.
You’re losing money
AND the ability to
manage relationships!

6. pg 6
Fortunately, Forrester’s Harmon stresses in his report, cited on previous pages, that the desire for
a more modern way to navigate the vendor/partner relationship is something both sides crave.
“You, and your partners, crave ‘modern PRM
weaponry.’ Mobile, social, HTML5, REST APIs —
these are the technologies upon which today’s
applications are being built.”

7. pg 7
So, what’s the hold up? In reality, you’ve probably taken a run at this more than once.
You’re not alone.
Here are the top 3 barriers organizations
typically face, and how to break through them.

8. pg 8
Why the barrier: Messy navigation, old content, CRM integration needs, a multitude of poorly
integrated solutions for MDF and deal registration, tons of different opinions on what ought to be
done but no real internal best practices expert, and a fear of months of work — all combine into
what feels like something that will distract the organization from other tasks.
The “too hard” barrier.
What to do: Look for simple, easy-to-deploy SaaS solutions that fully integrate tools that you need to use to service your partners –
automated onboarding, deal registration, MDF management, and lead distribution. And, look for a solution provider that brings best practices
to the table. Tap into those learnings and find a provider that is fully versed in best practices and can truly be your steward in helping you make
the transition successful.
When you outline a best practice solution for your team and a simple transition process to get you from your old PRM to your new PRM that
everyone can wrap their heads around, you’ll inspire your organization’s confidence in the decision. They’ll know the transition can be made
without grinding other activities to a halt.

9. pg 9
Why the barrier: PRM solutions are not new. In the technology journey to where they are
today, some have been better than others, but until just recently, have not been modularized
to encompass everything a company needs to have a world class PRM solution. Multiple
stakeholders, endlessly customized options and very few true best practice guidelines have
scared off many transformations for fear of ballooning costs.
The “too expensive” barrier.
What to do: Look for a vendor that can provide a solution that encompasses everything you’re looking for with a defined,
pre-packaged feature set and transition process.
A clean line of sight to best practices, a defined set of technologies that will give you a world class portal and PRM solution,
and a defined, turnkey budget that’s all inclusive makes it much easier to get folks to buy off on a consolidated package and
not worry about surprises.

10. pg 10
Why the barrier: As the SaaS market has exploded, so have the technology options. Marketers and sales folks are worried about
the customer experience and the IT team is worried about bringing solutions into their mix that don’t integrate well with existing
technologies or could cause system vulnerabilities. Very often, the IT team assumes that in their enthusiasm to transform the
customer experience, IT infrastructure requirements have been overlooked or underestimated.
The “My IT team is worried about
integrating another technology” barrier.
What to do: Look for a solution provider that can tell you how they integrate with leading CRM systems, how they address security
concerns and how they deliver and meet SLAs. Make sure you’ve checked out those things before you bring in IT, and inspire confidence.
As a marketer or sales person, when you make sure proactively that the solution you’re bringing to the table meets the IT requirements as
well as transforming the customer experience, you’ll inspire confidence that you’re in no way cavalier about the system integrity they are
responsible for maintaining. You’ll show you’ve carefully thought the vendors you’ve considered.

11. pg 11
Impartner provides the industry’s most technically robust SaaS PRM solution – which can
launch in 30 days using the company’s highly engineered onboarding process. Based on years
of customer research, the process ensures organizations flow through a series of carefully
choreographed steps to choose, purchase and deploy a world class partner portal and PRM
solution. Impartner PRM will immediately improve the ease of doing business with their
company and allow them to optimize their partners’ performance.
Take 30 days, and transform your business with Impartner PRM.
Fortunately, one company has already
anticipated these barriers.
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