Discovering the Hidden Value of PRM
Rob Desisto, Chief Value Officer, Salesforce
Partner Relationship Management (PRM) applications have been around for 18 years, but have yet to take hold in the market. Over the same period, CRM spend has seen explosive growth across every industry in companies small to large. So with one-third of the world’s business generated by third-party sellers, why hasn’t the PRM category grown or at least kept pace with CRM?
The short answer is PRM has kept pace. The caveat is that this growth is not visible.
Most businesses have created custom portals that cobble together siloed processes such as ordering, lead distribution, and training that are connected to various systems and data sources. A few niche PRM vendors have tried to create point solutions for partners. However, these solutions have not gained traction because of their narrow focus on partner enablement without considering partners as part of a broader CRM strategy. PRM initiatives work best when they are part of an overall CRM strategy where a company and partner channel collaborate to optimize end-customer experiences.
CRM + PRM
PRM applications built on a broader CRM platform directly address the pitfalls of custom portals or niche provider approaches. A key challenge facing most companies has been making CRM actionable for partners and facilitating a more collaborative go-to-market approach. For example, partner or channel managers would love to leverage CRM analytic capabilities to gain insight on customer segments against partner coverage and performance. Providing clarity to the partner and the channel manager on what is happening across the joint pipeline/shared business objectives is foundational to any PRM strategy. The high tech industry has recognized the value of blending PRM and CRM to create a better experience for partners. These companies use this new blended approach to improve partner recruitment, manage partner profiles, distribute leads intelligently, optimize market development funds, and create quotations.
To read the complete article, “Discovering the Hidden Value of PRM,” visit Quotable.com.
