Market Guide for Partner Relationship Management Applications

The PRM application market has expanded significantly in the last 10 years, with vendors offering improved end-to-end and point solutions for the management of channel sales partners. This Market Guide will help IT leaders gain insights into the PRM vendor landscape.

Key Findings

• Applications in the partner relationship management (PRM) market are usually preselected by sales or marketing leaders. This leaves IT leaders little time to make comprehensive technology decisions.
• IT leaders supporting sales are challenged with assessing which PRM vendors might best suit their channel organization, as the technology to support the channel sales approach has evolved to a highly advanced level in the last five years, which is not yet familiar to all industries.
• The majority of organizations manage their various channel activities with a mixture of outdated and homegrown processes (driven primarily by spreadsheets) and customized legacy systems, rather than evaluating and implementing today's rich functionalities provided by commercially available PRM applications.

Recommendations

For IT leaders supporting sales:

• Use this Market Guide to gain an overview of PRM vendors supporting the channel sales model in different ways, which will help with the evaluation process of single vendors.
• Evaluate your channel organization's needs in sales, marketing and partner services for PRM applications, then draw up a shortlist of PRM vendors from the profiles in this Market Guide.
• Learn the core, commercially available PRM technology differences available on the channel market by referring to this Market Guide.

Strategic Planning Assumption

By 2018, 20% of B2B organizations will have changed their indirect channel sales approach by focusing on commercially available PRM applications.

Market Definition

Gartner defines partner relationship management (PRM) applications as helping channel sales personnel – that is, channel sales leaders, channel account managers, channel program managers and channel marketing resources – to devise strategies and provide functions to support the control of a manufacturer's multitier sales channel environment. PRM applications also enable manufacturers to interact more efficiently with their sales partners through collaboration platforms, campaign and lead management, sales enablement, and partner program management (with marketing development funds [MDFs], for example).

PRM application development has placed an emphasis on the automation of processes and better partner collaboration. This might extend into an overall enhanced support for the sales partner management life cycle. PRM applications help minimize the resources required for the manufacturer's organization to monitor the complexity of the channel sales model.

The PRM application market is diverse. In one group, there are vendors offering full channel sales partner management functionality, end to end, and mostly in several different modules. Normally, these modules can be acquired independently but provide all delivered features out of one source. A second group of vendors specialize in dedicated areas within the sales channel environment, such as channel partner marketing systems (CPMS), providing in-depth capabilities to complement other PRM applications and/or to supplement CRM systems.

To provide a structured overview of the PRM market, this research is separated into two parts to highlight the emerging trends relevant to IT leaders supporting sales. Gartner notes that PRM applications are relevant to all parts of the channel sales business model, from marketing lead qualification and deal registration, through to opportunity management, partner incentive programs, partner life cycle management and partner services.

• Part 1 details the PRM vendors whose products satisfy the end-to-end management of channel sales partners and their environment, also called packaged PRM applications.
• Part 2 details vendors that offer dedicated and specialized software and tools to support parts of the indirect channel sales business.

In order to qualify for Part 1 of this Market Guide, the functionalities of all vendors within the four core processes of PRM applications were compared against the most common features. The different features delivered by process vary from vendor to vendor, but vendors selected for Part 1 of this Market Guide have demonstrated coverage of about 75% of the most common processes (see Table 1 below for the core processes).

Table 1. Common Features of the Four Core Processes of PRM Applications

PRM = partner relationship management
Source: Gartner (February 2016)

About half of the vendors selected for this Market Guide qualified for Part 1, as they were able to demonstrate delivery of end-to-end management capabilities.

Vendors featured in Part 1 are (in alphabetical order):

• Apttus
• bpm'online
• Entomo
• Gorilla Toolz
• Impartner
• Oracle
• PartnerPath
• Pegasystems
• Relayware
• Salesforce

The remaining vendors deliver point solutions, specializing in dedicated functionalities in one or more areas of the above listed PRM processes, but do not provide full management capabilities. These vendors display mostly strong to very strong functionalities in their provision of channel partner marketing systems. Some are combined with analytics (see Table 2).

Table 2. List of Vendors Featured in Part 2 of This Market Guide, Including Their Area of Core Functionality

Source: Gartner (February 2016)

Market Direction

For many industries, today's commercially available PRM applications provide multiple technical functionalities "out of the box." Not only do they support the administrative workload in the manufacturer's channel organization, but they also satisfy the needs and requirements of the different roles and functions at partner organizations. These PRM applications are putting the partner at the center of the indirect sales approach, as this is needed to secure future sales growth in the indirect channel.

Nonetheless, PRM applications are not serving all industries in the same way. As an example, the health industry grants an inventor, via patent rights, the possibility to exclusively produce and sell a drug for a number of years. After the patent expires, the secondary market steps in and starts selling this same drug. In either case, doctors and other healthcare professionals are dependent on the continuous education that pharmaceutical sales reps provide. These particularities will have to be addressed in the PRM application for this dedicated industry in order to be of any use to the drug manufacturer. Generally, it can be said that in industries where there is a need to ensure accurate communication of complex messages, PRM applications become less attractive – PRM applications help to support automation in marketing, sales and overall collaboration, but they cannot replace human interaction.

On the other hand, most of the conditions in today's marketplace, such as the common use of the Internet, are driving new business opportunities, such as sales orders via the Web. These changed conditions make it increasingly difficult to operate a channel program purely on spreadsheets. The business environment, especially customer behavior, is changing and getting more complex to address, which calls for technological support in order to, for example, deliver a forecast report. In a previous era, collection of data from partners was via the phone, then recorded on paper, summarized by an employee and presented sometime after to management. Once ready for presentation, the data was already outdated, as two to three days had passed since its collection. These days, the pace of doing business has increased exponentially, and pressing a button to get the current forecasting momentum for a management decision that has to be taken now is creating competitive advantages, allowing for more accurate decision making. This is the reason demand for PRM is rising and why so many channel managers and IT leaders are thinking hard about which application to use.

Future developments for PRM applications will include even better reporting capabilities. All PRM vendors provide basic dashboards and standard reports, but some have already explored the expansion of these fact-based summaries as many customers (and also channel sales organizations) are demanding their further development. Much time can be saved by easy "drag and drop" functionality, providing users with their own set of individual reports within a few clicks of the mouse.

Mobility is one of the core advantages that PRM applications provide nowadays. As CRM systems have already satisfied this demand some time ago, PRM applications are now following this trend. Mobile functionality provides channel sales with the possibility of ease of data entry, almost anywhere 24/7. Mostly, as a result, this leads to an increase in data quality as data is entered right after the event, meeting, or generally once information is available.

The PRM arena includes vendors complementing their rich portfolios of customer management applications with PRM additions to satisfy most of their customer needs. Among these vendors you will find Apttus, bpm'online, Oracle, Pegasystems, Revitas and Salesforce.

Further, there are PRM-dedicated vendors that are market specialists – for example, BrandMaker, Elastic Grid, Entomo, Gorilla Toolz, Impartner, LogicBay, PartnerPath, Relayware, Showpad, StructuredWeb, Successful Channels, TIE Kinetix, Zift Solutions and Zyme.

Partnerships and alliances between the "broadliners" of this market and vendors that specialize in PRM-dedicated solutions can be expected to scale each other's business. Vendors featured in Part 2 are more likely subject to being acquired by, for example, CRM providers, as they complement and satisfy "to the point" requirements of the indirect sales channel.

Market Analysis

Sixty five percent of organizations in the high-tech industry have already adopted and implemented PRM applications, some 10-15 years ago. Even though these supportive applications were self-developed and only provided "to the point" management in those early days, their primary target was (and still is) to extend market reach and to deliver a significant percentage of company revenue. By 2018, it is anticipated that 20% of midsize and large organizations will have changed their PRM application approach to focus on commercially available PRM applications.

Today, commercially available PRM applications can address any management demand by both manufacturer and channel sales partner, as and when required, due to technological advancement. Many more industries have discovered PRM applications for their use, but still fall behind the early adopters in the high-tech arena.

IT leaders can gain an overview of the industries mainly served by the PRM vendors featured in this Market Guide in Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3. List of Vendors Featured in Part I and Their Most Served Customer Industries

HW = hardware; SW = software
Source: Gartner (February 2016)

Table 4. List of Vendors Featured in Part 2 and Their Most Served Customer Industries

HW = hardware; SW = software
Source: Gartner (February 2016)

Future trends will see more of the non-high-tech and nonmanufacturing industries adopting commercially available PRM applications. The advantages of these channel-sales-dedicated tools become more apparent when compared to the possible customizations of legacy systems, or even organizations developing their own applications, as maintenance and regular updates are performed by the PRM vendor.

Packaged PRM tools are developed mostly as SaaS-based applications; only a few vendors are able to deliver on-premises solutions on top. This cloud-based technology provides the advantage of not having to invest in additional hardware, which would cause additional maintenance. However, IT leaders must then decide which interfaces into the existing IT infrastructure most satisfy the desire for one customer data repository for their organization. Most manufacturers choosing a commercially available PRM application allow for interfaces into their ERP and CRM systems to merge all customer data. Traditionally, transactional customer information is kept in the ERP system (for example, orders managed, returns and warranty claims), while end-user data is maintained through the direct sales teams via the CRM system. But it is also submitted via channel sales partners, allowing for the additional analysis of the indirect sales channel end-user market.

Furthermore, all the vendors in this Market Guide allow for data integration into the most common ERP systems, but also into CRM systems; these include SAP, Salesforce and Oracle. The standard systems for integration into ERP and CRM are listed in the individual vendor profiles in Part 1 and Part 2 of this research note.

All PRM vendors detailed in this Market Guide provide SaaS-based applications, but some offer on-premises delivery on top. Those that provide both are:

• bpm'online
• BrandMaker
• Revitas

Most vendors operating in the channel sales arena are headquartered in the U.S.; only a few have their corporate organizations in Europe. No featured vendor has its main office in any other continent. This American/European predominance is reflected also in customer coverage. All of the vendors have customers based in the U.S., many show customers in Latin America (LATAM) and Europe. Fewer are operating in Australia and Japan, while only one vendor has customers in Africa (see Tables 5 and 6).

Table 5. Overview of the Geographical Distribution of PRM Vendor Customers Featured in Part 1

LATAM = Latin America; PRM = partner relationship management
Source: Gartner (February 2016)

Table 6. Overview of the Geographical Distribution of PRM Vendor Customers Featured in Part 2

LATAM = Latin America; PRM = partner relationship management
Source: Gartner (February 20116)

Representative Vendors

The vendors listed in this Market Guide do not imply an exhaustive list. This section is intended to provide more understanding of the market and its offerings.

Part 1: Representative Vendors of PRM Applications, Facilitating the Full Spectrum of Sales Channel Management Demands

Apttus

www.apttus.com

Profile: Apttus offers a Quote-to-Cash suite that delivers end-to-end automation of critical revenue, generating processes for the multichannel strategies of midsize to large enterprises. Apttus has built configure, price and quote (CPQ), contract, billing, ordering, commerce and renewals applications on the multitenant Salesforce1 Platform. Key capabilities like product catalogs, storefronts, recommendations, offers, promotions/rebates and analytics are offered via SaaS to enable partner commerce, direct sales and e-commerce.

Key PRM products: Apttus Partner Commerce, Apttus CPQ, Apttus CLM, Apttus Rebate Manager, Apttus Promotions Manager, Apttus Order Management, Apttus Billing

Additional products: Apttus Deal Management, Apttus Quote-to-Cash Intelligence, Apttus Dynamic CPQ

Key facts:

• Headquarters: San Mateo, CA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: High-technology, manufacturing, communications, life sciences
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, JD Edwards, Microsoft Dynamics (AX and NAV), Sage and Intacct
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Microsoft
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Akamai, Neopost, CenturyLink

bpm'online

www.bpmonline.com

Profile: A vendor of process-driven software for sales, marketing and service. The core value of bpm'online products is their agility to change processes faster and align marketing, sales and service on a single platform. Users enjoy the bpm'online interface with its social look and feel, free from redundant information to keep them focused on what's relevant. The company employs more than 550 experts and serves over 6,000 customers worldwide.

Key PRM products: bpm'online sales, bpm'online marketing, bpm'online service, bpm'online partner portal

Additional products: bpm'online mobile sales

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Boston, MA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: Financial services, professional services, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): Oracle ERP Cloud, SAP ERP, SAP ERP Human Capital Management (HCM), Sage, NetSuite
• Proven integrations (CRM): Provides open API for integration
• Deployment options: SaaS (68%), on-premises (32%)
• Notable customers: Heinz, Bayer, Virgin Connect

Entomo

www.entomo.com

Profile: Entomo is a provider of turnkey cloud-based channel revenue management software and services. It helps businesses effectively manage distribution channel complexity to maximize revenue, reduce costs, improve partner performance and ensure compliance. Entomo's SmartHub is a flexible, scalable and comprehensive channel enterprise platform. Global enterprises rely on Entomo for clean, trustworthy point of sale (POS) data, claims validation and automated channel workflows (see Notable customers).

Key PRM products: Entomo SmartHub – Channel Revenue Management

Additional products: Entomo Channel Revenue Management for Salesforce Developer Community (SFDC), Entomo DealDesk for SFDC, Entomo DesignDesk for SFDC

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Bellevue, WA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, EMEA, Asia/Pacific, ANZ
• Industries represented: High-tech, consumer electronics, networking
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP ECC, Oracle, NetSuite, JD Edwards, Baan, Oracle PeopleSoft
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, SAP Cloud for Customer (C4C), Oracle, SugarCRM
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Broadcom, Dolby Laboratories, United Technologies Corporation (UTC)

Gorilla Toolz

www.gorillatoolz.com

Profile: Gorilla Toolz offers a complete SaaS PRM product suite, from partner onboarding through to deal registration, product ordering, incentive management and partner education. The workflow and notification engines are tailored to customer needs. Channel teams can add portal pages, content and ad-based messaging targeted to partner groups. The suite is fully integrated with Salesforce using real-time bidirectional data exchange.

Key PRM products: EcoSoft 4.0

Additional products: Vartopia's deal registration platform

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Wantagh, NY
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM
• Industries represented: Information technology, manufacturing, healthcare
• Proven integrations (ERP): None at the moment
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Pardot, eTrigue, Marketo, Vartopia
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: VMTurbo, Adallom, Advanced Reproductive Care (ARC Fertility)

Impartner

www.impartner.com

Profile: Impartner is a responsive SaaS PRM technology that integrates seamlessly with any CRM system and is the only PRM solution available on the Salesforce AppExchange. Impartner's PRM combines single and multitenancy in a hybrid model, delivering both instant updates and customization. Impartner offers both standard APIs and a full native scripting language for easy integration, as well as security features including three tiers of sandboxing and robust logging/auditing capabilities. It also has certifications for the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), Burp and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Key PRM products: Impartner PRM, Impartner Enterprise

Additional products: Impartner Marketing View

Key facts:

• Headquarters: South Jordan, Salt Lake City, UT
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: Software-technology, hardware-technology, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): None at the moment
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Oracle CRM On Demand, Microsoft Dynamics, SugarCRM
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Xerox, Fortinet, National Instruments

Oracle

www.oracle.com

Profile: Oracle offers a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications and platform services, including PRM application. With more than 420,000 customers in over 145 countries, Oracle provides one of the most comprehensive product portfolios. Oracle's cloud-based and on-premises solutions give customers deployment flexibility and application integration, advanced security, high availability, scalability and powerful performance.

Key PRM products: Oracle Sales Cloud Partner Relationship Management

Additional products: Oracle Marketing Cloud, Oracle CPQ Cloud, Oracle Service Cloud, Oracle Data Cloud, Oracle Learning Cloud, Oracle

Sites Cloud, and Oracle Cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) solution

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Redwood City, CA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: Hi-tech, automotive, financial services (insurance, wealth management)
• Proven integrations (ERP): Oracle E-Business Suite, JD Edwards, adopters for non-Oracle legacy ERP systems
• Proven integrations (CRM): All Oracle Clouds, Siebel, adopters for non-Oracle legacy CRM systems
• Deployment options: SaaS (private or public)
• Notable customers: Avaya, VSP, Mercedes-Benz

PartnerPath

www.partner-path.com

Profile: PartnerPath follows a particular vision – "partner channel is the key to profitable, scalable growth." Seventeen years on the market and managed by experts with deep knowledge of channel management demands and challenges, PartnerPath supports small to midsize companies in their attempts to succeed with rapidly growing partner ecosystems. Partner portal, enrollment, marketing development funds (MDFs), training paths, deal registration and directory modules are all flexible and proven to increase sales and profitability. PartnerPath aims to help engage, empower and manage successful partners.

Key PRM products: PartnerPath PRM solution (a suite of modules)

Additional products: Channel consulting and benchmarking materials

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Menlo Park, CA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: IT (hardware and software), financial, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): Through REST API
• Proven integrations (CRM): Through REST API
• Deployment options: SaaS (public and hybrid)
• Notable customers: Apptio, EdgeWave, PayPal

Pegasystems

www.pega.com

Profile: Pegasystems offers strategic apps (systems of innovation/differentiation) for sales, marketing, customer service and operations. It uses algorithmic programming (predictive analytics, declarative business rules) to guide real/virtual agents, streamline opportunities and engage customers in real time in omnichannel interactions. Applications are built in a unified PaaS to give business users visual tools to rapidly and continuously improve. Pegasystems PRM applications complement its sales force automation (SFA) products.

Key PRM products: Pega Sales Force Automation (Pega SFA)

Additional products: Customer service, marketing, mobile, customer decision hub (analytics and big data), process and case management

Key facts:

• Headquarters: 1 Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: Financial services, media/communication, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP, Salesforce
• Proven integrations (CRM): Pega, SAP, Salesforce
• Deployment options: SaaS (private, public, hybrid), on-premises
• Notable customers: AIG, Allianz, UnitedHealth Group

Relayware

www.relayware.com

Profile: Relayware is a leading PRM solution that improves channel performance and accelerates revenue growth. Relayware offers four PRM applications that include essential partner program functionality, such as mobile-ready portals, onboarding, training, sales, deal registration, MDF and marketing. The complete set of software and services produces valuable insights into partners' effectiveness improves their training and empowers them to reach their potential.

Key PRM products: Partner Portal Pack, Partner Sales Pack, Partner Training Pack, Partner Marketing Pack, Partner Cloud and CRM Connector

Additional products: Quick Launch Portal, Relayware Managed Services

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Oxford, U.K. and Jersey City, NJ
• Customer geographies: North America, U.K., Russia, China, India, Israel, Japan
• Industries represented: High-tech manufacturing, computer software, telecommunications
• Proven integrations (ERP): REST API connectivity to multiple ERP apps
• Proven integrations (CRM): Through CRM Connector for Salesforce
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Kaspersky Lab, Adaptive Insights, GE Oil & Gas

Salesforce

www.salesforce.com

Profile: Salesforce Partner Community is part of the overall sales supportive applications of Salesforce and helps to strengthen the performance of indirect channels by accelerating sales of products and services through connecting distributors, brokers, agents or resellers to an organization's critical data, files and business processes. Built on the Salesforce1 Platform, companies of all sizes can share important CRM data or data from any third-party source with partners. Partner Community is built to be mobile-responsive, making it easy for partners to access experts and collaborate anytime, anywhere.

Key PRM products: Partner Community, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud

Additional products: Pardot, Wave Analytics, Salesforce Apps, Salesforce1 Mobile, AppExchange – including POS (Zyme, Channelinsight) and DocuSign Electronic Signatures

Key facts:

• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia
• Industries represented: Hi-tech, manufacturing, financial services
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP, Oracle (via Salesforce Apps including Lightning Connect)
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce is a CRM system
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Honeywell, ING

Part 2: Vendors Offering Dedicated and Specialized Tools to Support Parts of the Indirect Channel Sales Model

Channel Data Management

Zyme

www.zyme.com

Profile: Zyme's Channel Data Management (CDM) solution facilitates enterprise-grade decisions by responding to real time, granular channel intelligence. Benefits include increased sales, reduced costs, better-targeted MDF and improved segmentation. Zyme offers a cloud-based platform, data steward services, and a worldwide channel directory of more than 1.25 million partners for guaranteed database quality, plus support for a wider range of formats, and best practices that enhance reporting compliance.

Key PRM products: Zyme Connect

Additional products: Data management, Zyme Incentives, Zyme e-commerce

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Worldwide – Redwood Shores, CA; EMEA – Reading, U.K.
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: Consumer technology, enterprise networking, industrial automation
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP, customizable
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, through APIs
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Microsoft, Xirrus, Schneider Electric

Channel Partner Marketing Systems, Sales Enablement and Fulfillment

TIE Kinetix

www.tiekinetix.com

Profile: TIE Kinetix empowers vendors, retailers and distributors by accelerating and automating business with partner communities. This helps organizations generate more demand through partners by automating content marketing, mobile, social and e-commerce tactics. Businesses can also maximize their partner's performance and reduce operational costs around ordering, billing and shipping through advanced document capture and integration capabilities.

Key PRM products: FLOW – partner automation

Additional products: Demand generation, through-partner marketing automation, integration, connected business network, analytics and optimization, business intelligence and search

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Breukelen, Netherlands
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: Technology, telecom, retail, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): Epicor, Oracle, SAP, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics (AX and NAV), Great Plains, Infor, Unit4, Exact, JD Edwards, BlueCherry
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Microsoft, Epicor, Zoho, SugarCRM, Marketo, Adobe, HP Engage, OpenText
• Deployment options: SaaS (public, private, hybrid)
• Notable customers: Unify, Webroot, Sodexo

Channel Partner Marketing Systems and Sales Enablement

Allbound

www.allbound.com

Profile: Allbound is an intuitive, partner-friendly channel collaboration platform that connects people, content, technology and data for accelerating channel sales. Allbound provides alternative technology to complex portals, legacy PRM systems and cluttered inboxes that restrain channel performance in today's customer-driven sales cycle. Allbound is freeing organizations to focus on their customers by replacing time-consuming power struggles with powerful partnerships.

Key PRM products: Allbound platform

Additional products: None

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: IT/SaaS technology, telecommunications, financial services
• Proven integrations (ERP): NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite, HubSpot CRM, SugarCRM, Zoho, Close.io, Base CRM, Pipedrive, Infusionsoft, Oracle Sales Cloud
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Cisco, Dell, Absolute Software

Showpad

www.showpad.com

Profile: Showpad's sales and channel enablement platform guides all sales interactions by pushing the best-fit content in the right context to sales reps and partners – on any device. Sales reps and partners can then share relevant content during every sales interaction and sell anytime, and from anywhere. Showpad's powerful reporting helps marketing and sales teams understand content usage and productivity to align efforts closer to revenue goals.

Key PRM products: Showpad

Additional products: None

Key facts:

• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
• Customer geographies: North America, Europe, South America, Asia/Pacific, Australia, Japan
• Industries represented: Manufacturing, healthcare, technology
• Proven integrations (ERP): n/a
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Roche, Xerox, Intel

Sales Execution – Channel Partner Planning and Performance Management Tools

Successful Channels

www.successfulchannels.com

Profile: Successful Channels provides channel planning and performance management tools for accelerating partner revenue and ROI growth. Its systems are designed to simplify the work of channel managers to deliver expert and highly customized support to partners with their business, growth and marketing plans. Successful Channels integrates with Salesforce, portals, MDF systems and channel marketing tools. A unified Channel Chief dashboard is provided for managing overall channel performance.

Key PRM products: 10-Minute Partner Business Planning and Profitability Modelling Tool; 10-Minute Partner Scorecarding and Performance Management Tool; 10-Minute Partner Marketing Plan and ROI Calculator; 10-Minute Partner Quarterly Business Review (QBR) Tool; and a Channel Chief Performance Management Dashboard

Additional products: Channel support services – Partner Business Plan Template, Partner Scorecard Development Services, Partner Marketing Plan Development Services, Channel Account Manager Training Services

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Centerville, MA
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia, Japan
• Industries represented: Technology, telecom, manufacturing
• Proven integrations (ERP): API's for ERP
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce bidirectional
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: EMC, IBM, ShoreTel

Channel Partner Marketing Systems

BrandMaker

www.brandmaker.com

Profile: BrandMaker is a leading provider of sophisticated partner marketing technology – dynamic content management, planning and budgeting including MDF, partner portal and collaborative marketing – enabling partners to be good marketeers. BrandMaker partner management software solutions are targeted at medium and large-scale organizations. BrandMaker is a pureplay SaaS vendor, delivering valuable and differentiated partner marketing and sales enablement capabilities to more than 300 customers in 86 countries.

Key PRM products: Marketing Efficiency Cloud

Additional products: n/a

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Karlsruhe, Germany
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Japan
• Industries represented: Automotive, finance/insurance, pharma/healthcare
• Proven integrations (ERP): SAP, Oracle
• Proven integrations (CRM): SAP CRM, Oracle CRM, Salesforce, update7
• Deployment options: SaaS (90%), on-premises (10%)
• Notable customers: Audi, Bayer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Elastic Grid

www.elasticgrid.com

Profile: Elastic Grid's Channel Marketing Management platform enables global organizations to drive more revenue across channel networks. Elastic Grid's approach includes uniting marketing specialists, best-in-class channel processes and a cloud-based channel platform to allow channel teams to effectively scale end-to-end marketing processes. Channel teams value the increase of performance through targeted co-branded marketing campaigns.

Key PRM products: Channel Marketing Management (CMM)

Additional products: Full service creative agency, marketing specialist team

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Layton, UT
• Customer geographies: U.S., LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Australia, Japan
• Industries represented: High-tech, finance, insurance
• Proven integrations (ERP): n/a
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Google, NetApp, Juniper Networks

LogicBay

www.logicbay.com

Profile: LogicBay offers its PRM software application as its core product. Its cloud-based PRM application enables customers to increase their indirect sales channel partner revenue and productivity while driving down costs of supporting their partners. Functionality includes lead management integrated with HubSpot and Salesforce, learning management, marketing and communications, content management, and an integrated business intelligence module.

Key PRM products: Partner Performance Cloud

Additional products: Channel Program Blueprint, premium service package and consulting services

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Wilmington, NC
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: Heavy equipment manufacturing, software/hardware technology, franchise systems
• Proven integrations (ERP): Oracle PeopleSoft, Saba, Cornerstone
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Hyster-Yale Materials Handling, Caterpillar, Texas Instruments

Revitas

www.revitasinc.com

Profile: Revitas provides enterprise-class solutions for channel and contract management, on-premises and in the cloud. Revitas solutions enable organizations to accelerate revenue through diverse, multilevel sales channels and attain maximum value from contracts. On the market for over 25 years, Revitas services customers in channel-intensive industries to achieve best-in-class performance and sustainable competitive advantage.

Key PRM products: Channel management solutions for incentives, chargebacks, claims validation, accruals, and channel analytics that are highly complementary to PRM systems, dramatically extending its functionality

Additional products: Sales rebate, incentive and royalty management; chargeback/billback management; partner and end-customer contract management, redlining and approvals; milestone management; claims validation; accruals; analytics

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Philadelphia, PA
• Customer geographies: North America, Europe, Japan
• Industries represented: Pharmaceutical, life science, aerospace & defense
• Proven integrations (ERP): Oracle, SAP, NetSuite
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Oracle Sales Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics, NetSuite
• Deployment options: SaaS (20%), on-premises (70%), other (10%)
• Notable customers: Pfizer, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline

StructuredWeb

www.structuredweb.com

Profile: StructuredWeb's channel revenue marketing and management platform helps global enterprises acquire, grow and manage their indirect sales channels, driving top-line revenue and ROI. The integrated partner management and channel marketing SaaS platform engages channel partners in the planning, execution and tracking of marketing programs and MDF investment.

Key PRM products: StructuredWeb Partner Management, StructuredWeb Channel Marketing Automation, StructuredWeb Content Syndication, StructuredWeb Social Syndication, and StructuredWeb Channel Analytics

Additional products: StructuredWeb Lead Distribution, StructuredWeb Sales Portal

Key facts:

• Headquarters: New York City, NY
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific
• Industries represented: High-tech hardware/software, voice over IP/collaboration, document imaging
• Proven integrations (ERP): Oracle, SAP
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: VMware, GE, Cisco

Zift Solutions

www.ziftsolutions.com

Profile: Zift Solutions is in the business of providing the technology and services to improve channel sales and marketing for clients and their resellers, dealers and distributors. Through a sophisticated platform of multichannel marketing capabilities, combined with an integrated partner support system, Zift can create the environment for partners to access content, personalize marketing materials, execute marketing programs and manage their leads to close more business.

Key PRM products: Channel marketing and management (includes Lead Distribution Management, Content Syndication, Social Media Syndication, Through Partner Marketing Automation and Shared Analytics)

Additional products: Website analytics, ad retargeting, online advertising, concierge and managed services, lead telequalification (BANT), round-trip reporting, lead distribution, lead automation, social network integration, CRM integration, marketing automation integration

Key facts:

• Headquarters: Durham, NC
• Customer geographies: North America, LATAM, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Africa, Australia, Japan
• Industries represented: Information technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, financial services
• Proven integrations (ERP): Microsoft Dynamics AX, SAP
• Proven integrations (CRM): Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Sage CRM, SugarCRM, Oracle Fusion CRM, Zoho, Intuit Quickbase
• Deployment options: SaaS
• Notable customers: Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Cisco, Oracle

Market Recommendations

IT leaders will have to evaluate their channel sales requirements by not only analyzing the technological support required, but also by investigating the needs of their external stakeholders – the sales partners.

Furthermore, when fragmented or isolated tools are already in place, it is recommended that IT leaders start with an inventory report. Fragmented or isolated tools are those that are in use by single channel sales teams, but not part of a wider channel IT strategy. In marketing, they can be found providing support for assigned partner leads, but they are not used, or even known by, the channel sales team, for example. This disruptive technological approach allows for inefficiencies as data is stored and worked in several partner data repositories. Given the above example, it will be difficult to answer one of the most common questions of channel management: "How many leads have been generated for our sales partners and have turned into closed-won opportunities?"

Depending on the requirements of your channel sales organization, we suggest you evaluate the vendors featured in either Part 1 or Part 2 of this Market Guide. For more details on how to evaluate PRM vendors, please refer to "How to Evaluate Partner Relationship Management Applications."