It is premature to prescribe best practices in the still-nascent field of partnering models in the Software-as-a-Service market.  There is no doubt, however, that SaaS demands a fresh perspective on the vendor-channel partner relationship.

Although the concept of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) has been around since about 2000, adoption of this web-based approach for delivering business software is still a work-in-progress.  That’s because SaaS is not just a delivery model; it represents an entirely new business model. 

The fundamental differences in this new business model, from how partners make money to who controls the customer relationship and who is ultimately responsible for customer satisfaction, are issues that are still playing themselves out in practice. In our latest Thought Leadership Brief, you can learn:

• The definition of the SaaS model
• The relationship and business impact of the new model
• Examples of successful vendor programs
• The five critical success factors in creating a SaaS channel

To read this latest Thought Leadership brief from Amazon Consulting, click here.

SMB—It's Finaly the Real Deal!
By Gail Russell, Consultant

“SMB” has been the on the tips of channel chiefs' tongues for years. The partner community has heard all the partner program “hype”, and most of them live the dynamics of serving this market every day. But vendors are paying more than lip service as they make major investments in corporate strategy, sales resources and marketing to enable the channel as the primary route-to-market for various sub-segments of the SMB market.

With worldwide SMB IT spending in 2008 expected to grow 7% or more - faster than overall IT spending per IDC - and with over 50% of service providers’ revenue expected to come from SMB (< 1000 seats) per Ziff-Davis, the numbers back up the SMB story. Consider the double digit growth of SMB focus in EMEA and emerging markets (e.g. BRIC which is expected to grow as much as $80 billion in SMB in the next 3 years) and the tide is even stronger. India is predominantly SMB. Even in the U.S., the spending in SMB is expected to eclipse (if not double) the spending in enterprise. Talk about “green field” opportunities! Read on »

• 20 years in technology


• Experience with software vendor, reseller and distributor for well-rounded, hands-on experience with channel marketing and sales.


• Focus on marketing strategy, program development and implementation.  Significant focus on software channel marketing. 

• Sun: Partner Segmentation and Benchmark
• Xerox: Channel Training
• ACOM: Partner Program Framework

Life Secret Dream/Alter Ego:
Acting in a sitcom or working behind the scenes in politics

Past Lives:

• Channel Marketing, IBM and Lotus
• Training Management, Alphalogix
• Channel Management, Qualitas
• Product and Channel Marketing, Merisel

PartnerPath Lead Distribution

Vendors have long suffered with the inability to quickly and easily assign leads to their partners. And once leads are assigned, lead status, more often than not, is not integrated back into the vendor's systems, making accurate forecasting all but impossible.

To fill this gap, we developed the latest addition to PartnerPath, the Lead Distribution module. Using this new module, you can quickly assign leads to your partners, follow up on activities, reassign leads if required, and get a complete view into the pipeline for reporting and sales forecasting. This greater flexibility will lead result in increased sales revenues, increased partner effectiveness in selling business solutions, and increased overall end-user satisfaction with partner selling and service efforts.

Using Lead Distribution within PartnerPath offers the following advantages compared to other systems:

• Easily integrate with existing vendor solutions and leading sales forecasting tools like SFDC
• Complete solution that compliments and easily integrates with other PartnerPath solutions
• Familiar and easy-to-use PartnerPath interface

How it works:

The vendor marketing or program manager imports the lead information in bulk from several possible sources such as Excel, or even directly from an external database, such as SFDC, into the PartnerPath leads database where they are stored. Once in the Opportunity Management database these opportunities can be viewed, tracked and reported on regardless of source (vendor or partner). The vendor can also import leads and leave them unassigned if they choose. When the vendor assigns leads, it can be done in one of the following three ways:

1. Vendor can search unassigned leads using the Lead Distribution solution to locate a sub-set of leads for assignment
2. Vendor can bulk assign any sub-set of unassigned leads
3. Vendor can create an assignment algorithm “on-the-fly” using pre-defined criteria

Leads can also be allocated to a pool to allow the partners to select the leads that best fit their business model.

For more information on PartnerPath, click here.

Worldwide SMB Channel Program and Plan

VMware is the global leader in virtualization solutions from the desktop to the data center. Customers of all sizes rely on VMware to optimize servers, ensure business continuity, including disaster recovery, strengthen security and go green. With 2007 revenues of 1.33 billion dollars, more than 100,000 customers and more than 10,000 partners, VMware is one of the fastest-growing public software companies. Early in 2007 VMware's sales organization was given a mandate to strengthen and support their global SMB partner network in order to more effectively deliver VMware products to SMB customers. Amazon Consulting created a SMB Channel Program and Plan that included:

• A review of VMware's current enterprise partner program structure
• An evaluation of VMware against industry best practices for partnering in the SMB sector
• Creating the SMB Partner Profile. Included mix of partner types, geographies and business models VMware should target to meet business objectives
• Creating the Program Framework that included elements aligned to each stage of the partner lifecycle
• Creating customized business propositions for the SMB segment, which included specific and targeted value propositions as well as the partner economic model.