"The Demise of PRM as we know it"

By Diane Krakora
President & CEO

To evaluate whether traditional PRM has become obsolete, first we must look at where PRM came from. Remember ChannelWave and Allegis? How about PartnerWare, OnDemand and WebBridge? In 2002 these organization were high flyers – the next big thing – doubling within one year into a $2 billion industry according to IDC. These solutions were helping companies "synchronize, optimize and understand sales and demand impacts across channels" according to META Group, at the time. But the value propositions of "creating a single selling experience across multiple organizational boundaries" (META 2002) never grew roots and these PRM-focused companies were either consolidated or folded. Gone is the old promise that one solution can fill all your partner management needs.

It really takes the entire company to ensure partnerships are successful. As partnerships touch all facets of the organization – marketing, field sales, finance, sales operations, legal, technical support, training, professional services and even product marketing are all affected by the success or failure of partnerships established by the channels or alliances groups. Thus the systems that help engage, empower and evaluate partners must also live in different parts of the organization. The promise of traditional PRM was to create one system that addressed and supported all these areas. That’s crazy – these teams already have systems to manage their individual business unit processes.

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Coming Soon! A new whitepaper produced by Amazon Consulting and sponsored by SalesForce.com on the topic of Partner Management Automation. To request an advanced copy, click here.

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AMAZON CONSULTING LAUNCHES INDUSTRY'S FIRST PMA® SOLUTION: PARTNERPATH®