Trends in Partnering: A Mid-Year Check-up

A “trend” is one of those things that are difficult to define. Is it something that lots of people are doing (i.e., “it’s become trendy”)? Or, is it something new that only really cool “trendy” people know about and the rest of us “non-trendy” folk will eventually hear about when it hits the mainstream?

Good Ol’ Merriam Webster (the online version, of course. Does anyone still use the hard cover?) defines a “trend” as “to extend in a general direction” or “to show a tendency.” If that’s the case then the respondents in our 2007 Partner Programs study showed a tendency, or let’s call it a “trend,” in the way they responded to questions like, “Your highest spending increase for 2007 will be for what purpose?,” “What is the biggest opportunity for your company’s partner community in 2007?,” “What is your biggest partnering challenge for 2007?” and, finally, “What is the hottest trend likely to affect your partners in 2007?”

The vendors provided both familiar and conflicting feedback regarding trends surrounding their partner programs. There’s a common theme in the data that was pervasive throughout all of the State of the Partner Program reports: Vendors are working hard, focused on external issues, with more attention placed on activities and offerings designed for partners and making their businesses successful, rather than on internally-focused initiatives and ideas. Even the long-standing concern of internal channel conflict has taken a back seat to more recent issues like field support, communication and partner enablement.

To download research from Amazon Consulting's fourth installement of The 2007 State of Partner Programs Study Report IV: Trends, click here.

In terms of trends, we asked vendors to respond to questions regarding four areas: Challenges, Priorities, Objectives and Initiatives, and Industry Trends Affecting Partners. Here are a few key points we discovered throughout the data:
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