Channel Ecosystem 101

From R&D to ROI, we identify the most promising opportunities to drive the industry forward. Get comprehensive data to track smart vehicles and stay up to date on the key trends affecting the automotive industry. Get best in class analysis, go-to-market strategies and more for cloud, infrastructure and cybersecurity channels. Many of our projects are supported using data and feedback from the Candefero channels community. We have services to help the world’s largest tech companies manage their partner landscape. We have grown to become world renowned for our research in technology channels and smartphones.

Healthy ecosystems involve a complex web of interdependent enterprises and relationships that create and allocate business value together. The coordinated management of multiple https://www.discoveryon.info/category/business-products/ partner types and motions across an ecosystem to deliver aligned go-to-market outcomes. A channel partner program is the vendor’s structured framework for managing partner relationships (tiers, incentives, rules, tools). The shift from managing individual partner relationships to managing an ecosystem reflects how modern go-to-market strategies actually work.

• With expertise around the world and comprehensive coverage of the tech domains, we bring you the breadth to see the big picture and the depth to act decisively.
• By building an interconnected web of channel partners, brands can best meet market demands and boost sales performance.
• These are the partners helping influence the sale and the ones helping retain the business.
• So if you’re in the business of making money through your channel partners—and, really, aren’t we all?
• What works for influencers is a collaborative engagement model based on sharing knowledge, information, and leads.
• We have services to help the world’s largest tech companies manage their partner landscape.

Alys offers vendors a high-value method to evaluate channel partners at scale and engage with them digitally. Our portfolio offers accurate and timely views of the opportunities, competitive analysis and market trends across the smart ecosystem of devices. We provide vendors with subscription services and projects in Channels, Enterprise and Emerging Tech and Mobility. The team at Canalys bring with them many years of experience as advisors to the IT and high-technology sectors.

• These advancements created growth opportunities.
• We believe that the following values, skills and behavior are vital to what makes us Canalys and therefore help achieve our strategy.
• Influencers have always existed—think product placements in movies or endorsements like “by royal appointment.” Quality, service, and support have always driven repeat purchases.
• As channel ecosystems get more complex, companies are investing in technologies, such as partner relationship management (PRM) and partner marketing automation (PMA), to make it easier to manage their channel ecosystems and maximize their growth.
• Your ecosystem readiness isn’t just about programs and technology—it’s about ensuring partners are ready too.

The First Age of Channels: Middlemen

We believe that the following values, skills and behavior are vital to what makes us Canalys and therefore help achieve our strategy. Established in 1998, Canalys is world-renowned for its research in technology channels and smartphones. See how supply chain visibility helps procurement, logistics, and production teams connect supplier updates, advance shipping notices, and shipment data so they can spot material risks earlier and act before production is disrupted. If you’re a manufacturer working to build a more resilient supply chain, here’s why that’s worth your attention. Companies now recognize that managing every interaction and every party connected to a sale can increase reach, revenue, and customer loyalty. Influencers have always existed—think product placements in movies or endorsements like “by royal appointment.” Quality, service, and support have always driven repeat purchases.

A journey through the evolution of channels will highlight the changes and what is needed for companies to support the transformation. Vendor organizations must work with partners to converge around customers to deliver more comprehensive solutions and exceptional integrated experiences across evolving buyers’ journeys, the rise of subscription and consumption models. Here’s a glimpse into today’s channel landscape and how ecosystems differ from traditional markets requiring different enablement activities. Yet, truly supporting the go-to-market needs of the vast and varied ecosystem partners represents several challenges for organizations.

No Need to Reinvent the Wheel With Partner Ecosystems—Just Revise It

The diagram above can help visualize the development of channel processes and technology over time. At the same time, globalization exacerbates the impact of external factors on business more than ever before. These are companies that promote the brand owner and assume a guiding role in helping customers sift through volumes of information to make purchasing decisions. The hyper-spread of e-commerce changed the buying journey for consumers and businesses alike. Manufacturers supported the partner through various methods such as pricing incentives, training, and go-to-market enablement.

Centralize Ecosystems to Adapt to Market Trends

See the contrasts of Ecosystem Orchestration with the constrictions of traditional PRM and the impact of this implementation on your business. The transition from the traditional indirect channels business model to the era of ecosystems marks a significant shift in modern business dynamics. She is an award-winning marketer and navigates all things channel, marketing, incentives and engagement, including pioneering thought leadership on channel partner ecosystems and the partner experience. All of these aspects can help you create a better partner program strategy https://www.mindsetterz.com/5-successful-approaches-for-optimizing-your-product-catalog/ and potentially identify trends or gaps in revenue, partner coverage and high-performer characteristics.

• But they’re still an important piece to the revenue puzzle—especially in a channel strategy.
• Doing so can take this tiering idea to a level that will not only help you encourage revenue growth but also recruit look-alike partners.
• Effective channel ecosystem management often involves providing your partners with marketing resources, sales training, product education, and ongoing support.
• Yet, truly supporting the go-to-market needs of the vast and varied ecosystem partners represents several challenges for organizations.
• Your classic partner program with traditional tiering based on performance plays here.

Channel Strategy

While you’re evaluating your partner strategy to embrace the ecosystem, it’s also a great time to evaluate how you categorize your partners. Since Canalys’ inception, our team of analysts and consultants around the world have worked with companies in the technology ecosystem to provide custom solutions. At its core, a thriving channel ecosystem empowers your partners to sell and support your products or services more effectively. Now in its 24th year, the list is one of the longest-running supply chain awards in the industry, and one of the few built entirely on customer nominations rather than vendor submissions. Today, the channel ecosystem includes a broader network of players who may not sell your products but influence buying decisions or support post-sale retention.

A channel ecosystem is the broader network that includes those managed partners plus technology integrations, distributor relationships, independent consultants, and other participants who influence how the vendor’s products reach market. The development of the channel ecosystem has created a tenfold increase in partner types across industries who need to collaborate in order to deliver customer solutions across influencers, referral, selling, integration, fulfilling and servicing. Buyers do not purchase from a single vendor in isolation; they buy solutions assembled from multiple vendors, delivered by service partners, and supported by an ecosystem of providers. Effective channel ecosystem management often involves providing your partners with marketing resources, sales training, product education, and ongoing support. Based on their size, industry, or portfolio complexity, some companies may not need to change their channel model for a long time.

Channel Ecosystems: Convergence and Integration

—listen up, because the times they are a-changin’. So if you’re in the business of making money through your channel partners—and, really, aren’t we all? What has changed is the mentality and process for understanding what and who is included in your strategy. It’s not that you don’t get a choice; it’s just happening around you whether you’re ready or not. If you’re not sure you want to jump on the ecosystem bandwagon, it’s too late—you already have. With expertise around the world and comprehensive coverage of the tech domains, we bring you the breadth to see the big picture and the depth to act decisively.

Subscribe for news and latest updates

Ecosystems are trending in the business world—but when should your company jump in?

A recent Forrester study of more than 400 channel strategy and partnership decision-makers found that leaders are looking to improve channel ecosystem visibility and management, enhance and non-complicate the partner experience across the ecosystem and improve their incentive programs to work within the new landscape. But as digital innovation and globalization has expanded the ways businesses and their channel partners collaborate and offer integrated value to customers, outdated methods are being modernized. In the not-so-distant past, it was common for vendor organizations with channel selling networks to go-to-market through two-tier distribution models organized around a traditional tier structure.