Channel maturity research

Since launching the framework, we’ve had Vendors from the hardware, enterprise software, network, dev-ops and security space all complete assessments – and measure their activities against the averages.

Through these assessments, an interesting – and surprising – theme is developing. With the exception of a small handful, most of these Vendors scored consistently lowest in two areas. Firstly, low scores against activities directly growing channel revenue (namely channel marketing). Secondly, they were low scoring against activities to measure channel performance.

This was surprising since growth is almost universally at the top of the list of priorities for most of the Vendors we work with and speak to. Equally, the measurement of channel performance is essential to assess investment value and ROI.

Conversely, these Vendors scored more highly for activities related to Partner recruitment, enablement and engagement.

Getting the recruitment, enablement and engagement of Partners right is undeniably important in seeing channel success – but growth and measurement are the key levers for sustained success.