Why should you become a channel partner and how to evaluate partner program?
As COVID-19 continues to impact the globe, businesses of all sizes are looking to innovate and digitally transform their business to make it ready for whatever comes.
Based on IDC surveys in EMEA that took place during the first lockdowns, 61% of channel partners believed that COVID-19 would be a digital transformation driver. 46% confirmed the pandemic escalated their transformation efforts. This creates opportunities for channel partners to fulfill those aspirations
In 2021, the channel will need to collaborate more than ever to orchestrate solutions that fulfill customer needs, budgets, and environments. It's difficult for a channel partner to meet all the customer's needs by themselves, especially when it comes to multiple geographic locations and complex vertical requirements.
This is where strong technology alliances come into play, allowing vendors like Boyum Solutions to provide on-premises and cloud solutions. The key is to ensure that applications remain secure, available, and adequately managed wherever they are located.
Why should companies become channel partners?
What are the benefits of being a channel partner? In today's marketplace, joining a partner program is quite attractive. Let me explain why.
Partner programs, generally speaking, provide all the tools and resources to make you develop a business around. Here are 3 benefits that will motivate you to become a channel partner.
- Offer your customer a solution to his pain
At the end of the day, channel partners are working with the customer to suggest and implement reliable, efficient solutions and that the customer can rely on it being there for the long term. Suppose, for example, you'd like to target lifescience companies specifically. In that case, you can select to partner up with a few solution providers to complement each other and create a complete solution for those customers. There are wide varieties of software solutions to develop your business and create a comprehensive portfolio of products and services (link to products top page).
2. Leverage the vendor's knowledge
In all partner programs, the supplier company commits to its channel partners' success by expanding and sharing their business expertise with their partners. As soon as a new channel partner joins in almost most partner programs, he gets marketing and sales supports, technical support, education programs, and more. Vendors with great partner programs make sure their channel has anything they need to succeed. After all, their partner's success is their success. Each partner is assigned a channel manager that provides a personal touch and keeps in touch with the partner to provide personalized support.
3. Increase Revenue
Partner programs are responsible for considerable growth in sales and distribution of a product or service. The great thing about a channel partnership is increased revenue for both sides. The vendor is not only generating revenue but also grows the sales footprint. The partners, on the other hand, can also boost revenue and profit for their businesses.
What to look for in a channel partner program?
What should you look for when evaluating partner programs before deciding on joining?
Discovering the right channel partner programs is can sometimes be problematic when considering programs individually. As a company that has been in the channel business for more than 20 years, we've identified metrics that successful channel programs have.
However, it is essential to note that reaching success with any channel partner program takes time and effort until you can see great results that are valid for any business venture. Also, you need to invest in and assign resources to pull it through.
- Training
The availability of training programs is crucial to the success of channel partners. Training can cover sales implementation or any other information that partners require to become self-sufficient. In 20201, those training programs must also be available online and include a certification process. New partners that are heavily engaged with the vendor's training offerings generally see better results from their partnership.
2. Sales and PreSales Assistance
Ongoing communication between you and your channel managers is vital when trying to close leads, especially when you sign up. The ability to leverage the vendor's sales resources and consultants is imperative to your success.
Ensure that within the channel program you evaluate, you can receive sales assistance that can help you close your first leads.
3. Marketing Tools
Marketing materials are the sales presentations, white papers, comparison, webpages, and generally any other promotion content channel partners can you in social media, on their website, sales materials, and more.
Partners that choose to leverage marketing materials and engage in more marketing and market-building activities should close more deals in a healthy program. Also, partners can save time if they would have to create those marketing materials themselves.
4. Incentives
Used properly, incentives motivate channel partners to excel in different areas. In most partner programs, partners get a percentage of the sales, also knows as a sales commission.
In most partner programs, partners are divided into tiers or levels, like bronze, silver, and gold. The different partner levels also work as motivation. By joining the education program and getting certified, the channel partner can achieve higher partner status and get more benefits.
5. Partner Portal
A partner portal ties it all together. Channel partners should have the confidence that all their activities are tracked toward the partner program.
When order process, renewals, maintenances payment, marketing material, and more is all in a centralized place, partners do not have to waste time trying to find how to do certain things. Partner portal makes It easier for both the software vendor and the channel partner to stay on track, get visibility and automate their partnership.
Boyum Partner Program
Boyum Solutions is today the leading global software solution provider in the SAP Business One ecosystem and has received more than 20 SAP awards.
Among these are the SAP Global Solution of the Year Award and the People's Choice Award, which we received for the last 4 years in a row. We have the most significant partner and customer ecosystems, with 115 countries and just over 9,000 customers and 200,000 users.
With Boyum Solutions, you can benefit from:
- Explore the opportunities (link to products):
- Maximize SAP Business One's benefits with our solutions: from easy system customization to comprehensive manufacturing and warehouse management solutions and a new, cutting-edge range of tailored apps for specific production roles.
- Global Reach (link to help center and community):
- Join a community with a presence in over 100 countries on 5 continents.
- Help expand a daily user base of over 200,000 users.
- Professional Network:
- Join our partner community and leverage our reach, technology, or skills to expand your own business.
- Extend the virtual team of sales, services, and support professionals around the world.
- Training and Enablement (link to eLearning article):
- Take advantage of our comprehensive E-Learning HUB, our World Tour training, and other classroom training and online seminars, join our certification program and verify your knowledge.
- Marketing Tools (is there a public link for marketing resources):
- Access brochures, presentations, battle cards, Industry Packages, logos, email templates, etc. and make your partnership with Boyum IT even better
We designed our partner program in a way that rewards increasing commitment to Boyum IT. The partner program introduces a tier-ing model that extends from Bronze and Silver to Gold and Platinum.
The Bronze Partner level is our entry-level status and offers the partners immediate access to benefits such as free demo licenses and access to sales and marketing tools.
The Silver Partner level is for the partners prepared to make a certain commitment to develop their busines and have access to a higher level of benefits.
The Gold Partner level is for partners who have superior knowledge and expertise in selling our product range. The Gold partners receive an even higher degree of benefits and partner support.
Our partners will be tiered based on their annual revenue contribution to Boyum IT, with each level unlocking a new range of benefits, sales incentives, and rewards to strengthen and grow your business. The new membership level enables you to quickly understand your level, the benefits, partner commitments, and how easy you can advance. The table outlines each membership level's characteristics, and you can continuously monitor your points in the Boyum Portal Dashboard.
Click here to see the Partner Tiering table.
Then we have our commitment to Boyum Solutions: click here to see the Partner Commitment table.
Participation in training and certification programs and marketing initiatives (like success stories) and is also counted towards your revenue.
For example, participating in eLearning will get you 10,000 points (equivalent to 10,000 EUR) for every consultant who finishes the training. Train 5 people, and you already have 50,000 Eur that are counted towards your revenue and may quickly get you to the next partner program level.
How to become a Boyum channel partner?
There are no requirements to become a channel partner of Boyum Solutions (link to registration page). However, as stated before, succeeding in any channel partnership takes time and dedication from both sides. Even if partners are free to join, you as a channel partner need to invest in training and education from sales to implementation to make the magic happen and close deals.
For example, suppose you want to build expertise in the 3pl industry (link to industry page) and implement Produmex WMS (link to Produmex WMS). Your consultants will have to pass the Produmex WMS eLearning and Certification. You will need to make sure you have someone to answer first-level support and that your sales team has reviewed our sales material. They know how to differentiate the products during the sales cycle.
That takes time and effort that can pay itself many times fold.
What happens after joining the Boyum partner program?
Once you joined the Boyum Solution partner program and signed the reseller contract, one of our designated channel managers will contact you for the first onboarding call and guide you through the various resources, training programs, and sales material.
Our pre-sales consultants are more than happy to assist in sales demonstrations to help you build and sharpen your sales skills with our products. And our implementation consultant can help within the first few implementations until you gain confidence and expertise.
You are not alone. We have your back on each step on our joint journey.