How Apps are Shaping the Future of the Channel

Things are changing faster than ever in today’s Channel, with trends such as cloud, mobility, consumerization and business social reinventing the way Vendors and Channel Partners work together. In addition to channel trends changing the way we receive and disseminate information has also gone mobile.

Currently, Channel program information is sent to Partners by email, newsletters, webinars, telesales and consumer social media. A Web Portal then acts as a catch-all library for storing program details, sales enablement, incentives, education, certifications and technical information.

Tremendous amounts of time and energy go into creating materials that are stored in these portals, but they receive little traffic. CompTIA recently conducted a survey and found:

• Less than 5% of channel partners regularly use vendor portals
• 17% open Vendor emails, only 2% click or take any action
• Information is usually sent to and filtered by a “Vendor Champion” (doesn’t reach sales, marketing and technical teams directly)
• Partners who use Vendor programs are the most successful and profitable
• 85% of Channel professionals own a smartphone, tablet or both and use them regularly for business

Most solutions providers deal with at least 10 vendors and distributors each sending information about their programs, certifications, events and so much more. Bottom line, it is impossible for partners to continually absorb key vendor information.

There’s no easy way to constantly review all of the vendor portals, read all the newsletters or emails — decide what is important — and then notify the people in their organization who need to know.

A mobile Partner app will be the single place for Channel Partners to see a snapshot of new Vendor channel information, news and updates every day. They can control the programs they need to follow, filter the information based on their job role and join the conversation.

With 85% of professionals carrying a smartphone or tablet, it is a unique way to communicate at a personal and consistent level. One of the results of the mobility trend has been the extension to the traditional business day; not only are devices being used during the day, at customer locations, they are used just as much at night and on weekends.

A mobile partner application improves channel sales enablement, certification, incentives, tools such as marketing automation, and technical updates.

One application that Channel Maven Consulting recently reviewed to address these issues is ChannelCandy from ChannelEyes. ChannelCandy is a custom branded mobile app designed for Vendors to deliver Channel highlights, company news and social tools into the hands of their Channel Partners. It runs on all popular mobile platforms including iPhone, iPad and Android.

Would your partners benefit from a mobile version of your channel program at their finger tips? What other mobile resources can the channel not live without?

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