Today, PartnerScore launches its new SaaS product that offers technology vendors a new way to manage their partner network. PartnerScore uses relationship health to drive decision making as this is the single biggest predictor of future business performance.
Tech vendors consistently experience a challenge in optimising their partner-based models. In many instances they provide the same incentives and support to partners but cannot understand why they get completely different performance from each partner in return. PartnerScore has unlocked this problem through extensive research and determined that it is the health of the (partner) relationship that is critical. Understanding how the partner views this relationship and what is driving the health of the engagement is the key to unlocking significant value.
PartnerScore was created to deliver that insight into relationship health. In doing so it helps to answer key questions on what needs to be done both strategically and tactically to improve the relationship. For example, are the partners really committed to the future of the vendor’s business? Do partners trust the vendor? Are the channel programs underway the right ones? Are the vendor’s business processes aligned to be efficient?
The PartnerScore tool is able to answer these questions and so allow an enhanced level of management of channels and individual partners.
Dave Ward, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer says: “Vendors are collecting and analysing massive amounts of real-time and transactional data from PRM platforms, online tools and partner portals in an attempt to optimise their partner programmes. PartnerScore utilises the latest technology to quickly provide context to the huge volume of data collected and helps identify actions and investments that will drive up commercial performance.”
PartnerScore is a unique approach that makes the combined power of broad B2B relationship research and academic rigour accessible to the channel business community. This intuitive software platform conducts regular partner health checks across the channel, gathering pertinent information linked to seven key Health Markers. This rolling process keeps a finger on the pulse of partner relationships, reflecting real-time changes in their HealthScore.
PartnerScore enables organisations to not only collect data and analyse this to gain an understanding of the state of their channel relationships, but also build a plan and track progress against it, ensuring continuous improvement in their channel ecosystem.
With sophisticated data analysis and diagnostic dashboarding, the platform maps partner data to the seven Health Markers giving a clear diagnostic score for each. With a user-friendly and easily configurable dashboard, organisations can see at a glance the areas in which vendors and partners are either over or underperforming and how this is impacting the overall business performance and relationship.
Ian Bamford, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, PartnerScore comments: “Today, so much business goes through the channel but often there are quite basic measures in place that organisations use to assess the performance of those relationships. In the past analysis has been done based on gut instinct or retrospective tools and point-in-time questionnaires and other quite intangible rationale that can often be biased towards one partner over another. Now with PartnerScore, it takes all of that gut feeling and turns it into a concrete score to measure the health of the relationship. But not only that, it enables both parties to put in place an action plan to get the business to where they want it to be – and more importantly keep it there.”
PartnerScore is all about predicting and boosting performance. Previous assignments using the underlying academic methodology, known as “Mindshare”, have delivered:
- Constant and consistent measurement of what partners really think about the relationship
- Partner fact-based real time feedback
- A framework for effective/ targeted account investment decisions
- Identification of revenue growth opportunities
- Protection against revenue loss
- Improvements around partner retention rates
- Identification of cost optimisation and business process disconnects
- Reviews around account management effectiveness in a way not seen before which identifies productivity opportunities.
Peter Ward, Co-Founder and CEO, PartnerScore adds: “In 2021, and following the serious impact of the COVID pandemic, it will become even more critical for businesses to truly understand how their partners are performing rather than second guess their next actions. This platform is unique in its ability to enable vendors to gain an open transparent assessment of the state of play of their channels. This will allow them to take appropriate and timely preventative actions to address continually changing conditions, rather than trying to look in the rear-view mirror and closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. PartnerScore is powered by an incredibly sophisticated methodology, built on a decade of extensive academic research which today is underpinned by advanced machine learning and data analytics tools. A true breakthrough in the way to manage partner networks.”