Featured Article from Software Licensing

It’s the start of a new year. And for many people that means it’s a good time to take stock of their situations. Consider what they’ve been doing right, and how they might improve.

If that you’re one of these people, a new Flexera Software blog offering suggestions on how to make your channel more successful might be helpful.

For example, it suggests that software vendors design their channel programs in a bottom-up configuration as opposed to a top-down one. That, Flexera Software notes, will ensure the program most accurately addresses the realities that channel partners and customers contend with every day.

The blog goes on to emphasize the importance of training partners on your entitlement management system. That way, they will be able to use it more effectively, and you will be able to track and measure performance of the channel, and manage the relationship between your organization, your various channel partners, and the end customers.

“Enable partners to act on behalf of their customers, but connect them to entitlements (in your entitlement manage system) and not to the customer,” blog author Nicole Segerer adds. “This way end customers can work with many partners without creating conflicts.”

Providing self-service options for channel partners and customers has also become table stakes, Segerer continues. For example, they should be provided with the tools to see who owns and manages what. Online portals can also enable customers to get their software, activate licenses, and maintain their data, or let your partners to do that stuff for them.

Finally, Segerer emphasizes the importance of communicating directly with end customers to keep them up-to-date on developments related to security patches, service packs, and other critical matters. That doesn’t detract from the efforts of your channel partners, Segerer explains, it supplements them to provide by your organization and theirs with greater opportunities.