Cloud-Based Channel Sales Management
Businesses engaged in direct sales are likely familiar with cloud-based CRM tools. The goal of which is to find, attract, and win new clients, while retaining the old. Used correctly, these tools reduce the costs of marketing and client service.
Managing channel sales models can be more difficult; Enter, a new tool to address this challenge. Channelinsight has released what they are calling the market's first and only cloud-based channel sales management suite. This suite aims to do for channel based sales what its counterpart has done for direct sales.
The application promises to help businesses effectively increase channel sales, optimize channel inventory, maximize return on incentive programs and meet compliance requirements. As time goes on, resources such as these will be crucial in educating people in universities and colleges for a business administration degree.
"Channel sales are unique in that there are multiple people and processes involved and thus, accurate and current information is not as readily available as it is with direct sales," said Tiffani Bova, vice president, Gartner Research. "This can lead to money being left on the table. The industry needs a solution that helps those in sales channel strategy planning understand the fundamentals from both internal and external points of view. Excelling in sales channel innovation is a long-term competitive advantage."
Channel sales is its own animal, facing a set of challenges direct sales doesn't face. Poor sales tracking can lead to misuse of sales rep time; forcing them to waste time tracking sales rather than selling. The cost burden of excess channel inventory can claim up to 10 percent of revenue. Overpaying channel incentives and commissions and grey market activities further erode margins. To provide necessary visibility into channel sales and inventory data, Channelinsight tracks every partner and every end-customer in each transaction.
The Channelinsight platform collects and standardizes channel POS and inventory data, while the application suite provides a helpful UI with actionable dashboards, drill down reports and self service application workbenches. The solution can be leveraged through Salesforce.com, CRM software or alone. The company also works with top systems integrators Accenture, PWC, KPMG and Infosys. Companies currently using the suite include: Fairchild Semiconductor, nVidia, Brocade, Enterasys Networks and Data Robotics.
"Our home-grown solution just wasn't yielding the fast, transparent information flow necessary to capitalize on our channel revenue. We needed to more effectively address business critical functions like managing inventory and point-of-sale data in real-time," said Dan Petlon, CIO, Enterasys. "Channelinsight is the only vendor to offer an enterprise solution to an enterprise problem. Leveraging its full suite of products to align processes, drive down costs and manage our channel relationships gives us a significant competitive advantage."
The new applications -- which leverage the Channelinsight cloud platform and partner network -- include:
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Channelinsight Sales Manager provides standardized, enhanced and actionable channel sales data by region, product, partner and end-customer. With this data vendors can identify and cultivate new partners and end-customers.
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Channelinsight Inventory Manager enables vendors to see at a glance whether they are tracking to inventory targets, optimizing inventory levels and minimizing exposure to price changes.
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Channelinsight Discount Manager enables vendors to increase profitability and track the effectiveness of special price quotes and discounted price agreements. They can also identify which special pricing agreements are actually driving sales, by analyzing discount trends by partner.
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Channelinsight Compliance Manager minimizes potential risks by tracking sales data, identifying potential agreement and compliance violations, and providing the ability to follow the serial number all the way through to the end-customer.
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Channelinsight Incentive Manager provides real-time, actionable data about the effectiveness of your channel incentive programs in an easy-to-read dashboard with drill-down reports and a self-service workbench.
"Companies have consistently struggled with manual efforts, complex spreadsheets, custom tools and integration nightmares trying to make channel sales as productive as direct sales," said Mark Geene, CEO of Channelinsight. "Our new applications accelerate and simplify the delivery of accurate data from our proven platform. By offering the industry the first channel sales management solution in the cloud, our clients can stop guessing and produce world class results."
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