Will Partner Programs reflect new Partner Business Models?

Only 16% of partners earned 100% of their revenue from their own services, from their own products, or through resale, according to a recent IDC survey.

In fact, the industry analyst firm claims 84% of partners do at least two things and 37% do three, with it becoming more and more difficult for vendors to classify partners into one single type.

"Another dynamic at play is the rise in importance of new sources of influencers and partners," says Marilyn Carr, analyst, IDC.

"This includes digital agencies that have the pwoer to dictate technology preferences to their clients, industry players that are getting into platform-as-a-service (PaaS) technology as a spin-off business, and even customers that recognize an opportunity to sell an internally implemented vendor solution within their food chain."

As a result, Carr believes this means that vendors will need to stop viewing partners with only one lens and put the 3D glasses on instead.

"Vendors will remove requirements for partners to align themselves with a particular "flavour" of partnership and allow partners to choose multiple labels that equate with their key business activities," Carr adds.

"Partner programs will be renovated with this new reality in mind to focus on activities rather than rigid partner types."