Aerohive Networks today unfurled a partner portal based on the partner relationship management (PRM) software made available as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) application by Salesforce.
The decision to rely on Salesforce was driven by a need to unify the Pardot marketing automation platform Aerohive Networks relies on to generate sales leads on behalf of partners with a (PRM) application it will employ to manage partners.
Salesforce acquired Pardot in 2013 and has spent the last five years tightening the integration between Pardot and its PRM and customer relationship management (CRM) software delivered as a cloud service. Previously, Aerohive Networks was sharing leads generated in its Pardot platform by downloading them into a Microsoft Excel file, says John Merrill, vice president of marketing for the provider of wireless networks.
Aerohive Networks is investing in Salesforce PRM software as part of an effort to enable channel partners by improving the overall partner experience, says Merrill. Aerohive Networks sells 100 percent through the channel so for all intents and purposes partners are essentially the company’s end customers, notes Merrill.
“Most of the time when we talk about our customers it’s really about our partners,” says Merrill.
The partner portal will also make it simpler for Aerohive Networks to analyze how those leads are being closed by individual partners, adds Merrill. Each lead is given its own URL to make it simpler to track, notes Merrill.
Aerohive Networks also envisions the portal will also automate much of the partner on-boarding process as well as provide a means through which Aerohive Networks will more efficiently make training and market development funds (MDF) available to partners, says Merrill.
These days partners have so many vendors to choose from that ultimately it’s the vendor that provides the best partner experience that often carries the day. That’s especially true when the IT solution being sold is widely viewed to be a commodity product. Alas, not every IT vendor is equally far along the channel automation path. Partners, of course, may not know what channel automation platforms any vendor has standardized on, but they will almost certainly notice the change in their relationship with that vendor.
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