Channel incentive management (CIM) software allows businesses and channel program managers to better organize and manage their partners and incentivize them to sell more or prioritize certain offerings. These solutions are responsible for designing, tracking, and modifying channel incentive programs across the partner ecosystem. CIM software seeks to increase the reach of channel partners by creating combinations of incentive programs such as rebates, discounts, sales performance incentive funds (SPIFs), market development funds (MDFs), and activity-based incentives, among others. This software provides businesses and program managers a dashboard to manage one or multiple channel incentive programs. Solutions in this space enable organizations to configure incentive programs depending on channel partners’ objectives and size, such as a regional or global incentive program.
CIM solutions provide gamification features to further motivate channel partners to achieve sales goals. Some tools in this category provide rewards and incentives features within the solution, while others integrate with rewards and incentives software to fulfill programmatic objectives. Channel incentive management software is similar to loyalty management software, as both aim to increase sales. However, loyalty management primarily focuses on business-to-consumer (B2C) loyalty programs, whereas channel incentive management is geared towards channel partners.
To qualify for inclusion in the Channel Incentive Management (CIM) category, a product must:
Be designed for channel partners' incentive programs
Assist in the creation and management of incentive programs
Provide a dashboard to track incentive programs
Manage one or more incentive programs for partners such as discounts, rebates, or SPIFs
Allow users to adjust incentive programs for different partners or tiers
