Partner relationship management (PRM) software equips businesses with tools to manage their relationship with channel partners such as sales partners, resellers, distributors, and other service providers that promote and sell a vendor's products or services. By streamlining communication and offering end-to-end support, PRM software helps these partners drive sales and increase market reach.
PRM software provides a private portal for each partner to access documents, campaign materials, market development funds (MDF), opportunities, and deals. Sales leaders, particularly those in channel sales, utilize PRM software to maximize their channel partners, including value-added resellers (VARs) and specialty retailers. PRM software distributes opportunities and MDFs fairly, ensures partners remain on brand with messaging, captures activities, and measures partner success.
While some PRM solutions may also track compliance with laws, contractual agreements, and incentive and loyalty programs, these are typically considered as secondary capabilities. In contrast, channel incentives management (CIM) software is purpose-built to design, track, and modify incentive programs such as rebates, discounts, loyalty, gamification, and other activity-based incentives to reward channel partners.
It is important to emphasize that there are partner management solutions that can support specific types of partnerships. For example, affiliate marketing software focuses on performance-based partnerships with affiliates, influencers, and publishers who earn commissions or rewards based on measurable outcomes. In contrast, PRM software focuses on strategic co-selling partnerships with B2B sales channel partners.
These solutions should not be confused with other software products that manage relationships, like CRM software, which is used only for customers, or supplier relationship management software, which is part of supply chain management. Also, PRM software differs from partner ecosystem platforms as these platforms provide account mapping features and enable multi-partner collaboration on an ecosystem-wide scale for the entire network of channel partners. On the other hand, PRM software facilitates direct, one-to-one relationships between a company and its channel partners.
To qualify for inclusion in the Partner Relationship Management (PRM) category, a product must:
- Offer portals to communicate and exchange information and content between a company and its partners, and optionally with prospects or customers
- Provide onboarding, training, and certification of partners
- Manage who has access to what information and decide which access rights are available for each user, group, or role
- Include workflows, notifications, and alerts to automate the management of partner programs for both the company and its partners
- Include deal management or deal registration that streamlines tracking partner deal or lead registrations, submissions, and approvals
- Track and measure the effectiveness of MDF, co-op, and co-branded partner activities
