In his mind, the best-case scenario is partner ops reports to someone in the revops team, with a thick dotted line to partnerships — especially if the company isn’t fully bought into partnerships yet. Understanding and investing in Partner Ops is essential for any company seeking to build sustainable and profitable partnerships. The function works across departments — from sales and marketing to finance and IT — to streamline collaboration and drive mutual growth between a company and its partners. It’s about ensuring that each partnership runs smoothly and productively, supporting mutual growth and success. Over time, both companies work together to assess the partnership’s performance and identify areas for improvement, ensuring the alliance remains beneficial to both parties. Partner operations refers to the strategic and tactical management activities involved in forming, maintaining, and evolving partnerships between businesses.

When leadership asked what the program actually produced, the honest answer was that no one could say with confidence, and the program’s budget came under scrutiny. Partner operations exists to take that work off the relationship team so their time goes to the motion that produces revenue. They hire partner managers to build relationships and never build the operational layer underneath, so the program grows faster than anyone’s ability to measure or manage it.

• If your partner program runs on spreadsheets and no one can say cleanly how much revenue partners sourced, the missing piece is operations.
• “I’d go so far as to say a program without partner ops is a partner program in name only,” Raegan emphasizes.
• For instance, Phil Portman at Textdrip, picked a partner operations person based on the fact that they had experience using CRM tools to track multi-touch partner engagement.
• A company scaled its partner program to sixty partners on the strength of good relationship managers and almost no operations.

One of the main functions of Partner Ops is to track and analyze partner performance through KPIs such as revenue contribution, deal registrations, training completions, and customer satisfaction. This structured approach makes it easier to replicate success across different markets and partner segments.

Start and Scale Your Channel Ecosystem

• But they need professional investment in communities just like sales ops does, just like enablement does,” Aaron shares.
• It’s about ensuring that each partnership runs smoothly and productively, supporting mutual growth and success.
• “Though we’re seeing more and more leadership positions pop up, partner ops roles typically cap out at Director.
• Any third-party tools or firms referenced in this space are independent third-party products, and mentioning them is not an endorsement.
• Partner operations is the internal vendor function responsible for designing, administering, and continuously improving the operational processes and technology infrastructure that make a channel partner program function reliably — encompassing program administration, PRM system configuration, onboarding workflow management, deal registration processing, incentive calculation governance, partner data management, integration management, and channel program performance measurement.

Then, they document the change and train internal teams and partners on the new process. Here’s the catch — your leadership wants to see proof of their value. But they need professional investment in communities just like sales ops does, just like enablement does,” Aaron shares. Candidates want to see a clear way to level up in the company, so you need to think through that future for them. “I see it over and over again,” says Aaron Howerton at Go Nimbly, “Companies hire reactively, not strategically. “I’d go so far as to say a program without partner ops is a partner program in name only,” Raegan emphasizes.

She’s exceptional at building trust across stakeholders and keeping everyone moving in https://www.jeffcrouse.info/a-10-point-plan-for-without-being-overwhelmed-19/ the same direction without needing constant escalation.” For Orest Chaykivskyy at Forbytes, an ideal partner ops specialist had a consulting background. She could not only build out structured workflows, but also manage the complexity of different personalities across geos and verticals. Situational questions like, “Tell me about a time you said no,” can help you figure out if they have what it takes.

Fix Friction – How the Best Solution Sellers Remove Barriers Before They Sell

Partner Ops provides the data and insights necessary for long-term strategic planning. In complex partner ecosystems, especially those that span geographies or industries with regulatory requirements, compliance is a non-negotiable. Additionally, it helps identify high-performing partners and areas for improvement, allowing for more effective resource allocation and targeted support.

David Hunt at Versys Media hired a partner ops specialist because of her track record of taming growth-stage chaos. The best partner ops managers are confident in their data and their processes because they know them inside and out. For instance, Phil Portman at Textdrip, picked a partner operations person based on the fact that they had experience using CRM tools to track multi-touch partner engagement. If it’s not, they not only fix the problem (and any downstream impacts) as quickly as they can, but rebuild the process to https://bizexclusivetoday.com/starting-a-company-in-ukraine-essential-steps-and-guidelines.html prevent issues from cropping up again.

What does the partner operations function own?

This reduces risk exposure and ensures that partnerships operate within legal and ethical boundaries. When partners feel supported and equipped for success, they are more likely to be loyal, proactive, and aligned with the company’s goals. A well-orchestrated Partner Ops strategy ensures that partners receive clear communication, seamless access to tools and information, and timely support. However, without robust operational infrastructure, scaling partnerships can lead to inefficiencies and missed opportunities. ZINFI’s UPM platform supports partner operations teams by providing a configurable, automated, and analytically capable PRM system that enables program administration at scale without proportional headcount growth. CAMs are measured on commercial outcomes their partner relationships produce; partner operations is measured on the reliability, accuracy, and efficiency of the operational systems that support those relationships.

Many, many thanks to Kristian Vanberg of WebCruiter for the truly amazing things he said about Channeltivity in our latest customer success story. https://iwantmyopenid.org/celebal-technologies-to-invest-10-million-in-canada-on-creating-it-delivery-capabilities-for-high-end-enterprise-solutions.html When partner ops teams have reliable data, they can do the work that AI can’t — pinpointing what to automate, foreseeing (and eliminating) friction, and anticipating where the program should go in the future. Top-tier partner operations teams run on clean, connected data. Raegan advises, “If you have access to a tool, try to optimize your daily tasks one by one, starting with the most monotonous ones. The partner operations teams that continue to do well in this environment will learn when and how to use AI to their advantage — and when to use their other soft skills instead. AI has made life for partner operations teams a whole lot easier.

• 1 in 36 children in the U.S. are on the spectrum and boys are four times more likely to be diagnosed than girls.
• Understanding and investing in Partner Ops is essential for any company seeking to build sustainable and profitable partnerships.
• My journey from Education to Operations has equipped me with a unique perspective and skill set that perfectly aligns with Forecastable’s mission to help businesses improve sales collaboration through partner co-selling strategies.
• In his free time, you’ll find him spending quality time with his children, one of whom is on the autism spectrum.
• I am driven by the opportunity to contribute to a platform that not only optimizes sales strategies but also strengthens relationships that lead to long-term growth.

Trying to spread those duties across one or two people’s already full plates is a recipe for disaster. Partner managers are fully focused on recruiting new partners, nurturing relationships, and getting deals over the finish line. And if you can’t afford to hire a new person, you need someone on the team to very intentionally carve time out of their day to work on it.” They bring fresh ideas to leadership about how things could be done differently or what they could try in the next month or quarter (and try to back it up with as much data as possible). Below, we talk more about how crucial this role is, how AI changes the work (and how it doesn’t), and what to look for in your first partner operations hire. Yes, AI can surface anomalies, automate some of the more tedious processes going on behind the scenes, and help draft QBR slides.

Partner management builds and runs the relationships with individual partners. Design your partner operations against your own program size, systems, and CRM before committing to a process or platform. A company scaled its partner program to sixty partners on the strength of good relationship managers and almost no operations. Every hour a partner manager spends fixing deal-registration disputes or rebuilding a report by hand is an hour not spent co-selling. Even with the right tools, running a channel partner program is a challenging task. I’m looking forward to a time where AI can do things for partners, but that really depends a lot on your PRM data quality.”