Effective Channel Mapping Will Optimize Your Partner Portfolio Performance

In Forrester's Q4 2009 North American B2B Marketing Organizations Online Survey, 19% of tech vendors report that spending on channel enablement and management will increase in 2010. Even so, only one-third of tech vendor chief marketing officers (CMOs) have channel marketing as a direct report, because channels, for most tech vendors, were traditionally developed as afterthoughts to a direct sales strategy. Channel dynamics are becoming a major driver of industry change as tech sellers seek out additional go-to-market bandwidth — and tech buyers get better at discriminating among alternative engagement models. In response, tech marketing professionals are realizing that it is time for channel planning to become more strategic, aligning with business imperatives and including a proactive partner portfolio recruitment plan run by the marketing organization. Forrester is introducing a partner profile modeling and analysis methodology to help these channel marketers address this challenge better.