Market development funds (MDF) are commonly used by enterprise brands to help indirect sales partners or channel partners with sales and marketing programs that drive revenue for both the national brand, and the local partner. These type of partner ecosystems exist across a wide range of industries like automotive, technology, QSR, CPG, insurance, and healthcare. The indirect partners in these verticals are dealers, resellers, franchisees, distributors, and agents. This type of channel partner marketing program is often ripe for modernization.
As part of a client engagement with Alludo, a global technology company, they wished to create an updated partner portal experience for their MDF program while creating greater operational efficiencies for the organization. Along the way, processes were improved with systematic workflow controls and improved data and analytics.
The Challenge
Alludo’s MDF program operations consisted of numerous manual steps across multiple internal departments resulting in operational inefficiencies, a lack of controls, and limited insights into return on partner investment. The partner experience was also frustrating and multi-step.
The Solution
Using Ansira’s proprietary channel marketing platform, Ansira Edge Technology SuiteSM, the team proposed a new partner portal solution with automated workflow processes to provide an enhanced partner experience focused on improvements and efficiencies for both the partner and the client team.
Enhanced Partner Experience
The new experience provides partners with a centralized platform, along with standardized global program delivery support. Partners also have full visibility into the MDF lifecycle status, automated partner communications, and a view into partner return on investment (ROI) and proof of performance (POP) expectations.
Streamlined Operating Model
To address the inefficiencies and control issues, systematic MDF budget management and workflow controls were implemented, along with unbiased third-party review of POP claims. These operational changes reduced manual intervention steps for the Alludo team and now allow for greater program flexibility and scalability moving forward.
Improved Data and Analytics
A new automated lead integration provided the path for data input and out that significantly decreased lead time and in portal, real-time reporting and dashboards enable a clear view into partner ROI. These insights now fuel Alludo’s ability to scale and grow partner rewards and rebates tied to clear metrics.
Results
There are now 56% fewer touches required from Alludo along the MDF lifecycle journey. This reduction in manual processes improved the partner experience as the Alludo team was now able to reinvest their time into strategic partner planning and execution. In addition, steps in the leads process were decreased by 50%, while the POs issued by Alludo for payments to partners went down by 96%. These improvements collectively resulted in a 69% savings in operational costs for the client.
If you’re struggling with similar operational inefficiencies within your partner marketing program that are negatively impacting your team and partner experience, contact our experts to evaluate your processes and provide impactful solutions. To check out our latest content related to channel marketing, click here.