Part 2 : Role-models, consumers and PRM's future

As well as offering clear CRM benefits, the Internet carries its own challenge to companies, by shifting power and control back to the customer / consumer. Are companies coping with this and adjusting their strategies and approaches accordingly?
Yeah, executives are starting to figure this out. I just attended a CEO conference and it was clear that the impact and the opportunity of the Internet is now in much sharper focus. Strategies are being developed and rolled out, but the work is just beginning. Even industry leaders like Cisco and GE believe they have just started. As you said, the power has shifted and companies must adjust or face severe competitive pressures in the years ahead.

Any role models out there showing the rest of us how eCRM should be done?
If by attaching that little "e" to CRM you mean web-based CRM, I'm not sure. This is a new area and there's a lot of innovation going on. I like the way companies like Dell, , Schwab and Cisco leverage the Internet to support better relationships and more efficient business models.

Thinking now of partner relationship management. One of the opportunities the Internet promised companies was that they could market and sell direct to end-users. Has this happened or have the middlemen proved more robust than we might have thought?
Internet pundits and the dot-coms proclaimed that channels (middlemen) would be killed off by the Internet. It's ironic that now the dot-gones are looking for work at the companies they tried to put out of business! But make no mistake about it, the Internet has had a profound effect on businesses and their channel partners. It's just more complex than people thought it would be.

Instead of the Internet killing off middlemen, the middlemen adapted and found ways to remain relevant, add value, and become more efficient. It's just good, old-fashioned competition. It's been interesting to see the Internet spawn so many new intermediaries, not replace the old ones. Amazon.com, the poster child for the Internet economy, is after all not a book publisher. Look around and you see lots of new intermediaries and hybrid direct/indirect business models (Schwab, Cisco, IBM).

How can a company then use the Internet to enhance its partner relationships? What kinds of features or benefits can Internet-enabled PRM offer?
It's really pretty simple. Figure out what your partners need, use the Internet to deliver it if possible, and make sure the relationship is profitable for both parties. Now that's a good partner relationship! Specific features could include portals to deliver information, lead distribution systems, sales process tools, and service/support systems.

Is it fair to talk generically about Internet-enabled PRM, or is this relationship too industry and market-specific? If so, where does it work best?
Most of the activity with PRM technology (and yes, it's virtually all web-based these days) is concentrated in the IT industry. I think it's due to the competitive pressures and battle for partner mindshare. But financial services, manufacturing, and telecom are coming on strong. Interest is also building in Europe and elsewhere in the world. The applications do need to be tailored extensively for specific verticals. I don't believe we'll see one-size-fits-all PRM solutions.

If senior management is considering using the Internet for PRM, how would you recommend they go about the task?
Make sure they have a solid business strategy and channel strategy in place first. The role of partners should be clearly defined and the partners' needs must be understood. Then it's pretty straightforward to select the right tools to solve the most important problems.

My best practices study in Q1/2000 found that technology was only about 20% of the "solution." The rest had to do with executive leadership, planning, taking care of people issues, and implementing in stages.

Finally Bob, PRM is a young field - how do you see it developing in the future?
The best practices of effective PRM strategy will become clear as more companies take the plunge. And the functionality of the PRM software products will continue to grow explosively, fill many more niches in the market, and integrate better into the enterprise.

In the next couple of years we'll see eCommerce and PRM functionality meld together, so that good PRM means not just managing the partner relationship, but executing it flawlessly with every transaction. I also think we'll learn a lot about what makes partners loyal, because that to me is the primary reason to invest in PRM.