As markets evolve, businesses digitize more and more to reduce operating costs while increasing access. In the process, they tend to de-leverage their direct go-to-market structure and emphasize an indirect model instead. As a result, we are now seeing a proliferation of various types of partners, such as affiliates, agents, consultants, wholesalers, resellers, brokers, retailers, etailers, franchises, system integrators and more – there are too many to name. However, all do essentially the same thing: they represent a brand to a buyer. Sometimes these third parties focus exclusively on generating brand awareness, but in other cases they carry inventory and resell a product, and sometimes they also provide services beyond the sale.

When you have a thriving partner network, it is highly likely that you will have a mix of various partner types. Therefore, as you design programs and processes and invest in people to manage your indirect go-to-market model, it is important that you have the right technology infrastructure – namely, partner management software – to automate these workflows in a deliberate and structured way.

Partner onboarding applies to both existing partners and new partners. Why? Because you are marketing and selling solutions that are constantly changing; even long-time partners will need to complete training or recertification processes or territory realignment from time to time to continue to sell effectively. Now when it comes to new partners, of course you need to recruit them, train them and put them through structured onboarding programs, much like you do with your new employees, but there may be a lot of differences between your new and existing partner programs. Without a solid partner management software infrastructure it is very difficult to rapidly redesign, redeploy and globally manage an infrastructure that can accommodate these differences.

Typically, a partner onboarding process goes through the following steps, which your partner management software should be able to flow through seamlessly:

These are the seven most basic steps in the partner journey. In some cases there may be another dozen or so steps that your partners have to go through. We won’t cover those in detail here, but we will go into more detail in subsequent articles. The point we want to emphasize here is that partner onboarding is not a single step. For an employee to be effective in your organization, you must take them through multiple steps in a training process before they are ready to start performing. The same rationale applies to partner onboarding. Partners must be guided through a structured onboarding program in order to succeed in the activities you want them to engage in. A best-in-class platform like ZINFI’s partner management software can significantly accelerate this process while reducing your costs and exponentially improving your financial performance.

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Partner Management Software streamlines the entire partner lifecycle by automating seven key stages: recruitment, registration, program sign-up, training, enablement, deal management, and financial payments. This structured approach guides partners through the necessary steps to become effective sellers or promoters quickly.

Automating partner onboarding significantly reduces operational costs and drastically accelerates a partner’s time to revenue. By providing instant access to necessary resources and certifications, PMS ensures all partners are current on product knowledge and program requirements, thus improving financial performance.

A comprehensive Partner Management Software platform must include a secure Partner Portal for registration, an integrated Learning Management System (LMS) for training, and dedicated modules for both Deal Registration and Automated Payments. These components ensure seamless collaboration, knowledge transfer, and accurate compensation tracking.

No, Partner Management Software applies to both new and existing partners. While it manages the structured recruitment and initial sign-up for new partners, it also supports continuous enablement for long-time partners via ongoing training, recertification, and territory realignment processes to maintain effective selling.