In this promoted episode of the podcast, TechCentral talks to Axiz executive Traci Maynard about the importance - and upsides and risks - of using incentives in the IT distribution channel.

Maynard explains why vendors use incentives for their distribution and reseller partners, the impact these incentives have on the channel - helping drive different behaviours - and how they work.

Research group Forrester has shown how companies can automate incentives, which helps remove friction in the partner sales process and streamline the lead to revenue processes.

Maynard shares examples of incentives that work particularly well and how companies can measure how well they are actually working. What are the return-on-investment metrics companies need to pay attention to?

Lastly, she explains how the shift to cloud computing is changing the incentives model and how Microsoft manages incentives through its Cloud Solution Provider partner programme.