Criticisms on Partner Portal Strategies

The business world is becoming more and more complex in this day and age. Just as it is getting more and more complicated, it is also getting more and more competitive. This is all thanks to the highly developing information technology. Giant companies are taking over every niche that they can find while the middle sized ones are securing the smaller niches and holding on to it tightly with a death grip. The new marketing niches however are giving way to new strategies such as partner portal strategies. Smaller start-up companies are taking the opportunity these markets provide to grow their business and stave off the affects of bad economy. Partnerships are leading to strong networks that the multinationals are unable to penetrate. With just a web portal, the smaller companies in the technological industry are able to gain their legs. This small computer application set up in the main website of the vendor company will allow its partners to access the up-to-date information they need in order to market the vendor’s products. Such a strategy has become so popular that manufacturers from different territories are starting to take advantage of it.

There are a lot of multinational corporations who utilize networking via different kinds of channels. However, the unique relationship between small startup companies and partnership strategies are now thought of widely as a way to compete with the bigger multinationals. Many small to medium sized companies swear by this kind of strategy. The use of portals provides many benefits which in the end, directly leads to an increase of productivity and revenue.

But of course, there is another side to this equation. Criticism against partner portal strategies exists. One of the major arguments against it is that there still persists a lack of control. The vendor will still not be able to gain enough data on their partners despite the existence of an online pipeline which enable partners to submit reports regularly. This may just be of course an issue that can be remedied by more creative channel programs used to regulate a much more reliable reporting system. It may not be the fault of the portal system per se. The information is not enough in some of the current reporting systems. What is ideal is that the parent company should be privy to significant sales figures. But of course, sales and lead generation should first of all, fall upon the vendor’s responsibility first before it is passed on the channel partners.

There are also others who feel that the portal strategy is too big of a financial risk that is not worth investing on. Of course, this will indeed be a sizable investment especially considering that most of its users will be small to medium sized corporations. However, for specific industries where up to date information changes on price lists, deliveries, sales, supplies, marketing information are all needed fast, then this strategy will surely be worth the investment. Just imagine how much work procedure this strategy will replace. Instead of having a team call up partners, fly in partners, or take reports, these procedures will be done through a quick, centralized online partner portal.