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Managing a direct sales force is tough, let alone managing an indirect (channel) sales force. The concept of a channel has existed since the existence of fire when one person bartered with another. While technology has evolved rapidly over the past few thousand years, for many companies the state of their channel maturity still resembles how the channel was managed in the Stone Age. That doesn\u2019t need to be the case, however. If you are considering building a channel to sell your products and solutions or upgrading an existing one, channel marketing automation can significantly increase the efficacy of the deployment and management of your channel network globally.\nI consider the Internet as the second Big Bang. Yes, really. It has transformed how we look at the distributed world, and now the evolution of cloud-based software solutions is automating distributed workflow at a rapid pace. Please refer to our article on \u201cChannel Marketing Software \u2013 Why The Rapid Emergence?\u201d where we talk about what is truly driving the adoption of channel marketing automation tools and solutions. However, as the great saying goes: Before you automate, think through the steps manually. With that principle in mind, I\u2019d like to share with you a framework that every company must consider before they can deploy mature, end-to-end channel marketing automation that\u2019s comparable to what we provide at ZINFI.\nBased on our engagement with thousands of channel partners on a\xa0worldwide basis and our evaluation of how vendors deploy channel management, we have come up with a basic four-step framework for partner lifecycle management (or activities). We break down this lifecycle into four core areas: partner recruitment, partner engagement, partner enablement and partner management.\nAs a part of the channel management maturity evaluation, it is essential to understand which phase a company is in when it comes to these four different areas of activities.\nPhase 1: Laying the foundation \u2013 This is what I call the start-up phase of channel development. When you look at the activities at this level, it basically covers the following:\n\n\n \tPartner recruitment \u2013 The company has some basic partner recruitment capabilities in place by running tradeshows, webinars, and call-out campaigns. Recruitment is ad hoc, and not really focused around partner profiling or competency development, but more opportunistic.\n \tPartner engagement \u2013 The company knows how to provide a basic infrastructure. In many cases the following are homegrown:\n\n \tPartner portal \u2013 Tends to be patched together using either open-source software, SharePoint, or some other web development tools. However, the portal is monolithic, not localized, and cannot offer personalized content. With that said, at this stage the basic content exchange capabilities are in place. Some companies in this phase deploy a basic level of channel marketing automation.\n \tPartner onboarding \u2013 Signing contracts, training partners on how to sell, and putting business plans together are the core steps in this phase or in short - partner onboarding, but most of these activities are done manually and there are no systems in place to track the progress of partner engagement.\n \tPartner communication \u2013\xa0 A weekly or monthly newsletter goes out to partners, but communication is not broadly aligned with strategic initiatives and intent. Most content is highly tactical, and not necessarily controlled and aligned with broader corporate initiatives. Very rarely at this stage do we see deployment of channel marketing automation.\n\n\n \tPartner enablement \u2013 The company provides a basic level of marketing and sales tools.\n\n \tMarketing and sales enablement \u2013 Price lists, product data sheets, and marketing templates are available for partners to use. However, content is not mobile-friendly and not easy to search, tag, and find at this level.\n \tPartner training \u2013 A basic partner certification and training mechanism is in place,