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b'The entire world is getting digitized\\u2014from supply chain to manufacturing to service delivery to customer acquisition\\u2014but when it comes to the last mile of product and service delivery via a channel partner network, it is amazing to see that most companies haven\\u2019t deployed partner relationship management (PRM) automation to any significant degree. This leaves a lot of low-hanging fruit related to growth and productivity, but also neglects a crucial part of the vendor-partner relationship: partner satisfaction levels. That\\u2019s what we will explore in detail in this article.\\nBefore providing specific recommendations, let\\u2019s briefly look at the lifecycle of partner relationship management (PRM). This relationship starts with an organization signing up to resell products and services from another. Just like any new relationship, in the case of PRM there it\\u2019s important to recognize there are certain expectations that partner organizations have with respect to a vendor\\u2019s program. Over time, as the partner organization learns how to sell, market and serve, it\\u2019s not uncommon for a number of issues or conflicts to arise, accompanied by a drop in partner satisfaction. As satisfaction drops, partner engagement drops, and eventually the partner organization stops selling the vendor\\u2019s products and services or reduces the transaction level substantially.\\n\\nSo what can a vendor organization do to sustain and increase partner satisfaction over time, and how can\\nPRM automation help?\\n\\n\\n \\tMake it easy to find. Business relationships are complex, and vendors tend to rely on the partner organization to search through their partner portal to find various documents, programs, plans and other assets and features. Most partner portals are difficult to navigate, primarily because content is poorly categorized and laid out. A state-of-the-art PRM software platform should allow a vendor organization not only to provide various categories of content, but most importantly to deliver them on a mobile-friendly platform using partner-specific profile information. This way, the only content that a partner sees is relevant to that partner, and the partner is not overwhelmed with a plethora of content that it may or may not need.\\n \\tMake it easy to learn. Learning applies to all aspects of a new relationship between a vendor and a channel partner. The first thing a partner organization needs to learn is how to apply to specific programs, get trained on new products and services, how to sell them and how to market and serve the end-customers. Partner relationship management (PRM) software can automate all of these processes end to end and make it very easy for a partner to learn about all aspects of the vendor\\u2019s products and services. Most PRM software today comes with an built-in learning management system (LMS), as well as additional tools related to partner sales management (PSM) that emphasize gamification, leader boards, rewards alignment and other features that enable and incentivize sales.\\n \\tEnable customer acquisition. The commitment to resell a vendor\\u2019s products and services requires significant investment from a partner organization. Therefore, the more the vendor can help a partner to get in front of new customers,\\u2014and not just settle for providing additional solutions to their existing line of products and services\\u2014the better the chance that the early relationship between the vendor and the partner will be mutually beneficial. We often hear channel partners praise vendors who make it easy to attract new customers by providing effective marketing and sales automation capabilities via PRM automation platforms.\\n \\tGrow existing accounts. Getting new customers is hard, but getting existing customers interested in new products and services is even tougher, and it can also pose risks. A partner may instantly lose credibility with an established account if they push new products and services that don\\u2019t work very well.'