Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Before Partner Relationship Management Software

What did companies and organizations do before the creation of partnership management software tools? In the past companies were a lot more complacent when it came to their partnership management. Of course, there were already several strategies and methods in place back in the day. But these were crude. The crudeness is understandably so. Back in the day, the global market is not as fully integrated as it is today. Companies are more for expansion than for partnership.

channel management

http://img40.imagefra.me/img/img40/2/2/3/fadsolute/f_13m_d53588a.jpg

What where the tools that were used for partner relationship management in the past? Companies used to rely on basic methods for their PRM. They also formulated these processes on their own. It is basically a hit and miss, trial and error activity for getting to the right process of PRM. The tools that were used were pretty basic. Basic spreadsheets for keeping track of everything were employed. Communication was mostly done by phone if not through email. These were crude times. However, as times changed, so did PRM. The advent of the internet created e-commerce. And this eventually lead to the sophisticated Partner Relationship Management software systems that we know of today.

One can find a hard time imagining those days when PRM software was so crude. That is because back then, the internet was not fully integrated to business. But now, it is indispensable. Partner Relationship Management Software is a key factor to the running of large channel clouds.

As time goes by, a business, especially those in manufacturing electronics, will inevitably grow its partner lists. As partner channels become more complex, it is harder to keep track of all the data of shipments, marketing, sales, etc. The necessity for streamlining of Partner Relationship Management was the mother of PRM software invention. And in this increasingly integrated business environment, it is indispensable.

Amazon 4Q profit climbs 71 pct on strong holidays