Latest news
Why is most channel partner data inaccurate?
Walsh has asked rooms full of channel leaders how many of them have access to good partner data. Few hands go up. Almost every organization Channelnomics works with has the same problem: the data is not accurate, not current, or too disorganized to use with confidence.
That is where the old saying applies. Garbage in, garbage out. Bad inputs do not just fail to help. Walsh points out that they actively produce half-baked insights that are worse than having no data at all, because they get treated as if they are reliable.
Partner data that is outdated before anyone acts on it
Records that are disorganized or duplicated across systems
Insights built on top of both, which pass for analysis but are not
Which channel partner metrics actually matter?
Assume the data problem is solved. Walsh says a second problem shows up right behind it: people expect the data itself to hand them both the question and the answer. That is backward. You need to decide what you are measuring before you go looking for it.
Walsh breaks this down into a hierarchy of channel partner metrics and partnership KPIs, starting from the top:
Imperatives
The partner performance metrics that satisfy real business stakeholders and answer the question every channel leader eventually faces: What is the channel worth, and what is it producing?
Feel facts
Data points that make a report look good but carry no real meaning or relevance to a decision.
Do not try to measure everything. Measure what matters, and let the rest fall away.
E2open subscription center
Subscribe to receive e2open updates
Interested in learning more? Stay current with the latest e2open news – from company updates to thought-leadership pieces, and so much more!