Sales Performance Management Best Practices Blog

New Channel Incentive Payment Solution for SaaS Service Providers!

Posted by Jerry Hegarty on Mon, Apr 15, 2013 @ 10:04 AM

The shifts in the IT marketplace to Cloud delivery models is well underway, SaaS and Managed Service providers are all evolving their business models and creating new channels to sell their solutions.   These evolving business models and new channels are creating many new business opportunities, successful cloud service providers of all types including SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, and managed service providers are developing new channel distribution models and deploying new fee structures to their channel partners. 

There is significant debate in the market about how to design the right incentive or fee structures for channel partners that are reselling or referring SaaS or managed service offerings.  While there is significant debate and experimentation on incentive models and fee structures, regardless of that fee structure, successful service providers need the processes and tools to implement and manage those channel incentive payments. The complexity in this environment is driven by the recurring revenue model, variability in offerings and fee structures, and ultimately the volume of channel partners or partner sales representatives. 

Sales Commissions, Channel management

Pereion Solutions and NetCommissions are teaming together to bring to market a Channel Incentive Payment Solution that is uniquely able to handle the needs of Cloud Service providers of all types that are going to market through channel partners and require a system with the flexibility to handle recurring fee payments across multiple offerings and a number of channel partners.  Pereion Solutions brings channel management skills and experience in developing and managing channel incentive programs.  NetCommissions has a proven platform to manage and implement commission and incentive payment systems.

Companies in the initial stages of building their indirect channel often manage incentives and fees with off line systems such as spreadsheets. This approach makes sense when the partner count is low and the complexity of the process is manageable. The technology is ubiquitous and trained support staff is relatively easy to find.

Channel compensation approaches for the cloud based SaaS market where fees and incentives are linked to contracts that span multiple years pose many challenges, but clearly one of the most daunting is how best to managing incentives in a SaaS world of recurring subscription revenue streams. This process often involves tracking and matching, bookings, service delivery and invoices to rules which define each channel partner’s contract and commission fee schedule.

Complications typically arise because as your partner network grows so does the complexity of channel incentives. Overlay a growing product portfolio and spreadsheet based systems typically reach a breaking point. Research has shown that as one tries to scale a spreadsheet based process, the incidence of human error increases as does the level of effort to manage the process.

This solution overcomes this obstacle by enabling you to improve the value of your investments in channel commissions & fees and eliminate the excess effort you put into administering channel incentives. How?

Ease of use: Point and click interface targeted for the skill set of a business analyst. The NetCommissions platform enables managers to easily administer the process, maintain their channel hierarchy and easily set up the business rules that drive incentive calculations.

Cloud based: Take full advantage of our web based approach that is scalable, sustainable and requires little to no IT support or skills.

Ensure Timely and Accurate Payments: Take advantage of a robust platform built to streamline and support the unique needs of sales incentive compensation.

Save Time:  Save yourself time administering a manual process and instead focus that critical time on activities with higher strategic impact.

Improve communication: Crisp and clear reporting builds trust and loyalty within the channel.

As a channel manager, if you are managing a growing SaaS or Managed Services channel business than you may want to consider a cloud based software solution that ensures that your channel management process is streamlined, efficient and delivers tremendous value to your business. 

Contact Me - Channel Incentive Solution

Topics: Channel Commissions, EVP/Sales Leader, CFO/Finance Leader, CEO