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Vendor Vetting: Things to Consider

Choosing your stack and the vendors who provide its components are two of the most crucial business choices you will make. Finding a reliable supplier at a reasonable price is crucial to the success of any business.

Every company has different hiring standards. Here are the criteria you can use to vet your vendors:

  • Customer Satisfaction
No vendor shares customer complaints. Inquire about the vendor’s performance. Find good and bad examples of interactions, then decide what bad means to you.
 
  • Service levels
Can the vendor meet your account's needs? This varies by product and buying cycle. Check their supply chain and process control. This will show how reliable they are.
 
  • Finances
Long-term planning depends on a vendor's financial stability. What are their options if they run out of money? Will your vendor's layoffs affect service and needs? Could a cash-strapped vendor raise your costs? Determine your recourse if the vendor is acquired and if the risk is acceptable.
 
  • Relationships & Culture
The vendor's culture should match yours. If not, you'll have staffing, contract, and other vendor issues. No relationship is perfect, but find vendors who want you both to win.
 
  • Communication
Communication is key in any relationship, and a vendor's poor support can be maddening. Ensure departmental communication. Support management reveals much about communications. Some vendors prioritize closing the deal. Great vendors solve issues before closing tickets.
 
  • Contracts
What's your company's contract tolerance? A confident vendor offers one-year or month-to-month contracts. Immature or aggressive vendors may seek long-term contracts. Make sure their method fits your company's culture.
 
  • Costs
These products and services cost money. How well you negotiate with vendors affects costs. Choose the best product and price, then negotiate.
 
  • Quality
Is the product constantly improved? If innovation stalls or quality drops, the vendor will be replaced quickly. Check their quality history.
 
  • Supply Chain Security
Most vendors have supply chains. Evaluate each supply chain part's service level, security, and compliance.

Final Thoughts: Choose Your Vendors Wisely

List vendors in your product stack or distribution chain. Add your own selection criteria. If you don't have a vendor due diligence and selection process, this will help.

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Channel Partners: How Investing in the Right Ones Can Stimulate Growth

December 04, 2024

Investing in the right channel partners in a deeper, more personalized way through tailored, easy-to-use marketing development funds and incentives. Partner marketing programs can help your organization achieve key growth and your ROI objectives. You need to take risks, be creative and use the rapid digital transformation to identify your top channel and dealer partners. Here are some ways to help you identify which channel partners you need to focus on and how to categorize your partners:

  • Creating a Robust Channel Strategy
Create a strong channel strategy based on the ideal channel partner profile. Find answers to questions like what your channel strategy aims to achieve, what drives the growth of your business, what separates you from your competitors and what is important for your partnership. Defining what you want from your channel strategy is the key to recruiting the right partners for your program.
  • Defining IPP (Ideal Partner Profile)
Your ideal partner should be capable, ready, willing, and able to sell your products. They should have the same mindset, a partnership mentality, make the most of the sales enablement resources you provide, and align with you in terms of business perspective. Stability in aspects like finance, human resources, market reputation, and performance is crucial.
  • Analyze Partners’ Performance
Rate your partners based on their capabilities, their ability to come up with competitive solutions, their willingness to communicate clearly and their ability to inculcate new ways to increase sales and revenue. If their performance is not up to the mark, be prepared to knock them off the list. Be selective when investing in a partner.
  • Be Ready to Support Large Channel Partners
You should have the mindset and resources to support large channel partners. Devote your funds to offering them training and relevant content, and give them the support they need to succeed. Employ a team who can manage such partners, regularly get an overview of their performance and issues they are having so they know you care.
  • Harness Technology to Manage Partnerships
Use sophisticated PRM tools to analyze how your partners are performing against defined KPIs and identify areas for improvement, and the type of training they are receiving and their incentive history.

Channel Partnerships Aid in Revenue Growth

Creating channel partnerships with the right companies can help you broaden your customer base, achieve your ROI objectives, and create lasting business relationships.

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5 Solid Reasons to Fuse Your Influencer & Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

November 20, 2024

Your business needs to see a big return on investment (ROI) from influencer marketing to be worth it. And the best way to do that is through affiliate marketing. In this article, you will find five solid reasons to blend your influencer and affiliate marketing campaigns.

  • Encourage Team Work
You can increase influencer-driven purchases by integrating creator efforts with partner marketing. Furthermore, you can optimize partner diversification, gain quantitative insights into individual performance, and combine sales metrics with valuable top- and middle-of-funnel data for a more comprehensive approach. Your teams can remove department silos and work towards the same goals.
  • Broaden Your Customer Base
Your secret weapon is nano and micro-influencers, with a smaller, highly engaged audience of up to 50,000 followers. These creators understand that affiliate partnerships with brands can increase their earnings by attracting more engaged audiences with a higher probability to transact.
  • Create Long-Term Relationships
Influencer marketing used to be all about short-term strategies. However, cultivating long-term relationships with performers yields better results. So, find the voices that understand your brand and invest in long-term relationships.
  • Form Smooth-Sailing Partnerships
Finding the right creators and maintaining close contact can make or break a project's success. Choose affiliate platforms that provide third-party influencer management solutions to reduce friction and allow creators to focus on engaging their audiences, making it easier for influencers to work with brands and track direct sales.
  • Align Your Objectives
You can accurately measure a creator's impact on sales and pay for tangible results by combining your affiliate and influencer marketing activities. And because affiliate marketing lets you track sales for each influencer, you can accurately determine the return on investment for each one and focus on the most productive ones.

1 Drive Revenue and Prove the Value of Investment

Affiliate partnerships are an example of a new way for brands and influencers to work together to benefit everyone.

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Infosys Compaz Strengthens Collaboration with StarHub for Next-generation Technology Solutions

IBM

December 11, 2024

Infosys Compaz, a joint venture between Infosys and Temasek, announced an enhanced collaboration with StarHub, a leading Singapore-based telecommunications provider, to deliver innovative next-generation technology solutions. The partnership focuses on leveraging AI, cloud, and workplace transformation technologies to enable enterprises to modernize operations, enhance digital capabilities, and explore new market opportunities.

By leveraging Infosys Cobalt and Infosys Topaz, the collaboration aims to address a wide range of use cases, including cloud modernization, AI automation, and industrialized operations. Furthermore, Infosys and StarHub will co-create AI models using telecommunications data to provide tailored solutions for industry-specific challenges.

Leaders from both organizations emphasized the transformative impact of this partnership. Tan Kit Yong, Head of Enterprise Business Group at StarHub, stated, "Aligned with our DARE strategy, this synergy will position us as the go-to provider for cloud, cybersecurity, and ICT services, helping businesses accelerate their digital journeys."

The collaboration also focuses on simplifying operations, achieving cost efficiencies, and delivering cutting-edge solutions that enable StarHub's transition into a cloud-centric organization.

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61 percent of Global Businesses are Scaling Back AI Investment as a Result of Trust Issues

AMAZON

December 10, 2024

A recent study by Qlik , involving 4,200 C-suite executives and AI decision-makers, has highlighted the significant barriers hindering the adoption and implementation of AI solutions globally. Despite 88% of respondents acknowledging the importance of AI to organizational success, factors such as a lack of trust, skills shortages, and data governance challenges are causing 61% of businesses to scale back their AI investments.

The research revealed that many AI projects are either stuck in the planning stages or being scrapped altogether. Around 20% of businesses reported having 50 to 100+ AI projects in the scoping phase, while another 20% noted that up to 50 projects were paused or canceled entirely before completion.

Key Challenges Identified:

  • Lack of skills to develop AI (23%)
  • Challenges in rolling out AI (22%)
  • Data governance issues (23%)
  • Budget constraints and lack of trusted data (21%)

Organizations are increasingly looking at ready-made AI solutions, with 74% of decision-makers viewing them as a good foundation for enhancing AI development and overcoming these hurdles.

"Business leaders recognize the value of AI but face multiple barriers that prevent them from achieving successful deployment," said James Fisher, Chief Strategy Officer at Qlik. To address these issues, organizations are focusing on upskilling workforces and developing clearer AI strategies to drive adoption and create value.

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Cognizant and Palo Alto Networks join forces to offer AI-driven cybersecurity solutions aimed at enhancing the security posture of global enterprises. The partnership will bolster the adoption of AI in cybersecurity.

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