The “your network is your net worth” narrative makes more sense in the modern-day B2B world. Partner programs have become more common in the Business-to-Business (B2B) space, as 54% of companies stated that partner programs generate 20% of their total revenue. And 34% of marketers believe brand partnerships effectively strengthen the email subscriber list.
Channel partnerships help businesses like service providers, financial institutions, IT firms, etc., with different goals, such as:
- Expanding the target market
- Adding value to their customers’s sales lifecycles
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Automating payment processing
- Strengthening brand identity, and
- Generating new revenue streams
Channel partnerships are indeed the future of the B2B arena, as Forrester projects a 10x rise in channel partnership programs by 2025.
But, how does a channel partner program help different types of businesses? In this blog post, you will learn about the following:
- What is a channel partner?
- The benefits of channel partnership programs for ISOs and ISVs
- Types of channel partners to consider
- Types of tech partnership programs
- Important things to consider when choosing a B2B partnership program
What is a Channel Partner?
A channel partner is a company, agent, retailer, service provider, payment processor, vendor, or any other business entity that partners with another business entity to help it sell or market its technology, products, or services.
Channel partner programs are an excellent way for businesses to target a bigger audience and sell their products or services in different geographical regions. In return, the channel partners either earn through commission or other incentives. Partnership programs also allow third-party entities to expand multiple business industries and stretch their clientele.
How Do ISOs Benefit From Channel Partner Programs?
ISOs benefit greatly from channel partnership programs by creating new income streams. They generate income from the residuals of payments that the merchant partners process. Moreover, a payment processing partner helps ISOs with:
Simplified Sales Process
Partner programs allow the ISOs to focus on their primary objectives. A single payment processing partner ensures that sales representatives don’t have to deal with eligibility requirements, onboarding, or other tools related to multiple payment processors.
More Customer Satisfaction
35% of merchants prefer omnichannel payment solutions, while 28% are keen on adopting the latest payment technologies. A single payment processing partner helps ISOs in fulfilling merchants’ requirements in a better way. Partnering with an innovative payment processor makes it easy to keep up with futuristic payment solutions.
Payment Security
Debit and credit cards were among the most vulnerable payment methods for e-commerce merchants in 2021, says research. A secure and, preferably, Nacha Preferred Payment partner minimizes the chances of online payment fraud.
Benefits of Channel Partner Program for ISVs
Ringadoc, a B2B software vendor, reported an annual 1,983% increase in its revenue through a channel partner program. Ringadoc did it in just six months—revenue generation is a universal benefit of channel partnerships. Here are a variety of other benefits:
- ISVs may get free endorsements for their products or services from their partners. Endorsements from reliable third-party vendors are handy in branding.
- When they partner with payment processors, software vendors can provide more value to merchants. Secure, faster payments ensure that merchants do not need additional payment solutions.
- Payment processing partners allow ISVs to set up recurring payments for collecting payments, subscriptions, and other charges from their clients.
Types of B2B Channel Partnerships to Consider
B2B companies can enter into different partnership programs depending on their objectives. Here are just some of the different types of partnerships:
Strategic partnerships
Strategic partnerships usually take place between two non-competitive business entities. However, their products complement each other.
A typical example of strategic partnerships includes Nokia and Microsoft. Windows is the primary operating system in Nokia’s different smartphone series, such as Nokia Lumia.
Channel Partnership
Channel partnerships are a promotion or growth tool in which company partners with sellers, retailers, consultants, distributors, payment processors, and other businesses somehow connected to the company.
The company gives commissions, discounts, free promotions, or other incentives. In return, the partners promote the company’s products or services.
Tech Partnership
As the name suggests, tech partnerships are business collaborations between two tech companies dealing in similar or different products or services. The Spotify and Waze partnership is a classic real-world example of a technology partnership.
Tech partnerships have further classifications, including:
- Plug-ins, extensions, and add-ons
- App stores and marketplaces
- Integrations
Integrations ensure that customers can perform different functions in the same solution. Virtual data rooms, a cloud-based data management solution, allows safer communication by integrating with Slack.
Similarly, software vendors integrate with payment processing solutions to provide a complete package to the merchants. A payment processing partner is a full-of-value integration for B2B companies.
Such partnerships give B2B companies freedom from dealing with banks, credit card companies, and other payment collectors. Most importantly, payment processing partners come with a wide range of the latest payment collection methods, such as:
- Virtual Terminals
- IVR Payments
- Hosted Payment Portals
- Email Invoicing
- Credit Card Processing
- ACH Payments, etc.
Clients can choose any payment method for periodic or recurring payments according to their convenience. Lastly, the payments and clients’s confidential data remain safe.
How to Choose the Right Technology Partners for a B2B SaaS Program
Partnership programs are only effective if you succeed in choosing the right partner. Here are some valuable tips for B2B companies to consider when selecting a technology partner:
- Identify what you want to achieve with this partnership, define measurable goals, and prepare a list of suitable names
- Reach out to the companies you think can be your potential partners
- Create a formal channel agreement
- Help partners with the onboarding process and ensure smooth communication
- Offer fair incentives as agreed—giving bonuses will push your partners to put in more effort
- Regularly track partnership outputs, compare them with projections, and make adjustments if necessary
Partner with iCheckGateway.com—a Nacha Preferred Partner
Channel partnership programs are a powerful and proven way of organizational success. Multi-billion dollar tech companies like MailChimp, eBay, Oracle, Microsoft, Citrix, Shopify, and many other big names use them.
Partnering with iCheckGateway.com will pave the way to explore new markets, reach a bigger audience, streamline payment collection, and join the digital payment world, which is projected to reach $15.17 trillion by 2027.
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