Impartner PRM vs. ZiftONE

I have worked with many other PRM platforms. ImpartnerPRM is in the middle of the pack. There is still a lot of opportunity for making the platform more intuitive and automating some of the processes. However, it is better than some of the others that I have used in terms of there being better continuity between the PRM and marketing functions.

Incentivized

Very helpful in Marketing Actions, Marketing Decision Support, Sales Action Support, Customer Preference Analysis, Inbound Marketing Strategy Implementation, and Sales and Marketing Tool Integration. It's a comprehensive resource for helping customers make choices. All the years we have used this tool to communicate with our trading partners, there have been zero issues.

Incentivized

• Providing data in an easily digestible format.
• Intuitive workflow, really easy to learn in an afternoon.
• Cloud access feature allows for easy access on any device.

Incentivized

• Partner tracking and communication - Relayware allows a holistic view of a partner. Since the tool tracks everything a user does, you can easily see when the partner has sent or received emails, participated in trainings, download files, etc. You can also see how and when back-office users such as admins, partner managers, etc. have communicated with partners, updated dashboards, downloaded reports, and much more. The granularity of the history and tracking is exception for seeing how you and a partner are engaging. It's also very helpful for companies who require an audit trail for activities.
• Training/eLearning/onboarding - I've worked with a number of eLearning/LMS platforms over the years and I'm stunned by the learning system built into Relayware. It's hands down far and above many existing standalone products and if Relayware was smart, they would offer this as a standalone item. The system supports the typical eLearning/LMS basics- SCORM support, grading, training by module, etc. but it also allows for custom training paths based on learning modules which can be SCORM, video, HTML, files, and any combination of these. The grading system is separated from the training content which allows for highly flexible user cases. You can created quizzes, tests, and certifications based on individual content modules or a full learning path.
• Since the LMS is part of the overall Relayware system which is intended for partner management, you can create a range of onboarding processes/paths which are customized to particular types of partners. The system can support both online and offline activities so you can require xxx to be done online, followed by in-person training, etc. It really is an impressive system. I liked it so much, I decomissioned my instance of a Moodle LMS and I now use the Relayware LMS to serve as both partner eLearning and general customer eLearning through a separate portal.
• Flexibility - It's hard to believe the Relayware can do so much in a single SaaS. The system allows for connection to SFDC so working leads and opportunities is simple. A manager or admin can add, edit, and remove web pages with ease. Data can be placed on any webpage using a number of "Relayware tags" which are special HTML tags to pull data from the system and use on a page. Customizable workflows for most any part of the system can be handled via a workflow engine. This could be onboarding, partner signup and registration, lead/deal/opportunity management and routing to appropriate users, Legal and Export compliance checking of documents and files, and on and on.
• The only real drawback is that the system is so flexible, it helps to have good training and support so you don't get lost. Luckily this is only an issue for those who administer the system and Relayware is keen to provide good support for their product.
• Licensing & cost - My observation is that Relayware has several good options for licensing and overall cost. They break the system down into several key modules so if you don't need something, you can remove it and not pay for it. However, that also makes it easy for the product to grow as your needs do. One of their license modules is by back-office users, not front-office. The benefit of this is when coupled with SFDC, you only need a single SFDC license for all of your field personnel and front end users. Since one of the Relayware models is to not charge by the number of front end users, you can save thousands in SFDC licenses. Ie: A user works through Relayware to report/edit/manage leads, deals, and opportunities. The system uses a single SFDC license to connect to SFDC so rather than every front end user needing an SFDC license, you only need one. Depending on the size of your organization, this alone could easily pay for the Relayware system.

• Training was very difficult to set up and maintain
• They show you this awesome demo environment and then you realize once you purchase the tool how much it takes to get that. At least one web designer, help from marketing, and at least a few months of dedicated work
• The most expensive tool we looked at

Incentivized

• Building campaigns can be difficult at times - automation is good but can be a little temperamental
• Setting up social media links not always straightforward. You can't be sure if you have them right, there is poor feedback on the setup process
• Can be slow for updating campaigns, and I've been blown out and lost everything. Save frequently!

Incentivized

Would be a 10 if not for some of difficulties in building campaigns, setting up social media and occasional quirky behavior.

Incentivized

Salesforce was too expensive for us at the time and required too much customization and internal strain at the time. We ended up choosing Salesforce over Impartner later on once our channel business was more established and we had more resources internally. Impartner was more simple and easy to deploy than Salesforce, which is why we chose it when we had fewer resources

Incentivized

At the same time that I started using ZiftONE, we worked in a test mode with the GetResponse platform. We select ZiftONE as support on platforms that require content syndication since the information it provides us is more accurate than that of GetResponse. However, GetResponse has a more intuitive sales funnel for a person who has never worked with these types of tools.

Incentivized

• I do think our lead to demo rate increased a significant percent
• We were able to communicate easily with over 1k partners that were hard to reach before

Incentivized

• In our personal opinion, we can say that this tool has not generated negative aspects in our work, so we can say that we are comfortable because I can keep all my potential clients organized and make sure that nothing is lost.