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SaaS partner relationship management firm Impartner is urging companies to resist the temptation to build their own partner portal.
Impartner warns that in the age of the ‘lego-isation of IT’, all the pieces of the IT puzzle must snap together. Chief marketing officer Dave R Taylor believes that internally developed ‘bespoke’ software can actually be a decelerator to business: “In 2010, the mantra was ‘there’s an app for that.’ In 2015, it has changed to ‘there’s a SaaS for that’. This couldn’t be truer than when it comes to Partner Relationship Management (PRM).
“SaaS-based technology like Impartner’s means that when you finally redo your partner portal, there is a solution that is pre-built and you can simply personalise it and ‘snap’ it onto your existing IT infrastructure and move on. In today’s market, why would you invest the organisational time and IT resources to build something that’s already built with industry best practices?”
Taylor notes that many are easily swayed by the "Sirens’ Song of BYOP", given that on the surface, most fail to understand the complexities of integrating the typical technologies in a portal from CRM to Deal Registration, and mistakenly think another technology platform is harder, not easier, for their IT team to integrate.
According to Taylor, the top eight reasons to resist BYOP (build your own portal) include:
· Time to market
· Loss of focus for your IT team
· Level of effort
· Lack of a roadmap for the future
· Ongoing maintenance
· Infrastructure costs
· Initial creation costs
· Lack of channel expertise
Find out more about the pitfalls on building you own portal in Impartner’s infographic.
