The need to maintain good relationships with business partners transcends time and space. Communication should flow between organizations and partners, suppliers and consumers. Until recent history, communication would involve mail, telephone, fax and other less efficient methods. Partner Relationship Management (PRM) is a business strategy that recognizes the need to develop long-term relationships by providing technology based tools that are beneficial to all parties. PRM is built on the principles of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. PRM/CRM solutions (http://www.blueroads.com/webcasts/FOLEADMGMT/br_lead_mgmt_player.html) are web-based software applications that support the critical business processes of order management, supply chain management, customer support, payment and delivery services or various administrative tasks.
PRM facilitates partner relationships through:
Partner programs
*sales strategies support via distribution channel management
*retailer and partner support
*cross sales and loyalty programs
Sales Management & Controlling
*web shops (B2B/B2C)
*multilingual product catalog
*flexible stock keeping, continuously updated price lists and inventory
*cross product promotions, co-branded substores
*quick and easy configuration of country-specific requirements (language, currency, taxes)
Marketing and PR tools
*customer specific marketing strategies, easy and convenient implementation of promotions and ad campaigns
*targeted on-line marketing, detailed customer profile, co-branded substores, online survey combined with lottery
*easy and fast implementation of PR-promotions
*newsletter, press release sending
Order & Supply Chain Management
*electronic data interchange between shop engine and supply chain partners to achieve smooth *data flows between order and delivery
*flexible integration of business partners, (e.g. fulfillment and payment providers, distributors)
individual order process per fulfillment partner[1]
PRM companies seem to agree that PRM is about aligning the goals of disparate companies and making this so financially attractive to partners in the form of leads and other incentives that they never want to leave your company’s sphere of influence.
Kevin McKelvey, ChannelWave’s Senior Alliance Manager, explained that since the beginning of buying and selling, vendors have recruited vast networks of partners. But, he said, as the sheer volume of partners and complexity of the business world have accelerated, a business is now left aching for something like PRM.“There are layers of complexity with their partner channels. In addition, there are layers of complexity within those relationships,” he said. “The tremendous volume of business being driven through channels is itself a driver.”[2]
Another aspect of PRM is Supplier Relationship Management (SRM). The core concepts of CRM are evident in SRM and PRM. The following link to Oracle’s Peoplesoft will illustrate their relationship management software which includes PRM, CRM and SRM functions. http://www.oracle.com/pls/ebn/swf_viewer.load?p_shows_id=5317101&p_referred=0&p_width=800&p_height=600
Collaborative Commerce
Collaborative commerce refers to non-selling/buying transaction between organizations. An example is a company collaborating electronically with a vendor designing a product or part. Retailer-suppliers like Wal-Mart collaborate with major suppliers to design production, perform inventory planning and forcast demand. Product design and manufacturing are often performed on web-based collaborative interorganizational information systems (IOS) which document product changes and requirements all along the supply chain.
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[1] http://www.channel-star.com/solutions/prm-crm
[2]http://saleslobby.com/OnlineMagazine/0900/channelmanagement_jkrist.asp
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3 comments:
Great job on the blog! It's very detailed and resourceful. Keep up the good work.
It's interesting the words we have to use to boil down what good/successful business is - partner relationship management, customer relationship management, etc., and all the subsequent short-hand: PRM, CRM, B2B, B2C, PRM, CRM, IOS. I find it difficult to remember them all. Are they really necessary? Umm . . . .
Partner Relations Management is very important to small or big businesses. PRM is used to describe the methods and strategies for improving communications and relationships between other companies and their channel. Main reasons of this method include selling, commission, opportunity, marketing campaigns, inventory access, and other features designed to facilitate the relationship between manufacturers and others.
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