Salesforce unveils a new Partner Relationship Management application in its Sales Cloud

Salesforce is launching today a new application on its Sales Cloud for Partner Relationship Management (PRM).

Previously, users could build a partner portal on Sales Cloud for, say, dealerships or brokers, but it required some coding. Now, the company says, a complete portal can be created for desktop and mobile web without bothering the folks in the IT department.

The focus in this first release is on companies in high tech, manufacturing and telecom, industries where Salesforce says two-thirds of revenue comes through partners. Here’s a screen a partner might see, for a mythical company called Pacifica:

PRM offers two templates for WYSIWYG creation, a new Partners Central and an existing one for Customer Service, as well as a general Salesforce Tabs custom portal template that requires coding.

A new Setup Wizard (see below) leads the user through a configuration of lead distribution, deal registration, marketing development funds, tier assignment, targeted promotions and custom content. There are also connections to AppExchange tools, like compensation management tool Xactly and learning management system NetExam.

An integration with Adobe Experience Manager — and later with other content management systems — enables updating of text, links, graphics and video via drag and drop. An interface with Salesforce’s Marketing Cloud allows a partner to create and manage campaigns.

The major benefit of the new PRM, Senior Director of Product Marketing Greg Gsell told me, “comes down to how fast and easy this is to set up.” Plus, he noted, there are content recommendations by Einstein, the artificial intelligence (AI) layer throughout Salesforce’s clouds.

For instance, Einstein might recommend logo graphics, product placement instructions and pricing documents when a partner looks at information about a product. (See “Featured for You” examples in first screen shot above.)

The company gives the use case example of cloud storage firm Box, which previously had created a partner portal using other tools. Using PRM, Salesforce said, Box more quickly (three months) rolled out a portal for 192 partners and 1,400 users. The portal also employs geo-registration, so that Box’s partners don’t conflict with those obtained through an alliance it has with IBM.

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About The Author

Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Previously, he covered this space as a Senior Writer for VentureBeat, and he has written about these and other tech subjects for such publications as CMSWire and NewsFactor. He founded and led the web site/unit at PBS station Thirteen/WNET; worked as an online Senior Producer/writer for Viacom; created a successful interactive game, PLAY IT BY EAR: The First CD Game; founded and led an independent film showcase, CENTER SCREEN, based at Harvard and M.I.T.; and served over five years as a consultant to the M.I.T. Media Lab. You can find him at LinkedIn, and on Twitter at xBarryLevine.

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