Partner Management

Partner Management

The space between the vendor and the MSP, where partnerships are made or quietly lost. What good partner management looks like when the service, not the product, sits at the centre of the conversation - programmes, enablement, account management and the trust you earn before there’s anything to gain. Written for both sides of the table, never superior, never subservient. A partner is not a price list, and the best relationships in the channel prove it every day.


Build the MSP Function the Next Decade Will Reward
Partner Management

Build the MSP Function the Next Decade Will Reward

The channel keeps asking whether the partner account manager is still relevant. It's the wrong question — and it's quietly letting vendors off the hook for the structural mistakes actually stifling their MSP growth. Every eighteen months or so, the channel rediscovers the same debate: is the partner account manager still relevant? It's a tidy, clickable question. It's also the wrong one. A yes/no answer to a multi-faceted domain misses the point entirely. Ask a closed question and you get a cl
Service Enablement vs Partner Enablement
Partner Management

Service Enablement vs Partner Enablement

There’s a question I get asked a lot by vendor channel teams. “What’s the difference between Service Enablement and Partner Enablement?” It’s a fair question. The two get used interchangeably, often by people who haven’t really thought about it. They’re not the same. And the answer to which one a vendor should focus on is — both. Partner Enablement is the channel machinery Modular programs. Specialisation tracks. Onboarding. Discount structure. Rebates. MDF. Eval licenses. Training curriculum.
Stop Calling It a Partnership If All You Want Is a Price
Partner Management

Stop Calling It a Partnership If All You Want Is a Price

The word partnership gets thrown around more than any other in this industry. Most of the time it means nothing because what’s actually being asked for isn’t a partnership. It’s a better price. Walk into any vendor QBR, any distributor pitch, any channel event and you’ll hear it everywhere. “Strategic partnership.” “Long-term partnership.” “We’re here to partner with you.” It sounds great. It means very little. A deal is not a partnership. A deal is a transaction. It has a start date, an end d