www.dmi-news.com

GUEST AUTHOR -DATA ANALYTICS

efficiency of the sales cycle.Such variables may include

title, region, industry, contactpeople, contact times, andcontact frequency.

Analytics, through thegathering, processing andreporting of channel partnerdata via automated means,enables accurate tracking ofchannel effectiveness.

Typical analytic deliverablesfrom partner data include: anexecutive summary for each

partner; detailed partner

performance measurement;customer satisfaction data;

end-user profiling; partner'score card'; identification and

sales; sales forecasting; sales

process"

sales and channel process

methodology and efficiency

Effective sales channelanalytics enable technologymarketers to fine-t~ne

marketing programmes forgreater efficiency by making itpossible to determine accurately

each programme's strengthsand weaknesses.

Among technologycompanies that deploy analyticsin this capacity, a typical

iterative process is to identify a

marketing strategy with a highprobability of success based onan analysis that could lead to a

clustering of customers byprofile, then to organise the

necessary resources andimplement that strategy.

The effectiveness of thestrategy then ripples throughthe sales channel data,

undergoes back-end campaignanalysis and compares actualresults with expectations,

enabling performancemeasurement and

benchmarking.The degree to which the

strategy meets or exceeds

expectations then goes backinto the analytical processing to

help refine, or define. thestrategy and the tactics. Usinganalytics,

an organisation canstudy data associated with thesales staff (both channel partner

and direct) to identify

variables that affect

performanceand the

The headline above is a term

coined by my company todescribe how analytics -the

systematic collection,interpretation and reporting ofdata -can enable an

organisation to identify andovercome the challenges of

collecting and interpretingchannel partner performance

data, and to make use of theresults.

-Analytics has the power todeliver tangible, measurableresults that programme'

managers and business leaderscan use to make better decisions

about their programmes.With proper analytics, it is

possible to accurately spot both

top partner performers andunderperformers, to developand implement test plans, to

determine the reasons thatunderlie the performance, andto more Quickly address

problems and model best

practices.The careful collection of

partner performance data -andanalysis of that data -makes itpossible to understand andreport on performance, bothto the partner and to corporate

leadership, and to take effectiveaction to both protect

and improve return oninvestment {ROI).

as well as more complete

competitive information andsales funnel management.

Delivering accurateforecasts, however, is a complexprocess. It first requires several

steps to complete constructionof a highly predictive model.

While the dependentvariable and the data used forthe analysis will vary

significantly from model to

model, depending upon eachmodel's specific objective, the

general approach variesminimally. The approachconsists of the f

data; perform,Data Analysis (EDA);

Effective and efficientSales channel analytics

support two separate, but

related, initiatives for

technology J

organisations

-marketingprogrammes and sales

!performance and

pipeline management.

32 February 2008 www.dmi-news;com

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