Salesforce.com extends its CRM reach to partners

Salesforce.com will reach beyond its traditional CRM boundaries next month into a wider market: PRM (partner relationship management), with a new offering on its SaaS site called, Partnerforce, Salesforce Partner Edition.

The PRM application will give Salesforce customers a consolidated view of their indirect and direct sales channels and allow companies to distribute marketing, sales, and product information across its multi-tiered sales pipeline.

Josh Greenbaum, a principle at Enterprise Applications Consulting, said visibility into the indirect channel has always been a challenge for companies.

“There is no better way to get into trouble than by not being able to involve the indirect channel in marketing, branding and new product releases,” Greenbaum said.

Additional features in Partnerforce will include an integrated lead management system for distributing leads across all sales channels, a customizable portal for channel partner access, and deal registration and opportunity management services to avoid channel conflict.

The PRM solution also allows companies to entice their channel partners into using Partnerforce by allowing them to build in incentives and market development programs.

“It will give partners more control over their own accounts. A partner can register a deal and collect the incentive. It is more money in their pocket,” said Kendall Collins, vice president of marketing at Salesforce.

Although PRM is a new area for SaaS and Salesforce, it has always been available as an on-premises solution and sometimes it may still be the preferred choice, Greenbaum said.

“There are a lot of potential privacy and security issues, depending on the business. It is not a technology issue but one of personal preference,” Greenbaum said.

Key Performance Indicators can also be pushed out to the reseller channel as dashboards so that the channel partner can see what is important to the manufacturer, Collins said.

The PRM service will be available July 12. Pricing for Partner Edition is $1,500 per partner per year and will include subscriptions for five partner employees.