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FAQ :: Channel Organization Request a Web Demo

This FAQ provides some answers to common questions for those who are new to working with our channelADMIN application. This application was created to provide organization tools for channel management.

Relevance:

1. What makes channelADMIN different from a CRM?

Categorization methods:

1. I sometimes come up with new ways to categorize my partners. Is there an efficient way to do this in channelADMIN?

Emailing out:

1. It's nice that the Communication Center features a quick email function for me. What if I want to embed graphics in my emails out?

Hooking up existing tools and data:

1. I currently have a list of thousands of channel partner contacts. How will I get those into your channelADMIN tool?
2. Your channelADMIN sounds like a powerful backend app. Can I use it with some of my other existing channel tools?

Search capabilities:

1. How easy is it to find a partner or contact?

Global support:

1. We're a global company with partners spread across American, EMEA, and APAC theaters. Will channelADMIN support that?

Usability:

1. My channel organization is pretty simple. Will all the features you have for complex channels get in my way, or increase my learning curve?
2. How easy/difficult is it to reassign partners to different admins on my staff?
3. I oversee a channel staff that includes channel ops and channel marketing. We often interface with sales directors and accounting. How does channelADMIN help us in our day-to-day tasks?
4. Within my channel team, who would use the channelADMIN application?

1. Q: What makes channelADMIN different from a CRM?
   A: The main difference is ADMIN was developed with a channel focus in mind. Given that we have been in the channel B2B application space for over 10 years, we were able to call upon that knowledge and build an application that explicitly addresses your channel organization need.
   
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2. Q: I sometimes come up with new ways to categorize my partners. Is there an efficient way to do this in channelADMIN?
   A: Yes, one of the features of ADMIN is that it uses tags as a categorization technique. This gives you flexibility in the manner that you classify your partners. When you think of a new method of categorization, you would create a tag entity and assign the appropriate partners to that tag. Partners can have one or many tags.
   
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3. Q: It's nice that the Communication Center features a quick email function for me. What if I want to embed graphics in my emails out?
   A: The system doesn?t explicitly support embedded graphics, however, it can be used in concert with an existing email for this need. Within ADMIN you would create a distribution list and use it with your email program to send an HTML email.
   
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4. Q: I currently have a list of thousands of channel partner contacts. How will I get those into your channelADMIN tool?
   A: ADMIN features a useful bulk import wizard that will allow you to bring in that information at one time. The tool allows you to map your existing fields to the fields of the application upon import.
   
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5. Q: Your channelADMIN sounds like a powerful backend app. Can I use it with some of my other existing channel tools?
   A: Yes. In the case that you have existing channelSUITE modules, such as LEADS and FUNDS, the ADMIN application can be hooked up with minimal / no customization. In the case of a non-channelSUITE existing app, we can implement a custom interface -- often at very low cost.
   
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6. Q: How easy is it to find a partner or contact?
   A: The Quick Search box is available on every page, so if you know any part of the name of a partner company, location or contact, or part of an email address, you can always find what you're looking for with one click. More advanced search capabilities are available through the Partner Summary and Administrator Summary pages.
   
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7. Q: We're a global company with partners spread across American, EMEA, and APAC theaters. Will channelADMIN support that?
   A: In terms of partner storage - yes, our application allows you to break partners down by theater and will support both foreign address inputs and foreign character inputs (our fields are UTF-8 compliant). The application interfaces, however, are only currently available in English.
   
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8. Q: My channel organization is pretty simple. Will all the features you have for complex channels get in my way, or increase my learning curve?
   A: No. We've carefully designed the interface so that if you don't use these features -- for example theaters, regions, partner tiers, specialties, multiple locations per partner, etc. -- they won't slow you down.
   
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9. Q: How easy/difficult is it to reassign partners to different admins on my staff?
   A: It's relatively easy. The "scope assignment" tool allows you to filter on partner names and their internally assigned admins, check off the partners that need to be reassigned, and select the new assignment.
   
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10. Q: I oversee a channel staff that includes channel ops and channel marketing. We often interface with sales directors and accounting. How does channelADMIN help us in our day-to-day tasks?
    A: The ADMIN tool offers many functions that may be useful, some of which include: seeing who internally is responsible for what partners (channel ops), creating marketing lists based on specializations/certifications (channel marketing), creating lists that break down partners based on sales territory (sales director), and creating a list of AP contacts (accounting).
    
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11. Q: Within my channel team, who would use the channelADMIN application?
    A: The ADMIN toolset can be used by many internal parties. In the design, our prime user focus was on channel operations, channel marketing, and channel management.
    
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