How Do You Know If a Channel Partner Program is Right For You?

By Wendell Black, VP of Channels

I'm thrilled to announce that Five9 recently expanded the company's channel partner program. In light of this, I thought it might be helpful to provide more detail on the types of programs typically available and include examples of what we are doing here at Five9.

Our goal at Five9 is to expand our reach through partner channels. Strategic partnerships with master agents, system integrators and resellers will help drive expansion for our company's channel partner program. A key benefit is that Five9 can partner with other companies that have a different set of strengths and technologies, such as ERP, CRM, mobile, social and legacy telecommunications. There are many benefits to a partner program but how do you know if it's right for you?

• Do you have a better than average grasp of what is happening in your marketplace? Five9 recently expanded the company's channel partner program to the contact center space for just that reason.

A champions program is designed to take online referrals, route them to a sales professional, and turn them into cloud contact center customer advocates.

• Are you ready to leverage a referral program for your staff or affiliates at a corporate level?

A master agent program is built similar to a champion program for master agents and their sub agents to refer clients or other business relationships. Agents have the opportunity to jointly engage with sales professionals in the selling process.

• Are you a system integrator or consulting company seeking to extend professional services and deployment?

This is a program in design, deployment, integration, managed services and support, available to partners with interests in offering these value added services. System integrators and consulting companies can provide a certification process to develop the skills they need to extend their professional services.

• Are you a reseller?

The reseller opportunity is generating demand, selling, designing, deploying, providing service, ongoing customer support, and consulting services to clients. Resellers also manage the financial relationship with the end user and contracting with professional services to help customers design and support sales and service centers of excellence.

All of these areas bring an outstanding scope of functionality to meet today's business needs. If one of these programs resonated with you, please visit www.five9.com/partners for more information.