PartnerScore CEO Dave Ward answers questions about the PartnerScore platform.

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Watch the video or read the transcript below

Q Tell me about the PartnerScore platform and how it works…

A So, the PartnerScore platform is a SaaS based product and we traditionally ask partners to join the platform and what we do is we create a scorecard for each of those partnerships. What we then do is we invite the teams to join that scorecard and what that allows us to do, is to get the teams to rate the relationship.

It's a very quick rating that they do. I like to compare it to the kind of rating that you would do when you step out of a Uber. Did you like the journey? Was it efficient, etc.? We ask four questions a month roughly. It takes the participants kind of 20 seconds to respond to them but through the algorithms that are built into our platform, we're able to decipher quite a lot of information from that, around the relationship.

The way that the platform then works is we invite users from both sides of the partnership to connect with that data and collaborate around the results and that drives action extra collaboration and communication. What we find then is you get a better working relationship between the two partners.

Q What sets your platform apart from others in the partner ecosystem sector?

A The partner ecosystem technology is a really interesting space at the moment and actually there are loads and loads of tools out there that can help partnership leaders build their ecosystem. Most of these tools,  focus on automation, quite a lot of them are automating things like communication or a registration process. They might focus on mapping the different deals out between different partners - where we see the market as underserved is around the relationship. So really understanding how the teams that are on the ground and are closest to that partnership, are feeling about working in the partnership, so that you can understand that to help and drive change within the partner program.

It's really important because we know from the research that I mentioned earlier that the number one success factor for a partnership and performance is the relationship that exists between the two companies. And so, we focus heavily in that space and I think it's a new space in the market at the moment.

Q What kind of organisations would benefit from the PartnerScore platform and why?

A So PartnerScore is quite unique actually in the fact that it will apply - the methodology that sits behind PartnerScore - would apply to many different any partnership. So, any business that goes to market through an indirect model can benefit from the partner school methodology.

We've chosen to start off in information technology and also Fin-Tech because there's some very established partnership models in that space and that was a good place for us to start. And also, the history of PartnerScore and its research was founded within that sector but ultimately, it will apply to any company going to market for an indirect model.

There's lots and lots of examples. Pharmaceutical automotive, you know, you've got your industrial automation sector, other kind of financial services, broker models, you know, anywhere that is an indirect model, the PartnerScore platform will work.

Q How has the platform evolved since you launched it?

A The PartnerScore platform actually is one of the biggest things that has evolved since we founded the business. We started off with a product that was really geared towards the partnership leader, maybe the vendor or you could call them the sort of the partner program leader. And our primary objective when we started was to help that audience collect information from their partners and to make better decisions around their program.

As we've spoken to different stakeholders and clients in the market, we realised that there was as much value in this data and in this information, to the partner side of the equation as there is the partnership leader. So, this would be the reseller, the value-added reseller, the distributor, etc. And so what we have done with the platform is mid last year, so middle of 2022, we took a decision to re-platform the product and to build it into an ecosystem play, where we could invite both sides of that partnership to join the platform. We could then allow these two user groups to collaborate and share information around the data set, which is all about the human interaction.

What we found is it just helps 1) the two sides connect - one partner business is now connecting with the team on the other side of the partner business and they're connecting with people that they just never knew before. Then secondly, they're able to collaborate around the things that are working and the things are not working so well which just gives a much larger opportunity to create an effective partnership.

This is important for the partnership leader but it's as important for the partner themselves,  who's investing in this in this partnership in equal measure. So that's really the biggest change and it's a platform now that we're comfortable rolling out and scaling amongst this this audience.

Q How does your pricing strategy compare to that of your competitors?

A It's a difficult question to answer because when you look out there, there aren't any very, very direct competitors to what we do, so there's no direct comparison. In terms of our pricing strategy, it's a traditional SaaS based model. We've designed the pricing to work for smaller customers that maybe operate as few as five relationships, right the way up to your global multinational companies that are operating hundreds if not thousands of relationships. So we can we've got pricing that will work for both ends of that spectrum.