Comergent Revs Up PRM

The new version of the PRM suite is one of the first to offer the complete gamut of lead management, including lead generation, partner hand-off and order fulfillment.

Comergent's goal is to create externally facing applications for channel partners and customers and take on partner management not handled well by the traditional CRM infrastructure, said Tom Mescall, senior vice president of product strategy.

"If you look at sales force, call-center and marketing automation, they're all for employees,they do nothing for customers," he said. "Customers want order status, inventory, price and delivery information. CRM systems don't answer any of those questions."

Integrators say PRM offers real-world benefits.

"If I'm an aircraft engine manufacturer and an engine is in for maintenance, I want to know exactly where we are in the process, what spare parts have been changed and when it will be done so I can get my $300 million airplane back in the air," something PRM installations can provide, said Mike Gorsage, vice president at solution provider A.T. Kearney's Atlanta office.

A Comergent implementation used by appliance manufacturer Maytag aggregates information from that company's 3,500 retailers so that customers are referred to local retailers based on ZIP code. Customers are also offered product data, inventory information, prices and even haul-away costs, Mescall said.

Analysts say the PRM industry is well-positioned even in a lagging economy.

"Streamlining indirect channels always shows [return on investment, even in the toughest economic climates," said Louis Columbus, an analyst at AMR Research, whose research showed that many Fortune 1000 companies are moving ahead with PRM implementations.

Comergent's PRM suite already offered product catalog, partner profile management, order management/ online quoting, automatic channel inventory sales forecasting and analytics and reporting capabilities. The Java-based suite supports Web services standards XML, SOAP, WSDL and UDDI.