Stop! In the Name of Change

He knows partners hate program changes. In this case, however, they were needed and have gone a long way in helping his company mend fences with allies. Elsewhere, initiatives designed to help partners actually wind up frustrating them by adding layers of complexity to programs.

Out of 289 companies that participated in this year's Partner Programs Guide, 64 percent reported changing their partner programs in the past 12 months. A year ago, the percentage of firms saying they made changes was similarly high: 67 percent.

Ultimately, vendors should keep their priorities in order, rejecting an impulse to change for a modest gain so as to avoid confusing partners. For example, IBM's Michael Borman, general manager of Global Business Partners, resists changing things just to freshen them up. So does Cisco. "It's always tempting to run a program based on complaints from the last person you spoke with," says Paul Mountford, senior vice president of worldwide channels, "but it's no way to run a program with any consistency."

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