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Aligning for growth
Sujay Patil, Regional Sales Director, Kissflow
How do you ensure alignment between your company’s goals and those of your channel partners? We recognize partners as the extended arm of Kissflow, and the enabler of our reach across markets at scale. We therefore prioritize mutual alignment on vision, positioning, addressable market, short term objectives and long-term goals. This is reviewed and continuously course corrected with a data-driven approach that brings the leadership and other stakeholders from both parties to the table. As a vendor, we provide all the tools and resources to our channel community and constantly review and update these to keep pace with evolving customer demands.
Can you share any successful strategies you’ve implemented to drive growth through channel partnerships? At Kissflow, we believe that maintaining regular interaction with our partners at all levels of the organization is key to success. This ensures alignment and fosters strong collaboration. We also place a strong emphasis on a vertical-focused approach, working closely with partners to tailor solutions to specific industries. Training and enablement are ongoing priorities for us, as we understand the importance of empowering our partners with the latest knowledge and skills. In fact, we actively support partners in building a dedicated Kissflow practice within their organization to deepen their expertise.
How do you manage conflicts or competition between different channel partners? Conflicts are inherent to channel ecosystems that fail to promote and prioritize transparency. Apart from introducing a clear system that
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offers opportunity registration and protects partners for the efforts they put in, we as an organization have followed the strategy of having a limited number of partners in the region. This focus on strategic relationships means we can dive deeper and better support each partner, while also ensuring sufficient scope for each to thrive without conflict.
What trends do you see shaping the future of channel management in the tech industry? Some of the key trends we’re seeing include a growing focus on verticalbased approaches, where having a specialized set of skilled partners for each vertical is becoming essential. This ensures that we can offer tailored solutions that truly address the unique needs of different industries. Another major trend is the introduction of AI into the planning and forecasting processes, extending throughout the entire channel management lifecycle, including the sales cycle. AI is helping streamline operations, making channel management more efficient and insightful.
How do you approach training and educating channel partners on your products and services? We have a comprehensive training program for our channel community that includes extensive online courses as well as onsite Workshops and specializations. There are separate programs for sales, pre-sales and implementation teams of the partner. Kissflow’s vision is simplicity. Not only is it very easy to onboard the platform for the end customer, but it’s extremely easy for the channel community to build a successful Kissflow Practice within their organization.