Finding the Right-Fit Vendor Partner Program

Panel sessions about vendor partners often risk turning into therapy sessions about how bad some programs are. But at ChannelCon 2025, the script was flipped. Instead of belaboring vendor programming, a panel of GTIA Channel Development Advisory Council members aimed to arm IT service providers (ITSPs) with key questions that can help you determine whether a partner program actually earns your business’ time.

Vendors love to pitch “partnership.” But Kris Blackmon, director of partner marketing, AvePoint, Vicky Bruns, principal product marketing manager, ConnectWise and Travis Woods, CEO, Fort Point IT pushed past the promises to explore the following questions: Does the program reduce friction, match your business model and drive profit—or does it waste cycles you can’t afford?

“It really has to be a true partnership at the end of the day, right?” Bruns said. “It (can’t be) just one and done—you’re buying something and then that’s it.”

Partnership is a place to land, not a loose idea from which to begin before knowing if the fit is right. As for those with skin in the game, ITSPs and MSPs are often juggling too many programs already. And product consolidation is creeping in. Lastly, a meaningful chunk of partners believe vendors aren’t keeping pace.

Related Content: GTIA Tech Vendor Guidebook: From Affiliates to Vendors: A Glossary of Terms for the IT Channel

10 Questions Potential Vendor Partners Should Be Asking

What follows is a checklist built from the discussion and audience Q&A. Use it to guide your own evaluation of new partnership opportunities and how to reevaluate current ones.

Does the Vendor Have an Ideal Partner? Are You It?

If a vendor can’t articulate who their programs are built for, you’re about to become a guinea pig. Blackmon’s bar is simple: “They should have an ideal partner profile, and you should know if you are it.”

Misaligned incentives and processes show up fast:

• - Reseller-style spiffs pushed on MSP motions
• - Billing terms that ignore subscription realities
• - Required certifications that feel like a box to be checked and not a growth opportunity
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A lack of clarity on who the “right partner” is wastes your ramp and the vendor’s. Demand transparency up front.

Does the Vendor Have a Clear Value Prop?

Buzzwords are table stakes; differentiation is the job. Blackmon needled the expo-floor sameness. “How many people saw the word secure? How about scalable?” she asked. Without proof—case studies, win rates, measurable partner outcomes—value remains hypothetical.

And partners should take note of complexity creep. “Seventy-three percent of partners say the partner programs are too complicated,” Blackmon said. “They want more support; they want more transparency. They want to be able to understand exactly what that value proposition is.”

If the pitch changes between sales, training and the portal, trust erodes. The slide framework captures it: Unclear value, misaligned messaging and thin differentiation make you deprioritize the relationship—as you should.

Is the Vendor Willing to Invest?

Mature programs show up with headcount (channel account managers (CAMs), channel marketers, solutions architects), real enablement, marketing development funds (MDF) that’s usable and legal/finance terms that reflect how MSPs operate. Bruns urges you to check for commitment at the top.

“Make sure that for the channel programs that you’re engaged in, that there’s executive sponsorship happening at the highest levels within that organization,” she said.

Blackmon added, “If the person you're talking to is reluctant to say whether the executive team is bought in, run. Because you don't want some VP just spinning this up and then at the next board meeting, all of a sudden going back to those unrealistic revenue goals, the board is like, ‘this ain't working. Let's ax this.’”

Concrete signals:

• - Partner training (LMS, role-based paths)
• - Incentives that reward behaviors that matter
• - A portal you can actually live in
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There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all support.

Does the Vendor Offer Support and Enablement?

In a best-case scenario, the partner journey is predictable and low-friction from day one. “At its best you see a very consistent, flowing process of signup, information enablement, getting the credentials you need, getting set up, getting your team trained,” Woods said. “That happens with very little friction when the vendor’s mature and is ready to take on folks.”

If you don’t know your account manager, you can’t find developer tools or training doesn’t map to your roles, expect downstream pain. Enablement isn’t an event; it’s an operating system. Look for structured onboarding, technical enablement, incentives for learning and ongoing access to humans—not just PDFs.

Does the Vendor Have Realistic Revenue Goals?

Unrealistic targets turn “partner” into quota mule. “Aggressive targets can make a partner feel like they’re not a partnership, you’re working for them,” Woods said.

Blackmon adds a reality check many have heard behind closed doors. “You would be shocked at how many vendors were like, yeah, we’re going to enter the channel in January and by June we’re going to have $5 billion in channel revenue.”

If ramp time, profitability benchmarks and motion-specific KPIs (MSP vs. VAR vs. ISV) aren’t embedded, you’ll be set up to fail. Again, watch out for one-size-fits-all: One-sized metrics, one-sized (or missing) ramp periods. Take those as serious warnings.

Are All Functional Groups Bought In?

Executive support might open the door, but the day-to-day success of a partner program depends on the teams who touch it—sales, marketing, product, operations and support. If those functions aren’t aligned, even the most enthusiastic CAM will be fighting uphill.

For example, Gartner data shows that marketing and sales functions collaborate on only three of 15 commercial activities. That disconnect shows up quickly for MSPs, in the form of campaigns that don’t match your sales motion, product updates you hear about from customers or operations teams that prioritize direct deals over partner orders.

Woods says he’s seen strong relationships derailed when key groups weren’t on board.

“I had a checklist of things that were non-negotiable. If the terms weren’t right, if I couldn’t get NFR for our team—that’s a gimme,” he said. “But even with those in place, if marketing’s running one way and ops is running another, it creates its own friction, and friction kills momentum.”

The signs of alignment are easy to spot:

• - Shared messaging from pitch to payout
• - KPIs that complement each other across departments
• - Enablement that pulls input from every team that supports the partner lifecycle
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Does the Vendor Play Well with Cloud Marketplaces and Distribution?

Procurement reality: Nearly half of partners aggregate solutions via disti and cloud marketplaces. If incentives, deal reg and points don’t apply equally across routes-to-market, disengagement is rational.

“If incentives are more favorable for partners buying direct than they are on cloud marketplaces, how many of you would walk away?” Blackmon asked.

Other important telltales:

• - Delayed marketplace payouts that strain cash flow
• - Opaque rules of engagement
• - Fragmented reporting
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If the vendor can’t describe exactly how you transact and get credit, in writing, that’s your answer.

Does the Vendor Offer Training and Certifications That Actually Move the Needle?

Partners don’t need more box-checking. Bruns reminded the audience that they should be asking what vendors are doing to invest back into their channel program.

“Some of the top investment areas include partner training and LMS system channel incentive programs that we talked about before, and then partner portals,” she noted.

But trainings can be a time and thus revenue drain.

“Ultimately, I think that efficiency is lost on why people are creating training. So that’s a real critical part of the puzzle,” Woods said.

The experts’ asks:

• - Role-based tracks (sales and technical)
• - Advanced paths
• - On-demand access
• - Clear incentives
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Better enablement should translate into faster cycles and higher win rates. And, while co-sell support is valuable, you can’t live tethered to a sales engineer forever.

“Co-sell is great,” Blackmon said, “But you don’t want to have to bring a sales engineer on to every single call. Who has the time to do that, right? You need to be enabled.”

Are the Vendor’s Channel Operations Technically Sound?

For most MSPs, juggling dozens of systems is already the norm. Your vendor’s partner portal should make that easier, not pile on more headaches. That means single sign-on, a consistent user experience across tools and clean API documentation that integrates smoothly with your PSA, CRM, billing or provisioning systems. Anything less, and you’re stuck in swivel-chair work— jumping between systems, rekeying data and losing time you can’t bill.

“How many of you are using 10 or more systems to run your business and manage your clients?” Bruns asked. “And then when you take the partner programs and you put that on top of managing all those systems, that’s just… it’s insanity.”

Her advice? Advocate early for the integrations you need, especially into your partner programs. “You have to be able to ask your vendors to have the API connections that you need to be able to run your business,” she said.

The key takeaways:

• - Poor API docs are a top reason partners avoid integrating altogether
• - Fragmented access, portals that can’t be customized and overcomplex onboarding flows all point to a vendor that hasn’t prepared for partner efficiency
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If the technology side of a vendor’s operations isn’t mature, even generous incentives or good intentions won’t keep friction from creeping in.

How Do Comp Models, Pricing, Deal Reg and MDF Fit In?

Now, let’s be frank: Margins still rule selection criteria.

“Partners rank competitive margins as the top selection criteria,” Blackmon said. This outweighs headline discounts, payment terms, tiering clarity and whether rebates are trackable without a forensic accounting degree.

Deal reg remains polarizing because vendors want pipeline visibility and MSPs want less admin. But, if a vendor mandates it, they should reward it and make it painless. And MDF? Ask whether you’ll spend six months chasing $1,000 reimbursements.

Beware of the following pitfalls:

• - Opaque criteria
• - Delayed processes
• - Limited use cases
• - Unclear or absent ROI tracking
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The Bigger Picture

Strip away the slogans and the test is straightforward: Does a vendor program fit your motion, remove your friction and help you make more money with less hassle? If not, move on to the next. There are always more.

Woods circled back to what should be your and the vendor’s primary focus. “Fundamentally, that relationship is at the core. That’s why they call it a partnership,” he said.

The GTIA Channel Development Advisory Council shares its expertise and experience to develop programs, tools and other IT channel resources.