The New Smart Channel

What is Channel Data Management

& How can it help your Business?

Channel data
management (CDM)
is a fast-growing
discipline among large
Think of a business as a tree. The ground
around is the marketplace. The trunk and
roots are how the business reaches its
marketplace they are its distribution
the ground is rocky some of the roots
need to grow strong to break through
the stone, others need to be thin and
flexible to weave their way through the
channel partners. The branches forming cracks to reach the nutrients. The tree
manufacturers that
the canopy are the different functions of adapts to the environment to stay alive.
increases visibility into the business. Similarly, some markets are easier to
the fine details of what is penetrate than others to succeed,
happening within
their sales and
Sometimes the soil is rich and aerated.
The roots can spread easily, absorb the
a business must develop the right
distribution channel for each market.
distribution channels. nutrients and feed them back to the tree.
Other times the environment is hostile
Ted Dimbero,
COO,Zyme Solutions
Chief Marketer,
July 9th, 2014 AFTER

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Copyright 2015 Zyme Solutions. All rights reserved

 To succeed, you have to develop
the right distribution channel for
each market.
The tree consumes nutrients but
equally contributes to its environment.
The oxygen released through
photosynthesis, the fallen leaves
enriching the soil around, match what
the trees ecosystem needs.
A business, like the tree, has to
match its ecosystems requirements
to survive and grow. It needs to
understand what products to bring
to the market in what quantities, with
what messages.
Blackberry posted a loss of $965
million for the quarter ended Aug
2013. $934 million of this was
due to what Blackberry called
the Z10 inventory charge, as
the product failed to sell in the
quantities anticipated. Could better
sales information have changed
Blackberry misfortunes?
A business needs to understand
what products to bring to the
market, in what quantities, with
what messages
If the flow of nutrients to one of the
trees branches is reduced or stopped,
that branch will suffer. Conversely, a
rich flow of nutrients will encourage
the branch to develop and bear
fruit. Similarly, if a function of your
business is deprived of vital market
information, then that function is
likely to underperform and deliver
suboptimal output with higher costs.
In 2013 Microsoft took a $900 million
charge related to slashing the
price of its struggling Surface RT
tablet, contributing to fourth-quarter
results that missed revenue and
profit expectations by a wide mark.
Consumers wanted compatibility
with older Windows systems, a
feature the RT model did not have.
Could this have been avoided with
timely market feedback?
A business function deprived of
vital market information is likely to
underperform
The tree gets feedback about the
soil through the roots Channel
Data Management ensures that a
business distribution channel acts
as the root system and provides the
necessary market feedback timely
and accurately.
Nowadays companies are looking at
a far more granular definition of their
markets often referred to as the
market of one. What is needed is
knowledge of each customer, of what
they buy and of the individual channel
partner they prefer doing business
with, in an actionable format, and at
the fingertips of the people making
channel decisions. This knowledge
can be acquired through:
Partners reliably, consistently and
frequently telling vendors who they
are selling to, what they are selling
and in what quantities
Vendors having the ability to
correctly identify who these
partners are even when they dont
trade directly with them
Vendors having the ability to
correlate this data with individual
product and demographical
information for analysis and
decision making
Vendors having the ability to
access this information directly in
applications supporting channel
related business processes
INTEGRATE COLLECT
Integration of channel Collection of sales &
data in business inventory data from
processes
channel partners
CDM
ANALYSE IDENTIFY
Enrichment and analysis Identication of
of channel sales channel partners and
& inventory end customers
 These are the core tasks of Channel
Data Management.
The intelligence derived from Channel
Data Management ensures that
companies can:
PARTNER
Increase the efficiency and
effectiveness of their internal
functions directly- reducing their
costs and risks and increasing
sales revenues
The impact of all these actions can
be substantial to a companys overall
performance and bottom line.
OWN ORGANISATION

BEST PATH EFFECTIVE & EFFICIENT In 2013 Forrester conducted a study

INTERNAL FUNCTIONS
TO MARKET on a consumer electronics / networking
CDM
& PROCESSES

company who had deployed a

comprehensive CDM solution, and had
been using that solution for two years.
The findings showed a conservative
CUSTOMER return of 197% on their investment in
BEST POSITIONING & Channel Data Management.
MOST SUITABLE
PRODUCT OFFER
A tree receiving a rich and
uninterrupted flow of nutrients through
Choose the most suitable partners its roots stands a better chance
for their target markets, the to develop into a large, healthy,
ones which will provide the best impressive specimen than a tree
penetration, fastest sales cycles struggling to feed. A business with
and maximum value uninterrupted access to managed
Target their customers with the channel data from its partners is likely
most appealing offer, maximizing to target its market better, choose its
market share and shortening sales partners more wisely and run more
cycles efficiently than a business operating
with channel blindness.

RICH, UNINTERRUPTED
STRONG ROOTS + FLOW OF NUTRIENTS = LARGE HEALTHY TREE

STRONG DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL DATA

CHANNEL + MANAGEMENT = SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

Zyme is the global leader in the emerging channel data management (CDM) space, empowering the New Smart
Channel, a proven approach to providing visibility and actionable knowledge that manufacturers need to accelerate
partner sales and optimize marketing program ROI. Zymes flexible, cloud-based offerings facilitate enterprise-grade
decisions by responding to real-time, granular channel intelligence. Benefits include increased sales productivity,
better targeted channel programs, accurate sales commissioning plus improved partner collaboration. Zyme replaces
outdated, ad-hoc systems with a state-of-the-art, cloud-based platform, data steward services, and a worldwide
channel directory of more than 900,000 partners for guaranteed database quality, support for a wider range of
formats, and best practices that enhance reporting compliance. Global leaders like Dell, VMware, Fujitsu, Plantronics,
Xerox, Symantec, and Seagate rely on Zyme. Headquartered in Redwood Shores, CA, Zyme has offices in Texas,
The New Smart Channel Pennsylvania, China, India and the UK. To learn how Zyme can improve your bottom line, visit www.zyme.com.

Copyright 2015 Zyme Solutions. All rights reserved