Black Box Looks to Boost Customer Driven Pipeline With Channeltivity
"Channeltivity made us more nimble. Now, our internal sales reps are managing partner communications much faster."
About Black Box
Black Box is a trusted global solutions integrator specializing in designing, deploying, and managing complex digital infrastructure.
The company works with a growing network of resellers, systems integrators (SIs), and value-added resellers (VARs) to serve organizations across the US, EMEA, APAC, LATAM, and the Middle East.
The Problem: A Series of Cumbersome Processes
Before Channeltivity, deal registration at Black Box was manual. Partners filled out PDF forms, emailed them to their partner manager, and followed up for updates.
On the internal side, partner managers spent time reviewing submissions and tracking them through to close.
“There was a lot of human interaction that really didn’t need to be there,” said David Isola, Former Director of Customer Engagement at Black Box.
Partner managers also fielded partner requests for pricing sheets, co-branded decks, and other marketing materials. Without a centralized library (and with some assets created on demand) the back-and-forth slowed the team even further.
The Search For a Solution
David and his team began looking for a way to streamline their program, but most of the PRM platforms they came across were expensive, rigid, or both.
“We needed something cost-effective and easy to configure. I wanted to be able to build and manage it myself without much technical lift,” he says.
Seeing how easy it was to set up and configure Channeltivity — and the enterprise scale it could handle — sealed the deal.
“The control you have over Channeltivity’s back-end and its ease of use is what really stands out. I like the interface and the way I can make changes and build out our modules and reporting in real time. It’s very intuitive.” – David Isola, Director of Product Marketing at Black Box
Channeltivity: A Cloud-Based Portal Partners Are Excited to Use
Just months after launch, Black Box’s partners could submit and track deals directly in Channeltivity, rather than over email.
And internal reps could manage the pipeline — both in Channeltivity and Black Box’s CRM, thanks to Channeltivity’s native integration.
“Channeltivity made us more nimble. Now, our internal sales reps are managing partner communications much faster,” he adds.
Channeltivity has also become a go-to hub for enablement and marketing, with a built-in Resource Library and a Co-Branded Collateral module.
“All of our materials are stored in one place,” David says. “Plus, seeing what content partners are pulling from the Library will tell us a lot — what’s popular, and what we should spend more time creating.”
What’s Next
Black Box is considering activating Channeltivity’s multi-language module to better support partners in Germany, Spain, and France.
“With Channeltivity, we’re laying the foundation for an even more robust global partner strategy,” David emphasizes.
If you’re struggling with a highly manual process or your PRM isn’t as flexible as you’d like it to be, consider Channeltivity.
Our enterprise-ready platform is fast to implement, easy to customize, fully integrated with your CRM, and is SOC 2 Type II certified.