We use it for partner management and to provide training to our partners. We use it for them to have a place to register any leads or deals. We also use it for content visibility, so that they're able to log in and see content in relation to our organization, the partnership, our service, their service, and how we work with them.
Manager, Agency Partnerships at a tech services company with 201-500 employees
Gives our partners full transparency into how their partnership with us stands
Pros and Cons
- "The most valuable feature is definitely the deal registration component and the fact that it is reflected on the dashboard. It's nice that our partners have visibility into where the deals they submit stand, in terms of the sales process..."
- "Better segmentation in terms of user rights and access. Both internal and external users can be given specific access rights and I don't feel that there are enough options and this impacts reporting and access."
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
Allbound has enabled us to have all of our partner information in a centralized location: everything from deal registration to training to providing them with content and having it visible on their dashboards. They have full transparency into how the partnership with us stands and where they can find information.
What is most valuable?
The most valuable feature is definitely the deal registration component and the fact that it is reflected on the dashboard. It's nice that our partners have visibility into where the deals they submit stand, in terms of the sales process, and they can know when something is closed-won, closed-lost, still in negotiation, et cetera.
Allbound was one of many PRMs that we were looking at when deciding which one was going to be right for our partner ecosystem. It definitely had the most ticks in terms of what it can offer. Deal registration was the most important thing, but it also has a way to provide training.
And when it comes to onboarding a partner, it's extremely easy.
What needs improvement?
Better segmentation in terms of user rights and access. Both internal and external users can be given specific access rights and I don't feel that there are enough options and this impacts reporting and access.
I would like to see more relevant data on the dashboard, data that's not exclusive to deal registration and tier progression. Something that could provide more data to customers would be important. Although it serves its purpose, it would be great to have enriched data available i.e., certifications for managers per team
Buyer's Guide
Allbound
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Allbound. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have had Allbound for about a year, but it only went live for our partners in July, about seven months ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We really haven't experienced any significant issues in terms of its stability. That being said, we don't actively use it 24/7, but there has been very little downtime.
The only thing to note is that sometimes there is a little bit of a lag in terms of the integration between Salesforce and Allbound, which can sometimes go beyond the five to 10 minutes that it's supposed to be. Sometimes we have waited for an hour for things to sync fully, but that has only happened on a few occasions.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's very scalable and extremely easy to scale, especially with the pricing model. It's very easy to onboard partners into the program and to recommend it to prospective agencies that we're dealing with. We work across partners who are digital marketing agencies and it's very easy to scale when it comes to growing out different regions.
How are customer service and support?
We have contacted them a number of times and so far so good. The support that we've received is always quite timely. Sometimes they say it's going to take up to five days for them to get back to us, but I've never waited for more than a day. Ninety-five percent of the time, they're able to resolve the issues that we're having.
We have a dedicated CSM who is really fantastic. He is always available as an additional point of contact, should we need to escalate something.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We previously used Impartner but it wasn't able to assist us in terms of where we wanted to take the partner program. We are really focusing on acquisition and increasing our partner network. Impartner was something of a dated PRM and it didn't really have the capabilities we were looking for, with regard to deal registration and automation. Those were things that Allbound was able to provide us with.
How was the initial setup?
The initial deployment was definitely complex, but compared to other PRMs that I've worked to implement, it was on the easier side of things. The points of contact that we had were really great and were able to help us through the issues that we were having. It was certainly better compared to other PRMs.
What about the implementation team?
We did the majority of it in-house, with our development team and other internal teams. But we chartered a company called Little Taller and they helped a lot with everything in the dashboard and the integration with our Salesforce. There were eight to ten people involved.
What was our ROI?
To date, there hasn't been any return on investment, but we're not really using it to track ROI. We're mostly using it to provide a soft benefit to our partners.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
What we are paying for it is comparable to the market, but the price of PRMs is quite high for the value they deliver.
Allbound's flat, package-based pricing model is to our benefit. It's good to have a set service that is predictable regarding pricing. There is also a little bit more transparency, and it doesn't punish the people who use Allbound and have success in growing their partner networks.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We looked at PartnerStack, ZINFI PRM, and ZiftONE. We went with Allbound because it ticked the most boxes concerning what we were looking for.
I've worked with so many PRMs in the past, with Impartner being the most recent, and Allbound is definitely a much better solution, especially for the way that we're using it.
What other advice do I have?
We are able to create groups and, through them, allow specific partners to see content that is relevant to them, whether it's based on geo or on partner tier level. We don't actively use that feature so much because the majority of the content is available to all partners. But using it was very easy. It was just a matter of creating groups and filtering things by them. We had to learn how to do that, which was done in a 30-minute session and then we were able to put it in place. In terms of importance for us, the ability to filter is a five out of 10. It's not super relevant, but it still provides value.
Allbounds' Channel Insights is something that we have just started to look into. It's something that we're not using too much at the moment because there is just not that much actionable data for us. We're waiting until we hit July again and then we'll have one year in which partners have had access to the portal and we'll start using it more.
If I were discussing PRMs, and my experience with Allbound, with a colleague at another company who said they are not ready for a PRM solution, I would say that having a PRM can help them to better align their processes internally and really be a way to help them organize their partner networks. Depending on the size of their partner network, it's really great to have all of the assets in one place so the team doesn't have to do things on an individual basis. You can bring everyone to Allbound, or the PRM, and all the data that they need is housed in one location.
But be prepared for the integration and implementation to take a lot longer than expected. Although there were definitely some delays on our side, the implementation period they gave, of about six to eight weeks, was more like two to three months.
Overall, I would rate Allbound an eight out of 10. There is still some room for improvement, but it really does help us to accomplish the goals we're aiming for as well as with where we currently stand in our program.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Channel Operations Analyst at Camunda
Streamlined our partner program and drastically increased partner-sourced opportunities
Pros and Cons
- "The deal registration portion of the portal has been very valuable. It connects directly with our Salesforce, so it is super easy."
- "Some of the integration and some of the content management could be a little bit better. They are working on some of the areas."
What is our primary use case?
We use Allbound for our partner portal. That means we have it as our main point of contact for all of our technology and sales partners. They are able to use it to register deals, access content, and message their partner manager. They can also view deals that are in progress related to them. They can see what their pipeline looks like and what their closed deals look like.
How has it helped my organization?
It is very easy to onboard a partner using Allbound. Everything is linked right into our Salesforce. Once they close the deal or close the actual partner contract in Salesforce, we have it automated so that when a partner contract is closed, it is signed and sent off. From there, it automates their addition to Allbound or at least the green listing of their email domain from there. They are then able to go on. All of the people at that company are able to register with Allbound. It is very easy as long as they have the same email domain. We have some partners that use several different email domains. We were able to whitelist them so that they could access the portal. It is very easy. I do not even think about it. It is so easy.
We are in the process of utilizing gamification, but we do use playbooks. They make our partner program much more streamlined. Playbooks make it much easier for the partners to access information related to what they are looking for. Playbooks help with the content sorting. They make it easier for content to be found and absorbed by the user, which is great. In terms of gamification, we are in the process of rolling that out. It has not been completely rolled out yet, but it is going to be used to incentivize our partners. The end goal is to use that as a big incentive and drive partner engagement. I am hopeful and excited about that.
We are able to filter or customize the content that different partners see when they log in to Allbound. We can definitely do that based on the type of account they have. Whether it is an executive account or a salesperson account, it is all set up when they register. We can also do it based on the partner tiers. We have gold, silver, and platinum partners, and we can diversify what content they are seeing based on that. We can even break it down further. We can do it by partner type, such as whether they are a GSI, systems integrator, more regional-based, etc. We can break down the content into different groups. We are able to create as many different groups as we like and then set our content availability based on those groups.
It is easy to customize the content that partners see in Allbound. It is so easy that I do not even think about it. For me, this customization is super important, especially as we continue to grow our partner program. We are showing a lot of growth in our standard partners, which are our lower-tier partners. Because of that, we want to ensure that they are getting the content they need, but also there is a value that comes with moving up in the partner tiers, whether that is because they have created additional leads or things of that nature. It is very important to us to be able to demonstrate that by the type of content that we have made available to them. We want to make sure that certain valuable content is only available for higher-tier partners.
Allbound enables our partners to re-brand our white-label collateral. There is a co-marketing feature or co-branding feature, which is great. We are able to take a look at it. We are able to say where their logo can go. They upload their logo onto the portal, and then they are able to drag and drop it. In terms of the effect of this customization on the partner experience and their time to market, we are newly offering some of those things, so there has not been a big impact at this juncture, but there will be as we move into the new year because we are looking at growing and making it more self-service friendly for our lower tiered partners. They do not need to work directly with partner marketing. They can go through the portal on their own and set up their own collateral.
There has not been a huge change at this point in terms of the time we spend on partner administration, but there will be. We are in the process of getting everything set up, but everything should be really cutting down our partner administration time by a lot. It would probably cut that by half, if not more.
Allbound has absolutely helped to increase partner engagement. Our partners are much more engaged. They are able to access our information much more easily, and it helps with my job because I do not have to worry about whether they have access to something or whether they are wondering where to find things. They know where to find it.
Quarter over quarter, we have seen a drastic increase in the opportunities that have come right through the portal, so partner-sourced opportunities have gone up. Quarter over quarter, we have also seen an increase in the partner-attached field. That means we have more partners involved in some way in our deals than we ever have before. It was over 50% last quarter.
What is most valuable?
The deal registration portion of the portal has been very valuable. It connects directly with our Salesforce, so it is super easy. We recently started the process of implementing gamification within our portal so that our partners can earn points and then use those points and access gift cards or donations on their behalf. That is something that we have not yet fully implemented, but it is certainly in progress. It is something we are really excited about. We think that it is going to encourage our partners to register more deals via the portal rather than going with their partner manager. It will save them time. It will save our partner managers' time, and it will get our partners points. They all would want to get points. It would be a nice way for us to be able to do that.
Allbound's user interface is very easy. I have worked with many different PRMs and many different interfaces before. Allbound is very easy to use for me. I found it very straightforward and streamlined. If there is something that I am unsure about, it is easy to get a response. They are very quick at responding and letting me know. It has been wonderful. I really enjoy it.
What needs improvement?
Some of the integration and some of the content management could be a little bit better. They are working on some of the areas. The best part about them is that when I have feedback, they are very quick to respond and say, "That is a great idea. Let us work on it." I do not have a whole lot of feedback. Obviously, I want to see some additional integrations, but they are working on those.
I would love to see a little bit more responsibility from the account management team, but that being said, I know that they were going through some internal changes. Within the last two or three weeks, I have not had any issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Allbound for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
There was a lot of influx that happened internally within the last little bit. They had a new CEO come in and a new CMO. There were a lot of changes. For me, that was concerning, but I do not have any issues now. They have really turned it around.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It has scalability. It is great.
We are just using it as a partner portal. We have over 200 active users. They are active on a weekly basis.
How are customer service and support?
Their support is amazing. I can message them right now, and I know that any issue will be solved before the end of the day. I would rate them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
When I came to this organization, we already had Allbound, so I have not used any other solution with the company I am at now, but I have used others in the past.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment. It was deployed before I came on, but we had our Business Systems team handle deployment.
In terms of maintenance, as with all things, occasionally, there are going to be issues. Connections are going to get broken, especially as we make updates in our own Salesforce. It is great to be able to look at it and fix it. Whenever there is something that breaks or anytime there is any kind of maintenance, it is a super easy fix. The only thing that requires additional maintenance would be updating the content if things change. Other than that, there is not any ongoing maintenance other than me going in and making sure everything is working.
What was our ROI?
We have absolutely seen an ROI. We have seen an increase in partner-sourced opportunities. We have seen an increase in partner-attached ARR. That just continues to go up as we continue to improve the portal experience.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
I have no complaints about it, but it is not something that is my purview. I know the pricing. I deal with it, but I have not compared it to other things. I know it is much more affordable than going with some of the other services. For example, Salesforce has a partner portal option, but it is much more expensive, so I know Allbound is reasonable in that sense, but I do not know what the reasonability is across the board.
Allbound has a flat, package-based pricing model, as opposed to tier-based pricing, that grows as our number of partners increases. I love it because growth is a huge part of our partner program right now, but it is not a huge deal because overall, within the partner ecosystem, we are starting to see that partner programs are more focused on quality over quantity, so there is not a big drive to have hundreds of partners as there once was.
What other advice do I have?
To a colleague at another company who says they are not ready for a PRM solution, I would say that it is not true that they should be ready. They do not need to have a lot. Allbound is going to help them work through that process, and it is super important to just get started. If they have partners, then they are ready because they need to communicate with their partners, and this is the best way to get involved
To those evaluating Allbound, I would suggest looking at what their requirements are and looking at what they need to get involved or get in place and then go from there.
When I first started working with Allbound, I was not that impressed with the features they had in place, but I have noticed that over the last year, they have taken feedback from their partners and their customers, and they are increasing the type of things that we can utilize. For me, it is the gamification feature that we are implementing in our portal. There is also the partner journey feature. They are implementing integrations with LMSs, which is a huge one for us. That is something coming down the pipe within the next few months. They are definitely starting to improve their integrations and availability. That is going to be very important, especially as we continue to grow our partner program, and we want to continue to grow with them.
In terms of Allbound's effect on shortening the sales cycle, because we were not effectively tracking sales cycles before I came into Camunda, I do not have definitive data on that. However, overall, our partner sales cycle is shorter than our regular sales cycle. I have definitive data on that.
Overall, I would rate Allbound an eight out of ten. There are a couple of things we obviously want to have, and that is normal. That is part of the growth process. As partners of theirs, it is nice to have someone who is responsive and able to tell me that we are working on making these changes.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Buyer's Guide
Allbound
November 2024
Learn what your peers think about Allbound. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: November 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sales Operations at a computer software company with 11-50 employees
Good pricing model, provides everything for onboarding a partner, and makes everything measurable
Pros and Cons
- "Deal registrations are huge for us because since we've been using Allbound, we are able to keep much better track of those."
- "People are not able to deactivate members themselves. If someone leaves the organization, partners would like to do it themselves, but currently, they have to ask us."
What is our primary use case?
We resell our own solution through partners, and we need to work with these partners. Allbound is the perfect solution to engage with our partners and automate some of the tasks that otherwise would have to be done manually.
How has it helped my organization?
It has made everything much more measurable, which is something that we like because we know exactly where we stand with our partners. We are able to measure, which also helps us to grow, and understand where we should be investing and where something is not of great use. It's also something extra for our partners. Our partners are happy that they can get something extra, and there is something they can always fall back on before they contact us directly. It's also valuable for the employees of the partners. For us, as an organization, it has made things measurable and helped to gather more data about our partners and deal registrations.
It's easier to onboard partners than doing everything directly. It's very easy. The platform speaks for itself. You can guide them through the steps, and you can even make these little introduction videos to make onboarding even easier. Everything a partner needs is there or can be there. Of course, the human element is needed when a partner has concerns or doesn't understand something, but the standard story is perfect to put in there.
We use gamification, playbooks, and quizzes features. Gamification is really good to give the partners some incentive so that, other than the knowledge, they have something to come back for. It's a little extra motivation to help someone. Our partners use playbooks for their end clients. They are also useful, but I don't know how often they're used. We also have quizzes. We end every learning track with a quiz. Quizzes are the perfect chance to check that someone has all the knowledge and that they went through the content and didn't just click through it.
We are able to filter or customize the content that different partners see when they log in to Allbound. We have different groups, and we have different phases of partners as well. Based on those, we give them certain content. We also provide content based on the language. We are originally Dutch, but we also have a lot of international partners. So, we filter based on the groups or where they are based, and we try to make the content as specific as possible. It's very easy to customize the content that partners see in Allbound. It's basically a single click, and it can't be easier.
This ability to customize is critical in the long run. If you want a solution quickly, then making everything customized is not a must. However, in the long run, and if you want to be able to help your partners as best as you can, it's really important to customize what they see because it needs to be relevant to them. If the content and resources are not relevant to them, they're not going to come back to the portal. So, customization is the key.
Allbound enables our partners to re-brand our white-label collateral. I'm not sure how often our partners use it, but they are able to re-brand many of our resources. The ability for partners to re-brand collateral has affected the time we spend on partner administration. It has gotten better because we are not needed in any process. They can just do it themselves. We get fewer questions about the content because everything is available there, and they're able to white-label it themselves, which has decreased the time spent.
It has helped to increase partner engagement. Our partner deal registrations have been growing three times with Allbound. That definitely has increased a lot. It's also due to the fact that we didn't register everything before. So, in that way, engagement has definitely increased.
What is most valuable?
Deal registrations are huge for us because since we've been using Allbound, we are able to keep much better track of those.
Learning tracks are also valuable. They make it easy for the new employees of partners to get to know us and our product. Now, we are testing a partner plan as well, which we absolutely love so far. It will enable us to grow our partners even quicker.
It has a very friendly interface. It's very easy to work with. Every possibility or everything is completely clear. There are no parts where anyone has to think, "What could this mean?" From the first view, you know exactly what it means. It's easy and straightforward.
Its range of features is probably bigger than what we are using right now. It has a big range, and everything that is in there makes sense. It's not too much. For every feature, there is a good reason, and when I look at the possibilities that we are giving our partners right now, there is enough to go from without confusing them or providing too much. I feel that the feature range is perfect right now.
What needs improvement?
People are not able to deactivate members themselves. If someone leaves the organization, partners would like to do it themselves, but currently, they have to ask us.
With the partner plan, there is not a lot that could be improved, but it would be easiest and the best if we could make the integrations ourselves. For example, for integration with our CRM, we need an integration specialist. If we are somehow able to do that ourselves, it would save the time of Allbound and us.
In terms of the additional features, we don't need any at this time.
For how long have I used the solution?
In our company, we have been using it for about one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't seen any instability since I've been working with it.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's definitely scalable. There can't be an easier way to scale it.
In terms of usage, within our team, we use it across the company. So, marketing is involved because of the content, and then the customer or partner success team is involved with the onboarding. The account executives or sales teams are involved with the deal registrations. So, it's being used company-wide. With partners, I see that the sales guys are involved in putting all the deals in, which is followed by training to make sure that they are certified consultants. There is marketing as well to make sure that they have everything to update everything on their end and to make sure that their clients also understand what it's that we do and what it's that they would be getting.
From our end, we have a lot of people actively working in the portal. There are about four people from marketing, and then on the partner's end, it really differs because they have a lot of sales and marketing people. It can be anywhere from 1 to 30 people.
Our partners are of different sizes. We have big ones, such as resellers, but we also have ones who just advise people. In the case of our end clients also, there are small companies, and then there are very big ones.
We are testing the partner plan right now. If that is completely there, we would be very happy, and we are going to use Allbound for exactly what we need. It will also be used to engage our lower-impact partners and measure things as easily as possible so a partner knows exactly where it stands.
How are customer service and support?
It has been great. Also, the testing that we've been doing has been really easy. It has always been quick. I would rate their support an eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We did not use any other solution previously. We just used our CRM and did everything manually. It was a lot of manual work.
How was the initial setup?
It's a SaaS deployment, but I was not involved in its initial setup.
In terms of maintenance, it needs updating from our end. We need to make sure that our content is always up to date. That's about it. So, it's only about adding things and making sure that our learning tracks are still applicable.
What was our ROI?
We have seen an ROI in terms of better insights into what our partners are doing. We are able to influence the decision more because we understand what is going on. I don't have the metrics, but we have a better grip on deals and more influence on the buying process of the clients of the partners.
Allbound probably has helped to shorten the sales cycle because we now know where we can get involved and where we can influence things. In that regard, it has helped, but because our deal registrations weren't perfect before, it's hard to measure in exact numbers. My guess is that it did.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
It's reasonably priced for what it can do and how much time it can save. It's a big amount of money, but for the time that it can save for people from having to do the work, it's definitely worth it. Considering the constant improvements and the features they keep adding, its price is reasonable.
It's perfect for us that Allbound has a flat, package-based pricing model, as opposed to tier-based pricing that grows as the number of partners increases. Especially for our scale, it's so good to know that the pricing will remain the same even while growing. In the end, Allbound gets cheaper for us, which is really nice.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We probably evaluated other solutions, but I wasn't involved in that process.
What other advice do I have?
It's great if you need more insights into what your partners are doing and how they're growing. It takes away some of the manpower needed to onboard partners. You can build some automation in there while still being able to also keep the human component in there when they need it.
As a result of my experience with using Allbound, if someone says they are not ready for a PRM solution, I would first want to understand why they feel that they aren't ready because it's very easy to work with. It's a good start once you have something in place. It's so easy to scale from there. So, you can start small. It doesn't take extra effort if more people are getting in. It's a very smooth process to build this platform.
To get actionable intelligence on partner engagement and success, we don't use the Channel Insights features as well as we can. On our end, we could be using this better, but it's a powerful tool to see:
- What's performing well?
- What's not performing well?
- What can we change?
- What should we do more?
At the moment, the Channel Insights information hasn't affected the way we interact with our partners because we haven't based a lot of our decisions on this. We are currently forming a project group so we can do more of this. We have been a little low in terms of marketing people, so we aren't using it a lot, but I do see the potential there.
I would rate Allbound an eight out of ten. There's always room for improvement. There are probably things that are possible that I don't know about or I haven't thought of, but for what we needed it for, it's really good.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Sales Operations Manager at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
streamlines the entire process of capturing partners' interest and cuts our partner sales cycle
Pros and Cons
- "What is important to us are our partners and clients. The user experience for those partners and clients, that they're able to quickly use it, is what I like about it. It's very simple to use."
- "They could provide a bit more user and technical training to our team. If I were able to really control the workflows in Allbound, with more of the expertise that they have, I could configure it to be a bit more responsive to our needs."
What is our primary use case?
We use it specifically for a partner program.
How has it helped my organization?
Allbound streamlines the entire process of capturing partners' interest in reselling our product. Now that we're able to reach out to partners on a platform that most of them are familiar with, we're able to expedite our whole partner sale process.
We also grab metrics from the Channel Insights to see what's currently going on with all of our partners, where they are in the process of a sale. It helps us keep track of the partners that we engage with frequently, as well as who the new partners are.
It has also helped to cut down the sales cycle by two to three weeks and increased partner engagement. The effect of that has been positive for our business.
What is most valuable?
What is important to us are our partners and clients. The user experience for those partners and clients, that they're able to quickly use it, is what I like about it. It's very simple to use. We set up a training session with a partner to train them once, and they usually figure it out after that.
And a great aspect is the user interface for administrators of the solution. We simply use it and it provides the data we need. It's also very easy to onboard a partner. Everyone seems to get it right away.
I also like the fact that it shares information between partners and my company. We have a very basic package, so there's more that it can do that we're not using. But it does what we need it to do, which is gather the information we need for a specific partner sale.
What needs improvement?
They could provide a bit more user and technical training to our team. If I were able to really control the workflows in Allbound, with more of the expertise that they have, I could configure it to be a bit more responsive to our needs.
Also, while they make it easy to use, it could be nicer. They could add more graphics to it to make it a bit more interactive.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Allbound for a year and a month.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's a very consistent product.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It's easily scalable.
How are customer service and support?
Their customer service is really excellent, easy to use, and they are very responsive to our needs.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We didn't use a previous solution.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't involved in the setup but it requires very little maintenance on our side.
What was our ROI?
There's definitely been a return. It has been one of the best-used products in our channel partner program. Because of the tiered approach, we can get the basic needs we want out of it, and once our budget opens up, we can expand on the features of Allbound.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Packaged-based pricing makes sense because it gives us an opportunity to test out features in the product prior to upgrading to the next package.
What other advice do I have?
If you're not ready to use a PRM because of a budget issue, there's a positive return once you implement it and get past the initial hump.
My advice is to have the right technical people ready to implement the platform.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor. The reviewer's company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
Director- partnership marketing at a computer software company with 5,001-10,000 employees
It can be customized as much as we need, and it's a great fit for small or mid-sized organizations
Pros and Cons
- "What is our primary use case? Allbound is a partner relationship management tool. We use Allbound to manage content resources, playbooks, commissions, etc. Our enablement schedule is exclusively posted in Allbound. We're also evaluating Allbound's Marketing Development Fund module. We have around 150 users in multiple locations. How has it helped my organization? Business partners are critical for achieving growth, so a PRM solution is essential. It creates a platform for partners to deal with us and access work. They can register an account, log into Allbound, and get a commission. Partners can see important announcements and look at the playbooks. The number of partners has increased significantly, and partner engagement has improved by 10 to 20 percent. Business partners can filter and customize the profile set for them. We can log their activity to see what they have been using. That's a helpful feature we haven't leveraged much because most of our partners sell a whole suite of products. As we evolve and get more partners who specialize in a particular industry or subsection of our product, we will need to add the option to allow partners to filter the most relevant content. Customizing content isn't too difficult or easy. You need to build a case and send it to the Allbound team. We must schedule a call, and it might take one or two sessions to implement customization. Hypothetically, Allbound enables partners to rebrand white-labeled collaterals, but our company policy doesn't allow it. Allbound's Channel Insights feature gives us actionable intelligence on partner engagement. We use it weekly, and we've implemented some custom modules we developed in-house for the partners. That's all listed in Allbound's Channel Insights section, where we can see the number of partners, usage, and activity in the last 30 days. Using Channel Insights, we realized that a partner wasn't using our labels and wasn't engaged, so we started hosting training sessions to increase engagement. What is most valuable? I like Allbound's ease of use. For example, we have been implementing Allbound's Market Development Funds module. It's intuitive and easy for the partners. If the partners want to see which commissions have been paid, that information is readily accessible."
- "Allbound could have more localization and customization. The templates work well, and maybe they don't want to target large enterprises by design. The solution is geared toward small and medium-sized enterprises, but they could allow more localization and deeper customization. Allbound is broad, but it could be deeper."
What is our primary use case?
Allbound is a partner relationship management tool. We use Allbound to manage content resources, playbooks, commissions, etc. Our enablement schedule is exclusively posted in Allbound. We're also evaluating Allbound's Marketing Development Fund module. We have around 150 users in multiple locations.
How has it helped my organization?
Business partners are critical for achieving growth, so a PRM solution is essential. It creates a platform for partners to deal with us and access work. They can register an account, log into Allbound, and get a commission. Partners can see important announcements and look at the playbooks. The number of partners has increased significantly, and partner engagement has improved by 10 to 20 percent.
Business partners can filter and customize the profile set for them. We can log their activity to see what they have been using. That's a helpful feature we haven't leveraged much because most of our partners sell a whole suite of products. As we evolve and get more partners who specialize in a particular industry or subsection of our product, we will need to add the option to allow partners to filter the most relevant content.
Customizing content isn't too difficult or easy. You need to build a case and send it to the Allbound team. We must schedule a call, and it might take one or two sessions to implement customization. Hypothetically, Allbound enables partners to rebrand white-labeled collaterals, but our company policy doesn't allow it.
Allbound's Channel Insights feature gives us actionable intelligence on partner engagement. We use it weekly, and we've implemented some custom modules we developed in-house for the partners. That's all listed in Allbound's Channel Insights section, where we can see the number of partners, usage, and activity in the last 30 days. Using Channel Insights, we realized that a partner wasn't using our labels and wasn't engaged, so we started hosting training sessions to increase engagement.
What is most valuable?
I like Allbound's ease of use. For example, we have been implementing Allbound's Market Development Funds module. It's intuitive and easy for the partners. If the partners want to see which commissions have been paid, that information is readily accessible. A partner can get certifications, which is essential to partner development. I like Allbound's ease of navigation, UI capabilities, etc. Coming from the IBM world, I think Allbound is comparatively lightweight.
Allbound has features like partner training, commission management, and enablement scheduling. It can be customized as much as we need. I think it's a perfect fit for small or mid-sized organizations because it serves your purpose and doesn't offer you what you would not need.
Onboarding partners is straightforward. We email the Allbound team, who onboard the partner on the backend within 24 hours.
Allbound's playbooks have been instrumental. The partners leverage playbooks all the time. We have two kinds. One is a general playbook that covers things like how to use the partner portal, assets, logos, etc. We also have playbooks customized for the partners, such as how to pitch to a government organization or an educational institution. We have playbooks verticalized by industry as well.
What needs improvement?
Allbound could have more localization and customization. The templates work well, and maybe they don't want to target large enterprises by design. The solution is geared toward small and medium-sized enterprises, but they could allow more localization and deeper customization. Allbound is broad, but it could be deeper.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have used Allbound for about a year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Allbound is stable. We've never experienced downtime.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Allbound has lots of modules. The last time I spoke to Allbound, they talked about adding an HR module and various other modules. Scalability is available. The templates also improve the scalability.
How are customer service and support?
I rate Allbound support 10 out of 10.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We had another solution before we moved to Allbound. We switched because of the ease of use, templates, and ability to create modules with a 24-hour turnaround. It's easy to take control of modules that are available in Allbound.
How was the initial setup?
I wasn't involved in the deployment, but I was told it was straightforward. We deployed it in one quarter. It requires no maintenance after deployment.
What was our ROI?
We've seen an ROI of about 20 to 30 percent.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Allbound is one of the most affordable solutions. The license is based on the number of users, and we have some flexibility because we purchased an enterprise license. We're pretty happy with the license, and we don't get billed for anything additional. Allbound's flat package-based model is helpful as we grow and become more complex.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Allbound 10 out of 10. Implementing a PRM solution isn't just a matter of cost. A PRM solution has two benefits. The first is increased partner engagement.
The second is ROI. A PRM ensures the right assets are targeted to partners so they can deliver the commission better. They have the right playbooks, increasing efficiency and ROI. The partners are more satisfied, which is essential for success for anybody working in a channel organization. There's no reason for somebody not to use a PRM.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Senior Channel Marketing Manager at a tech vendor with 501-1,000 employees
Provides excellent self-serve deal registration and a good range of features, but the interface looks dated
Pros and Cons
- "The self-serve deal registration is excellent; companies can register for deals themselves, and the process is managed through our system."
- "I'm not a fan of Allbound's UI for administrators. For example, there are some issues with the report-building tool, and when I'm building a report, it's not always clear what the outcome will be. There are a lot of radio buttons, rather than filtering or being able to select from a list. It's an accordion layout, so I click on one option, and it expands to reveal a radio button selection, which means I can't always choose everything I want. Checkboxes or selecting multiple options from a list is an improvement. Additionally, the report output looks very dated, so the interface needs some love."
What is our primary use case?
We use the product to house and manage information about our partner companies and process deal registration requests. That's our current use case, and we expect to increase it soon. We're not on-prem; our deployment is in the cloud though I'm unfamiliar with how it's set up.
Internally, we use the solution to manage our partners, and then our partners can also log in to access their profiles, resources, training, sales plays, and all kinds of enablement.
How has it helped my organization?
Allbound offers a single place to send partners, simplifying the sign-up process. It also flows data into Salesforce, our CRM, streamlining onboarding. When a partner signs into the system, it brings up the end user agreement, so we know essential boxes are being checked along the way, and our partners know they can access everything they need from one place. The product prevents us from being a bottleneck.
What is most valuable?
The self-serve deal registration is excellent; companies can register for deals themselves, and the process is managed through our system.
Allbound offers a decent range of features, though we can't currently use some of the richer ones due to an internal issue with our integration. That's not a problem with the solution, and having an abundance of features is good, as it positively impacts our partner experience. They have a trusted place to go that features our and their branding, and when we can turn on more features, it will be even more positive. We aren't currently able to turn on gamification, for example. That feature would add some more self-service to our partners and have a significant positive impact on their experience.
It's relatively straightforward to onboard partners with Allbound; it certainly helps in that process.
We can customize the content different partners see when they log into Allbound, and that's relatively easy to do; a content manager can go in and define the settings we want. This customization is essential, as each partner has different needs; surfacing all of our collateral to them would be unhelpful. We can create the right user experience for each partner by filtering the content.
Allbound enables our partners to re-brand our white-label collateral; we load in the documentation, and in the back end, we can mark them as co-brandable, and then a partner can click the co-brand button. They can take a white paper they want to share with their customers and, through co-branding, add their logo, contact information, and any other text they wish to add. Then, they can save the document as a PDF and send it out.
What needs improvement?
I'm not a fan of Allbound's UI for administrators. For example, there are some issues with the report-building tool, and when I'm building a report, it's not always clear what the outcome will be. There are a lot of radio buttons, rather than filtering or being able to select from a list. It's an accordion layout, so I click on one option, and it expands to reveal a radio button selection, which means I can't always choose everything I want. Checkboxes or selecting multiple options from a list is an improvement. Additionally, the report output looks very dated, so the interface needs some love.
The UI is somewhat clunky and unattractive. It's relatively straightforward to use, but the looks need updating.
The interface around re-branding collateral could also be improved; placing items such as logos and text boxes is awkward, so it's hard to ensure they're well-placed. As a result, we see little engagement with the re-branding feature by our partners.
The ability to re-brand white-label collateral has not affected the time we spend on partner administration. When scrolling through the interface, it's not entirely obvious which items are co-brandable; there's a little green triangle in the corner of the preview that says ''co-brand'', so it doesn't catch the eye. There's no way to filter specifically by co-brandable material, so the feature requires a lot of handholding and education to get our partners to use it. We can filter by type of collateral but not specifically by co-brandable documents, so we either need to click through page by page or know the exact name of the document we're looking for.
For how long have I used the solution?
We've been using the solution for around a year and a half.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The product has been stable, and we haven't experienced significant outages.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability is poor. Once we have the Salesforce integration activated, which most of our customers now use, the scalability will be there because we can push data from Salesforce into Allbound. We hope to resolve this issue soon, and we currently have limited ability to self-serve with bulk actions from the admin side. There is some capacity, but if we want to add a huge list of partners or whitelist a bunch of domains, we have to go through customer support; it's not possible to do that ourselves.
How are customer service and support?
We contacted Allbound's tech support before, and they were responsive and helpful; I rate them nine out of ten. The only issues we experienced with the support were less to do with the help and more with how they run their company.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Allbound is our first PRM tool.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Considering the interface, the price is high, although Allbound offers a lot. Some of my negative opinion here is because we have yet to upgrade to using the tool's best-in-class features due to internal issues. As it stands, I don't personally see the value that supports the cost, but that could change when we turn on the features.
For example, we only get one sandbox, and as we're waiting for this internal project to finish, we can't stage or test much in Allbound's systems. We're stuck waiting, and the project is a year overdue, which isn't Allbound's fault, but they only offer one sandbox, and we don't have the option to pay for another one. They did create a custom environment for me to test in, but it's not a match to our production environment; it helps, but it's not the same as a full sandbox that matches all of our settings, users, and so on.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
The company evaluated other options, but I wasn't here then.
What other advice do I have?
I rate the solution seven out of ten.
One of our struggles is with how content is surfaced to our partners, which is more of an internal issue with us as a company, and something we need to revisit.
Regarding the Channel Insights feature, we don't currently use it as we have yet to find a way to match its reporting to ours or in Salesforce. The feature is active, but we see little use for it.
To a colleague who says they aren't ready for a PRM solution, giving self-service options to your end users is the best way to go forward in a fast-paced, tech-focused world. The easiest way to do that is to buy into a PRM system that allows you to manage all your partners and gives them a place to find everything they need so they're not waiting on you.
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Marketing Coordinator at a comms service provider with 201-500 employees
Increases partner engagement, scales very well, and has flat-rate pricing
Pros and Cons
- "I find it very easy to use. It has a pretty good UI. I'm relatively new, but I'm able to learn it very quickly. I'm definitely happy with the interface."
- "On the design side, there could be some more updates to make it look a little bit more modern. We right now use the classic dashboard, but we're switching to the minimal dashboard that's available to try and make the UI look a little bit prettier for our partners. In the design area, there could definitely be some improvements that partners would appreciate."
What is our primary use case?
In our organization, we have a huge partner network, and we use Allbound as our partner portal. We allow partners to create accounts, log in, and then they can find deal registration and marketing resources that they can utilize to sell our product.
I work on the marketing team. I work a lot in the campaigns-in-a-box features, and I create co-branding tools, as well as learning tracks. We have various learning tracks for our partners to use. We use quizzes for the learning tracks that have to get our partners certified in different areas, but we haven't set up any playbooks or gamification yet. I also look at a lot of the reporting dashboards that Allbound has so I can track what's the most popular content.
How has it helped my organization?
We hear a lot of good feedback from our partners that they love logging into the partner portal and being able to see all of the content and resources that they can use on their own. It's very good that it's like a self-service portal, so they don't need our help unless it's something specific. They can just log in when they feel like it, complete any quizzes that they want to complete, watch any videos, or co-brand any marketing materials. It's all very easy to use. It has definitely improved our engagement overall with our partner network, and it has made us a better company overall.
It enables us to filter or customize the content that different partners see when they log in to Allbound. We can set up different visibility options when we're creating content. The majority of our content is open to everyone, but there is some content that is only open to certain types of companies because it's only relevant to them.
It's easy to customize the content that partners see in Allbound. As an admin, I can just go in to view all the content and edit in a Quick Edit view, or I can go in individually to a certain piece of content to which I want to change the visibility. It's pretty easy. This ability to customize is definitely very important. We want to make sure that the right people are seeing the right content. We also have some content internally for our company, and we want to make sure that's only visible to people who work within our company. We don't want partners to see that. It's definitely an important tool.
It's a pretty simple process to onboard a partner using Allbound. All they have to do is request an account, and we just have to make sure that the domain is the same one that we have. Of course, we will always run into some issues with certain customers who are having difficulty logging in, but we've got a system set up to help them log in and make that process as easy as possible for them.
It has definitely helped to increase partner engagement. For 2022, we had around 50% active users in the portal, and we're hoping to ramp that up to around 70% for the next year. Overall, we've seen a lot of engagement in the portal.
We recently used Channel Insights a lot to get our end-of-year reporting done in early December. It's definitely a very useful tool. We're hoping to use it more in the future because we're ramping up our international teams, and they're interested in what partners are doing regionally. So, we definitely want to utilize that tool more in the future. In Channel Insights, we can see what is the most popular content. We can use that to move forward when we're drafting up new content. For my use case specifically, the learning tracks and quizzes are really popular, so we know that we want to make sure that those are up-to-date and that we're creating new content for them because that seems to be what partners are using the most.
What is most valuable?
I'm on the marketing team, so I mostly use the campaigns-in-a-box feature and learning tracks. There are always updates happening with Allbound that I notice, and it keeps getting better with every update. Our Allbound representative, Tricia, has let us know about the new features that are going to be coming out soon. There are some features that we're definitely going to utilize that I'm excited about. There are definitely some features that we haven't used personally. We just haven't had time to set them up, but starting in the new year, we'll definitely take advantage of a lot of new features that are coming out.
I find it very easy to use. It has a pretty good UI. I'm relatively new, but I'm able to learn it very quickly. I'm definitely happy with the interface.
What needs improvement?
On the design side, there could be some more updates to make it look a little bit more modern. We right now use the classic dashboard, but we're switching to the minimal dashboard that's available to try and make the UI look a little bit prettier for our partners. In the design area, there could definitely be some improvements that partners would appreciate.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it since I started working at my current organization, which is about six to seven months.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I haven't run into any issues where the site has been down or anything. So far, so good. I would rate it a nine out of ten in terms of stability.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We've partners onboarding every day, and we've never run into an issue where there are too many. It's a very scalable platform that we can keep moving forward with.
In terms of its usage, our marketing team owns Allbound. We are the admins for it, but everyone who works at my company also has an account because there are some internal things in there. When it comes to the partners, they have to have an agreement with our company before they get access to the portal. After that, all they have to do is create an account, and then they get access to all of the resources.
How are customer service and support?
They've been helpful. Whenever we want to try and utilize new features, they're super helpful and quick to respond. I would rate them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I haven't used any other solution.
How was the initial setup?
I was not involved in its deployment. That was done prior to my joining the company.
It doesn't require a whole lot of maintenance. We've got an integration manager or representative with whom we can speak directly if we run into any issues, which is very helpful. We've got a customer service rep as well, but since I've been using it, it hasn't required a whole lot of maintenance.
What was our ROI?
I don't have specific numbers, but I would assume we've seen an ROI just because we've partners in the deal registration pipeline every single day selling our product. So, I believe that we've definitely made a return on investment.
In terms of Allbound's impact on shortening the sales cycle, I can't prove that necessarily, but from the general feedback that we've heard, partners do seem to enjoy being able to log in and look at the marketing materials that will then help them sell our products.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Its pricing is fair, especially because we can have as many partners create accounts as we want. It has a very fair price range compared to other companies that charge per partner. We've thousands, so it would just be too expensive to go with a different option.
We really appreciate the flat rate. Because we've new partners onboarding every single day, it would get expensive very fast if we had to pay per user. One of the main reasons why we love Allbound is the flat rate.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I believe we did, but I was not working at the company then. I'm not sure which one it was, but I have heard that we were looking at something else, and because Allbound doesn't restrict the number of users, that's why we decided on Allbound.
What other advice do I have?
I would advise getting a demo, going into the nitty gritty, looking at all of the features that they have, and asking a bunch of questions.
As a result of my experience with using Allbound, to a colleague at another company who says they are not ready for a PRM solution, in my biased opinion, I would say that a partner engagement tool is really necessary to grow your company. My company would not be here today if it wasn't for our partner network that keeps on growing. A tool like Allbound that can provide a partner portal for self-service is very beneficial. It can help accelerate the growth of your company.
I would rate Allbound a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Private Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
Partner Marketing at a computer software company with 201-500 employees
Easy content management, good range of features, and knowledgeable support
Pros and Cons
- "Content management is most valuable because it's the one that I use the most and the one I'm pleased about."
- "I wish Channel Insights had more intelligence where it not only provides data and stats but also offers more analysis and an extra layer of intelligence on the data that it has."
What is our primary use case?
We use it to manage or build our partner portal.
How has it helped my organization?
Playbooks are helpful to have a place where we can consolidate the knowledge and the content of a particular topic.
We are able to filter or customize the content that different partners see when they log into Allbound. It's easy, and it's extremely important because we have a tiering system of the partners, so we do need to have different levels of visualization.
Allbound enables our partners to re-brand our white-label collateral, but we're not using it to the extent the platform allows or enables.
What is most valuable?
Content management is most valuable because it's the one that I use the most and the one I'm pleased about.
It's good in terms of the range of features. They offer more than what we are currently able to utilize in terms of our capacity to spend more time on the platform and improve the portal. Our package offers more than what we're currently using.
What needs improvement?
It's a bit confusing to navigate. It's not that there is duplication, but some of the functionalities that are expected to be in the same place are at different places. For example, Channel Insights—for analyzing, learning, and gaining any insights—are under my user profile photo on the main screen, but in content management, I can see Channel Insights again. It's in two places. I don't know why they design the interface like this.
Another odd aspect of the interface is that, under the settings, there is Content Management, and then there is Content. I never know which one is which.
The Channel Insights feature doesn't go to the level of detail I wish. It's too superficial. It gives me a snapshot, but it's not super helpful. I wish Channel Insights had more intelligence, where it not only provides data and stats, but also offers more analysis and an extra layer of actionable insights on the data that it has.
It would be good if we could customize the main dashboard further, which is the main interface where people log in. We should be able to move modules around. There shouldn't be a fixed layout in the UX. I wish we could just move things around. They should just make it more customizable.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've been using Allbound since October last year.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It's very stable. I never had any issues. We found just one issue in the reports feature, and they said they were working on it. The platform is up 100% of the time.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It looks like we can accommodate more partners and more content. It seems very scalable.
We have a global deployment. We are fully remote, and it's used by the RevOps
team, the partner team, and the partner marketing team.
Its usage will grow as and when we have more partners and more users accessing our portal. We don't necessarily plan to expand the package or the tier for which we pay Allbound, but we expect it to grow with us.
How are customer service and support?
It's very good. They're very generous with their time and knowledge. Based on the information and how available they are to us, I'd rate them a nine out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We most probably didn't use a similar solution previously.
How was the initial setup?
We have a cloud or SaaS deployment. I wasn't here when we implemented it.
In terms of maintenance, I just need to make sure the content is always up to date, upload the new marketing content, and take the old content off.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Allocate an owner for the portal. Not only for the setup, but also for how it will be maintained on an on-going basis.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
Yes, we shortlisted a couple of other vendors based on their features.
What other advice do I have?
To a colleague at another company who says they are not ready for a PRM solution, I'd say that they could consider Allbound because the platform has a number of features from the basic partner programs to more sophisticated programs.
I wasn't part of our evaluation team but, as a user, I'd strongly recommend identifying an owner of the solution after it's in place, so that the maximum of the features are used, and there is ownership. Make sure someone owns the platform, and it's not just used by different people without a strategy for the partner experience.
I'd rate Allbound an eight out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
Disclosure: PeerSpot contacted the reviewer to collect the review and to validate authenticity. The reviewer was referred by the vendor, but the review is not subject to editing or approval by the vendor.
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Updated: November 2024
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Partner Relationship Management (PRM)Buyer's Guide
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