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Salesforce.com Chatter Communities for Partners vs. ChannelEyes?
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is talking more and more about Chatter Communities for Partners -- a secure social media platform that allows vendors, channel partners and distributors to drive business together. Hmmm... At first glance that resembles the ChannelEyes strategy. But not quite.
The VAR Guy
October 23, 2012
2 Min Read
hilariekoplow
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) is talking more and more about Chatter Communities for Partners — a secure social media platform that allows vendors, channel partners and distributors to drive business together. Hmmm… At first glance that resembles the ChannelEyes strategy. But not quite. Here’s the latest update, including a FastChat Video from last week’s CloudForce New York conference.Said Hilarie Koplow-McAdams, president of commercial and SMB at Salesforce.com:
“Selling is a team sport. [With Chatter Communities for Partners], you can sell as a team with your channel partners, your resellers and your distributors. This is the next-generation portal experience. This is not a static portal for your partners where it’s a one-way interaction. This is where they become part of a live social community. Think of this as Facebook for partners — but private and secure.”
For a closer look check out the FastChat Video (below right), filmed during the CloudForce New York conference on Oct. 19:
[youtube width=”300″ height=”254″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Qb1C6lxn7I[/youtube]
Same Story, Different Week
Admittedly, Salesforce.com has been talking about the Chatter Communities for Partners for a few weeks now. The first mention emerged in a Sept. 19 announcement, which stated:
“Many companies drive significant revenue via indirect sales channels, but legacy partner portals typically lack the tools they need to effectively collaborate. New Chatter Communities for Partners, built on the Chatter Communities platform, is the next generation portal–an interactive social community to enable companies to quickly and easily create multiple private, branded communities in the context of business process–all with the trusted security and sharing model of Salesforce. Now companies, along with their partners, suppliers and distributors, will be able to create custom communities to drive more sales through seamless deal registration, access to proven sales tools and collaboration with the right experts.”
In some ways, Chatter Communities for Partners sounds like ChannelEyes, the fledgling social media network designed specifically for the IT channel. But there are some clear differences.
ChannelEyes 2.0
Launched about a year ago, ChannelEyes recently evolved in several ways and now serves the following audiences in the following ways:
Channel Partners gain news and filtered partner program information that’s tailored specifically for the recipient.
Vendors can securely post partner program offers, incentives, news and product info to authorized partners.
The system aggregates more than 300 news and vendor feeds.
Oh, and one other important caveat: ChannelEyes is in production and in available to partners right niow, while Salesforce.com’s Chatter Communities for Partners won’t shift into production mode until later this year or next year.
Catching Up With ChannelEyes
The VAR Guy is on the road this week but hopes to catch up with ChannelEyes Founders Bob Godgart and Jay McBain next week, when our resident blogger is a bit closer to home.
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