Proofpoint Drives a New Partner Program on Salesforce PRM; Integrates CRM and PRM for a 360-Degree View of the Business

"Our partner program is centered on Salesforce PRM. Through our partner portal we deliver meaningful tools that make it easier for our partners to do business with us. Plus, by integrating Salesforce CRM with its PRM offering, we get a 360-view of the business across all sales channels. All the information is consistent and in one place, saving us time and headaches."


Challenge
  • Proofpoint, the leading provider of enterprise-class messaging security solutions for inbound and outbound email and messaging streams, required a consolidated CRM and PRM solution to manage all of its internal and external sales channels
  • The company shifted from a 100 percent direct sales organization to one that relied on channel partners
  • Direct and channel sales information were managed in two separate systems, creating redundancies, inconsistencies and administrative overhead
  • The number of resources required to manage partner communications, a partner portal and partner reporting was high
  • While marketing produced an increasing number of leads, distributing the leads to channel partners, and tracking their progress, was a challenge

Solution
  • In 2003, Proofpoint chose Salesforce SFA over Siebel CRM On Demand, deploying Salesforce Enterprise Edition to 80 internal users
  • Once Salesforce PRM became available, the company swapped out BlueRoads, implementing the new solution in five weeks to 500+ PRM users for 120 partner organizations globally—finally standardizing on one application across the entire sales organization
  • Successforce Consulting leveraged its implementation and channel expertise to greatly accelerate deployment time, offering useful tips and solutions to align the system with the company's business processes
  • Intuitively designed, the partner portal lays out leads, opportunities, deal registrations, and documentation using simple tabs and links, eliminating the need for partner training
  • To spur user adoption and partner sales, Proofpoint offers periodic promotions along with deal registration opportunities through the partner portal
  • Dashboards track new partner opportunities, leads generated by co-marketing opportunities, training and certification and partner sales
  • Auto-response emails are used in conjunction with marketing campaigns to promote new offers, which are then tracked using dashboards; Web-to-lead functionality automates marketing campaigns vis a vis partners' sales targets, making leads available to partners directly from the portal
  • From the AppExchange, Proofpoint downloaded such applications as Time Based Workflow, Spoke Sales Prospecting, Salesforce PRM Utilities, and News to extend the original value of its solution

Results
  • Proofpoint saves six hours of administrative time each week owing to Salesforce's automated features and easy-to-manage partner portal
  • Increased user adoption is fueled by a simple yet comprehensive Web portal where partners take advantage of promotions and deal registration programs
  • Partners gain access to useful tools along with a full view of sales and lead owners, driving partner sales and loyalty
  • Internally, users no longer need to conduct daily imports/exports of leads and partner deal registrations, saving time and boosting adoption
  • One application for all direct and indirect sales data streamlines information and eliminates previous redundancies; Proofpoint now manages a single set of leads, opportunities, reports, and activities
 
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