Following Monumental Growth Year, Relayware CRO Shares Goals For 2015

Over the past six months, partner automation software company Relayware has experienced pivotal growth. In May, the SaaS company announced its one millionth partner on its Partner Cloud, and maintained a strong pace of international growth.

Within the same period of time, Relayware noted an expansion in its consumer base beyond large and established technology vendors. Now, the company is gaining support from VC-backed companies striving to acquire faster sales growth from channel partners. New customers such as eFolder, Gemalto and ThinkingPhones are tapping Relayware’s partner automation software in an effort to acquire and retain a loyal base of partners.

Shortly after announcing its expansion, Relayware has onboarded a new Chief Revenue Officer, Jim DeSocio, who has extensive knowledge of the channel environment. Over the course of his 20-plus year career, DeSocio has held senior leadership positions in sales, business development, professional services and internal operations. He also has worked for myriad SaaS companies, such as Antenna Software, Lawson Software and XRS.

In his role as CRO, DeSocio will oversee and drive direct sales for Relayware, as well as sales through its partner program. In the below Q&A, DeSocio shares how he will use his knowledge of the IT channel to help Relayware achieve monumental growth once again.

Channel Marketer Report (CMR): Based on your experience in the channel, what trends do you believe are most prominent or will shake up the ecosystem over the next year? 

DeSocio: Research indicates that about 70% of a typical high tech company’s revenue comes from their indirect channel, and that number continues to rise. In order to advance their momentum without incurring a huge investment in new headcount or expensive customizations of their customer relationship management (CRM) system these companies need a partner relationship management (PRM) system to facilitate that growth.

Additionally, we are seeing companies looking for more visibility into their channel partners’ day-to-day operations. It is very expensive to recruit and onboard news partners. Then, once onboarded, companies provide partners with a sales portal, deal registration, opportunity management, training, co-marketing and other tools. Companies expect a first-year return on that investment, and it’s essential they have the Partner Performance Management capabilities that Relayware offers.

Partner Performance Management is a game-changer for any company selling through a channel. With these tools, a company provides a great partner experience and has full visibility into the partners’ day-to-day operations to measure what’s working and what’s not.

Every day, we hear from our customers and prospects that PRM is more important than ever. They know that they can no longer ignore the channel. In order to guarantee revenue growth and channel performance, they are looking for the right tools to propel channel growth.

CMR: How do you plan to use your experience in the channel to help Relayware drive results and expand presence in the channel?

DeSocio: Managing the channel is about partner performance and channel revenue growth — two areas that have been essential to my own career success, and exactly what Relayware delivers.

Currently, Relayware is largely a direct sales channel. I have run channels throughout my entire career, and I know that to reach our goals as a sales organization, we must continue to grow our inside sales and direct sales team while also building our reseller partner channel.

CMR: Why was Relayware a good fit for you in terms of the next stage of your career?

DeSocio: Relayware is an exciting, growing company with an outstanding product that is robust and solid. The market is in need exactly what Relayware offers, and the team here is full of amazing talent to not only keep up with market needs, but also innovate out ahead of others.

How much more fun can it be than to be selling a solution that addresses all of the requirements I have faced my entire career — partner performance, channel revenue growth and partner recruitment. The end result of this powerful combination is that our customers are more successful; their partners are more successful, and we are more successful. We have affected the entire sales demand chain.

CMR: Relayware, as a business, has seen significant growth over the past year. What can we expect from the company in terms of new solutions and services, and how will you help advance the overall business?

DeSocio: I am very excited about our next phase of product development. We’ll be extending our Partner Performance Management. We also will work with our customers to review their partner trends and then provide a dashboard of actionable steps to take to improve partner performance and drive revenue growth.

• channel programs
• channel ROI
• customer relationship management
• IT channel
• partner relationship management
• PRM
• RelayWare
• SaaS
• services
• solutions