Vendors and ISVs with a channel sales force can use SigmaTrak's Partner Visibility application as part of the Saleforce.com to open a window into the channel.

The Partner Visibility application, bundled with Salesforce.com as part of its AppExchange family of plug-ins, is designed to allow VARs and distributors to share sales, inventory and claims data, providing a window into their daily activity and allowing channel management to adjust inventories, channel programs and incentives accordingly, both companies said Feb. 27.

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Using the SigmaTrak messaging appliance, channel partners simply print their daily sales and inventory reports, and the appliance formats and sends information to the manufacturer's Salesforce account.

The SigmaTrak appliance automatically links all channel data to the respective partner account in the manufacturer's Salesforce implementation.

The application is also a vital communications link between vendors and their extended sales force, said Irina Popova, eBusiness Applications Adoption Project Manager EMEA at Seagate Technology International, which began using Partner Visibility to connect with channel partners last year.

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"It buys us ease of doing business," Popova said. "It provides us real-time information from partners we would never otherwise be able to connect with. They send us information they have already, and it is uploaded automatically. It's not a huge savings for us per se, but for the partners who otherwise would have to do work to get this done."

Partner Visibility could also be used, to send information in the other direction, from vendor to partner, Popova said, allowing partners to make decisions of their own.

The application would be especially useful for partners with a Web catalog, which could be set to register changes to inventory and price in real-time.

Vendors can also use Partner Visibility to verify performance of each rebate or special pricing claim received with actual sales and inventory data received daily from the partner as well as analyze sales and inventory data by partner, partner location, product, and end customer via configurable reports and dashboards.