Selecting and implementing a partner portal isn’t the easiest thing to do. However, it’s an important decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

To best support your partners, you need to think beyond spreadsheets and email chains. There’s simply too much going on in a single partner relationship—let alone an entire partner program with tens or hundreds of partners—for anyone to manually keep track of things.

It may theoretically be possible, but you’re limiting your partners from the onset (and creating unnecessary headaches in the process).

Between achieving channel key performance indicators (KPIs) and company revenue growth, the right partner portal can help move the needle. Think about it. When your organization’s channel team is hitting its KPIs, this contributes to an overarching organizational goal of increasing channel sales and boosting company revenue.

What’s more, the best partner portals facilitate marketing automation; real-time communication and collaboration; and accelerated performance through training, data, and reports.

There’s no shortage of vendors. This surplus of options has made selection tough. In fact, evaluating partner portals can be downright difficult. So, what do you look for? And how do you determine which portal is the best fit for your channel? One size does not fit all when it comes to implementing the right channel sales tools.