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How to use Microsoft 365 recovery and backup features to ensure you never lose an Office document
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Microsoft 365 has several features for protecting and recovering Office documents. Learn how to use them to protect your work.
Microsoft 365 users have file recovery and backup features ready to go out of the box. Others must be enabled, so it’s a good idea to familiarize yourself with what’s available.
By default, Office apps save files to the default folder. However, you can save a file most anywhere: To a folder on your local system, a network location, the cloud and even an external source, such as a flash drive or a DVD.
Microsoft 365 saves a copy of your files to OneDrive by default as well. Although some users opt to turn OneDrive off, I encourage you to leave it on, because doing so enables AutoSave and Version History. In this article, we’ll review several built-in features that will help you protect and recover files.
SEE: Google Workspace vs. Microsoft 365: A side-by-side analysis w/checklist (TechRepublic Premium)
I’m using Microsoft 365 on a Windows 10 64-bit system, but you can use an earlier version. There’s no demonstration file; you won’t need one. These features interact with the web versions and OneDrive.
Microsoft 365 subscribers have built-in save protection called AutoSave. This feature saves Excel, Word and PowerPoint files automatically, every few seconds, while you’re working. AutoSave is enabled by default in Microsoft 365 when a file is stored on OneDrive, OneDrive for Business or SharePoint Online. If Save As is replaced by Save A Copy on the File tab, you know that the file is being saved to OneDrive.
To find this feature, look in the upper-left corner of the title bar or on the Quick Access Toolbar, as shown in Figure A. It’s a toggle, so you have the power to turn it on and off. If you don’t see the toggle, most likely you are not using the most recent versions of the Office apps. If you believe you are and can’t find it, contact your administrator.
Figure A
If you click the toggle to enable the AutoSave feature and your app can’t handle the request, it will display a message explaining why. Follow the instructions given if you want to use AutoSave with this file. If you don’t, you can’t use AutoSave.
If AutoSave isn’t working, you might have a conflict between your existing personal OneDrive and the new OneDrive Business. You can turn off the personal OneDrive, but unless you turn off the backup folders option, your system might still sync with the personal instead of the new business OneDrive. To fix this, do the following:
Figure B
With AutoSave on and syncing properly, let’s move on to the Version History feature.
Version History is another built-in feature for Microsoft 365 subscribers that’s enabled by default. This feature lets you view and restore previous versions of files stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.
To check, open any Office file and click the File tab. Then, click Info and click the Version History option shown in Figure C. If this feature is enabled, Office will open a list of available revisions — up to 25!
Figure C
Earlier, we took a brief look at OneDrive’s backup settings while troubleshooting a syncing problem. This feature, when used, allows you to backup your Desktop, Pictures and Documents folder by default. This way, you can protect your documents while also making them accessible to your other devices.
If this feature isn’t enabled, do the following to turn it on:
Figure D
You have 5 GB of storage space on OneDrive for free. Microsoft 365 subscribers have up to 1 TB. If the worst happens and you lose everything on OneDrive, you’re still protected.
I hope this never happens, but should you lose files on OneDrive, you can restore it, if you have a Microsoft 365 subscription.
First, access your OneDrive website and make sure you are signed into the right Microsoft account. Click the Settings gear, choose Settings from the dropdown, and click Restore Your OneDrive link, shown in Figure E. From the Select a Date dropdown, choose a restore point.
Figure E
Despite all of this protection, there are a few limitations you should keep in mind.
It’s important to keep these features enabled if you want full coverage and the ability to recover or restore files. If this isn’t enough for your organization, consider third-party protection.
Be your company’s Microsoft insider by reading these Windows and Office tips, tricks, and cheat sheets.
How to use Microsoft 365 recovery and backup features to ensure you never lose an Office document
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Today, we may credit technology for the progressive erasure of boundaries between people with differing capacities, particularly in education. Today, special education software has been shown to assist children with impairments in reaching their full potential. Education organizations can work with children who have learning challenges caused by developmental delays, intellectual difficulties, and other factors by using an Individualized Education Program or IEP special education software.
Educational software is any computer application (whether cloud-based or software) that improves and simplifies learning. But there are different education software with different focuses and purposes.
For example, we have (1) learning management systems such as Google Classroom, (2) student information systems such as Infinite Campus, (3) interactive assessment tools like Kahoot!, (4) language tools such as Duolingo, and a (5) special education software that we’ve listed below.
As previously said, several types of educational software are available to meet your requirements. In this case, we’ll review the special education software and the top five best in that industry, beginning with SameGoal.
SameGoal creates best-in-class, enterprise-quality educational solutions. This special education software believes that contemporary, open solutions that empower all stakeholders will deliver the best educational outcomes for pupils. With real-time collaborative editing, electronic signatures, and built-in chat, it streamlines your special education process. Plus, it lets you work as a cohesive team at all times and in all places, including parent meetings.
Collaboration in real-time: This Individual Education Plan or IEP software allows you to work on the same documents with other colleagues at the same time without fear of data loss. Individual objectives, assessments, and progress comments may be quickly added while coworkers make changes to other sections across the document.
Share documents with parents: Electronically distribute documents to parents for review and signature. It is compatible with PCs, tablets, and smartphones. This is especially useful for parent meetings online or over the phone.
Check documents instantly: Discover and fix missing, inconsistent, and non-compliant document data in real-time with no delays. Prevent papers from being finished until all checks have been performed.
Complies with State Department of Education: SameGoal contains all necessary, voluntary, and sample Special Education forms released by your state department of education to assist districts in remaining compliant. Unlike others, this special programs software evolves in lockstep with state and federal Special Education regulations.
Manage everything with ease: To manage and guide special education in the district, you can access documents across the district, use powerful administrative reports, and extract state reporting data. By automating program participation and deadline tracking, administrators can ensure timely submission of compliance documentation.
Streamline reports: Embedded state and federal advice, 24×7 online manuals, and helpdesk access for all users assist staff in swiftly receiving high-quality answers to issues while freeing up significant administrative time for special education directors.
Besides that, this special education management software is customizable. You can import student/parent demographics from your Student Information Systems or SIS and show finished papers immediately. This makes things convenient when general education personnel need daily access to your reports or documents.
Speaking of reports, it also offers data reporting extracts in state-specific file formats for each state. If your SIS supports it, you can bulk import special education state reporting. You can also submit it directly to your state’s data reporting platform.
Another advantage is that this IEP special education software is an online application that supports all major web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari at any given moment. You can work from any device that supports these browsers, such as computers, tablets, and smartphones.
It integrates with major Student Information Systems (SIS), such as PowerSchool, Infinite Campus, Skyward, and more.
It offers authoring tools where you can autosave, access real-time collaborative editing, view version history visible for all collaborators, and in-application chat.
It simplifies administration tools where documents won’t be marked complete unless all have been checked comprehensively. These checks comprise content and state reporting, embedded state and federal content guidelines, and automated deadline reminders with a calendar.
It encourages parents and guardians to participate so they can access and sign documents electronically, see document modifications in real-time during team meetings, and work on automatic forms with field translation to foreign languages.
Besides special education, it also provides an all-in-one platform for other special programs, including Section 504, Advanced Learners, English Learners, and K-4 Literacy.
It involves general education so that plans created in SameGoal appear instantly in your student information system when connected. General education personnel may be provided immediate access to assessments, planning, and progress reporting.
It aids districts in systematizing and streamlining legal compliance.
Standard and Plus plans lack translation features.
Overall, SameGoal is a comprehensive, user-friendly special education software that is straightforward to use for a long-term district success. It seeks to maximize specialized staff time and resources and transform how you invest your time by producing outstanding special education programs. It also improves parental involvement and satisfaction, streamlines communication with the staff who spend most of their time with special needs students, and much more.
Join 700+ local education agencies in using SameGoal to streamline special education programs. Read their Quickstart Guide and Request a Demo to get started.
SpedTrack is an IEP special education software that makes creating IEPs, assessments, and plan progress reports a breeze. Documents are scanned automatically for all compliance concerns. While staying compliant, you will find it simple to prepare IEPs, student assessments, and goal progress reports.
Through a sophisticated array of special education technologies, it assists teachers, administrators, and frontline educators in managing the IEP of children with disabilities.
It is intended to handle each stage of the special education process while addressing kids’ impairments and special needs. Everything is covered, from IEP goals to RTI/MTSS to Medicaid payments. It promises to enhance your case management system by providing simpler IEPs, increased functionality, state-specific IEP forms, and more.
You may attach papers and reports to SpedTrack straight from the system. SpedTrack increases security by encrypting emails with a unique PIN, allowing you to securely submit documents and monitor who has seen the forms.
An all-in-one management system for IEPs and reports on student progress
Co-op management tool with robust reporting
IEP form updates and error checker
IEP and evaluation templates
Medicaid billing with student records
SSO and other privacy features
Integrates with other apps and general education programs
EDMS’ Adori is an IEP management software that is entirely web-based, and it assists school districts in managing IEPs. The program contains several features designed to simplify the IEP process, such as the ability to generate and amend IEP documents, track objectives and progress, and schedule meetings.
This IEP special education software provides a centralized repository for all IEP-related information, making it simple for district officials to retrieve the data they want. Perhaps most crucially, Adori aids with enforcing state and federal rules.
There is customization for your district and connectivity with the EDMS Lumea electronic service documentation system. You can easily transfer student data electronically from one Adori district to another. Then, you may also access extensive reporting tools, numerous user roles to govern student access, several layers of protection, and industry-grade data transfer encryption to ensure your data is always safe, among other things.
Customizable cloud-based IEP software
Manage or transfer student records
Reporting tools, protection features, and data security
Create, edit, and track IEP documents
Complies with state and federal regulations
Greater than 99% uptime
Dedicated customer support
Frontline Special Education Management Software is one of the best special education software companies that promote compliance and best practices in IEPs. The program is designed to meet state-specific standards and to make case management easier. This software can improve your special education program’s decisions, minimize administrative strain, and interface with SIS. This program is an excellent resource for individuals responsible for special education programs.
Through this IEP special education software, you can cooperate online to create high-quality compliance IEPs with this IEP special education software, including real-time document exchange and role-based authorization to access student information. It helps streamline the entire special education procedure for your staff, track student progress, produce reports, and handle the data process more effectively so you can devote more time to teaching students.
You can quickly move IEPs across districts and communicate data between your general education student information system and Frontline Special Education Management. Furthermore, it aligns with state rules and district standards and validates data at the point of input to discover problems before finalizing IEPs and submitting state reports.
Lets you improve IEP quality
Reduces the burden of administrative work
Integrates with SIS for your district
Supports IEP practices and enhances compliances
AssistiveWare’s Proloquo2Go is a special education software designed to help non-speaking youngsters interact using augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). It is configurable and may be tailored to a child’s specific needs. The software has various features, such as symbol-based communication, which makes it beneficial for nonverbal persons with autism, Down syndrome, and other illnesses.
From the first words towards literacy, Proloquo2Go can help youngsters develop their linguistic abilities. It is a crucial tool to assist non-speaking youngsters in communicating and participating in their surroundings.
However, unlike the other special education IEP software on this list, it is an app that can be downloaded from the App Store and is intended to help parents in assisting their children in expressing themselves. Proloquo’s innovative design incorporates the most recent research and data from over 10,000 AAC users. It’s free for parents to share with teachers, SLPs, and other education agencies.
Provides access to expert help from special program educators
Has a customizable interface to personalize the app
Has a built-in library with over 7,000 symbols for custom messages
Helps children communicate via recording and playback voice messages
Offers support for multiple languages for children in different countries
The use of technology in special education aims to eliminate barriers and offer people with disabilities access to the most appropriate educational programs.
Students with special needs can access current education online, thanks to well-designed software and technology.
One of the best IEP special education software for teaching students with disabilities is SameGoal because of its comprehensive features and dedication to district compliance. You could also try SpedTrack, EDMS Adori, Frontline Education, and AssistiveWare’s Proloquo2Go.
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Partner relationship management (PRM) has simplified the business of managing channel partners by automating and enhancing vendor-partner processes. PRM tools are like CRM systems designed for the complexities of managing channel business partners. With a million or more companies in the global IT channel ecosystem, PRM software aims to help vendors reach, engage, and enable more channel partners.
Advances in technology, including the cloud ecosystem, mean that starting a business, releasing a product, or providing a service is easier than ever. The cloud has also made it easier to work with all those companies and service providers. PRM solutions allow organizations to build custom portals for partners, reward successful sales teams, manage lead and deal registration policies, and strategically develop partner relationships.
Over a dozen PRM vendors offer end-to-end solutions for managing the partner relationship lifecycle to meet this challenge. Below are the best solutions in the industry, followed by what prospective clients should consider before buying.
Atlanta-based Allbound launched in 2014 to build a platform for organizations managing channel partner programs. For marketing, Allbound’s features include a partner portal, onboarding for the channel partner ecosystem, co-branding opportunities, and unlimited content storage. Channel partners can create custom landing pages, integrate CRM or marketing automation tools, and utilize sales playbooks to enable sales.
Other tools include deal registration for developing a unified pipeline, market development funds (MDF), and a growing list of content management features to enrich partner portals and resources. Interest clients can pick from one of three plans (Standard, Growth, and Premium), and pricing is available upon request.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Allbound was a Contender in 2016 and 2018 and joined the Strong Performer group in 2020.
Read more: Why Channel Partners Need Automation from IT Vendors
AppDirect offers a cloud platform enabling clients to launch a unique B2B marketplace, manage customer and partner activity, and more. Housed in its AppReseller solution, organizations can use AppDirect’s PRM tools to transform indirect sales and channel partner relationships.
Channel operators can create their channel portal, securely enroll partners, and manage their community with ongoing communications, calendars, and content resources. With AppDirect’s self-serve registration, migrating and onboarding existing resellers can be seamless. Administrators can configure discounts and permissions, adjust partner-specific pricing plans and bundles, and drive profitable channel segments.
AppDirect offers three plans for organizations, each coming with a 30-day free trial. All plans include a partner dashboard, lead management, and partner-specific product catalogs, while AppDirect and its enterprise edition offer partner-specific pricing, provisioning, and analytics. AppDirect Enterprise’s biggest differentiator is reconciliation, payout, and collection tools for partners.
AppDirect received its first placement in 2020 as a Strong Performer in the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management.
Also read: Top Cloud Managed Service Providers & Leaders
Serving SMB up to enterprise technology companies, Channeltivity offers a cloud platform for automating partner relationship management. Offering two integrative editions with Hubspot CRM and Salesforce CRM, the Charlotte-based vendor can optimize the flow of indirect sales data to inform channel strategy.
Channeltivity comes in three plans, each coming with unlimited users, API, and SSO. Features like co-branding collateral, lead distribution, referral, commission management, and deal registration give vendors lifecycle visibility and control. Prospective clients can request a free demo before choosing from the plans below. Add-on features at an additional monthly cost include Training and Certification ($499), Distributor Management ($499), MDF Management ($399), and Joint Business Planning ($199).
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Channeltivity went unlisted in 2016 but received placement in the Strong Performer group in 2018 and 2020. Channeltivity also earned a Strong Performer position in the 2020 Forrester Wave for Through-Channel Marketing Automation.
Read more: The Benefits of Moving to a Digital Subscription Business Model
Impact launched in 2008 to support organizations in need of digital marketing services, affiliate solutions, and customer and partner management. Today the partnership automation vendor helps indirect sales programs discover, organize, and optimize channel partnerships through its PRM solution, Impact Partnership Cloud.
Beyond traditional B2B partnerships, Impact has an eye for the evolving marketing landscape with support for partnerships like brand ambassadors, social influencers, mobile apps, nonprofits, and more. The impact.com life cycle covers the gamut of partnership management, starting with automating standard processes like discovering and recruiting partners, contracting and payouts, tracking attributions, and informing future strategic decisions. Prospective clients can try a demo of the Impact Partnership cloud on request.
Impartner comes from the Silicon Slopes region of Utah and has long specialized in channel enablement SaaS solutions. In our review of the PRM industry, Impartner is an undisputed market leader with its flagship platform, Impartner PRM. From sales enablement to partner marketing and a suite of additional tools, Impartner gives vendors the visibility and granular control to build a successful indirect sales program.
Read more: Impartner’s Big Funding Round is Good News for PRM
All Impartner PRM plans come with guided onboarding, reporting and insights, an asset library, and integrations to Salesforce, MS365, HubSpot, and Zoho. Impartner offers a program compliance manager, CMS capabilities, partner locator, and to-partner marketing for advanced features. Interested clients can request a custom quote for one of Impartner’s four PRM plans (Emerge, Ignite, Pro, and Enterprise).
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Impartner was a Strong Performer in 2016 but remained a Leader in the 2018 and 2020 iterations.
Mindmatrix has over twenty years of experience providing unified direct and channel sales enablement solutions to vendors. For the channel, the Pittsburgh-based vendor offers Full Suite Channel Enablement, its indirect sales management platform for marketing, sales, and more. Mindmatrix can quickly onboard new and existing partners with channel implementation and engagement services and accelerate valuable partner relationships.
The Full Suite Channel Enablement plan breaks down into three feature spheres: channel sales enablement like playbooks and a CPQ (Configure-Price-Quote) engine, operations management for incentive rewards and lead registration, and marketing resources like content syndication and social media automation. With Mindmatrix PRM, vendors can extend a bundle of resources to channel partners and scale sales operations.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Mindmatrix has been a Strong Performer in the last two reports in 2018 and 2020.
Also read: MSP Survey Reveals Competitive Challenges in Cloud Era
Enterprise giant Oracle gradually built its customer and partner relationship management capabilities over the last twenty years. A handful of acquisitions later, including ERP and CRM vendor NetSuite in 2016, Oracle’s PRM solution lives within its Advertising and Customer Experience (CX) Sales Cloud. Organizations get access to an end-to-end channel management solution that offers partner portals, recruiting, go-to-market tools, co-branding, and more.
Oracle PRM comes with partner marketing, performance tracking, training and certifications, channel service execution, and business intelligence to optimize indirect sales channels. CX Sales Cloud is a lightweight and portable application yet offers enough visibility of important KPIs between vendors and channel partners.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Oracle was a Strong Performer in 2016 and dubbed a Leader in 2020. Oracle was also named a Leader in the 2021 Forrester Wave for Sales Force Automation.
Launched in 2015 as GrowSumo, Toronto-based PartnerStack strives to build an all-in-one platform for consolidating partner marketing, connecting programs and partners, and enabling scalability. While other PRM solutions prioritize empowering vendors operating channel programs, PartnerStack includes a full-fledged ecosystem for verifying partners and making them available to programs through the PartnerStack Marketplace.
Over 200 channel programs with solutions for accounting, development, sales, HR, and more currently use the platform to connect to more than 65,000 partners. PartnerStack can immediately connect channel chiefs to viable partners and initiate relationships for SaaS businesses. Prospective partners can access the marketplace for free, find an ideal channel program, and manage activity on a dedicated dashboard.
PartnerStack’s channel solutions include plans for marketing, referrals, resellers, and managing multiple unique programs. Each plan comes with automated onboarding and partner payments, performance analytics, and access to the PartnerStack Marketplace. Interested customers can request a quote or demo.
Veteran SaaS vendor Salesforce is industry-known for its customer relationship management (CRM) software, so a jump to providing PRM capabilities makes sense. Salesforce’s PRM aims to establish fast, personalized partner experiences, accelerate partner productivity, and deliver complete visibility into indirect sales data for the channel. The client platform breaks down tools into six feature areas: marketing, recruiting and enablement, analytics, co-selling, customer service, and management.
Read more: Salesforce announces Revenue Cloud to help track lifecycles | TechRepublic
The Salesforce PRM is available as an extension with its Sales Cloud solution. Coming in four editions to meet different organization needs, Enterprise and Unlimited clients can add PRM for $25 per member per month or $10 per login per month. Interested clients can try Sales Cloud PRM with a 30-day free trial.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Salesforce was first a Strong Performer in 2016 and has since been a Leader in 2018 and 2020. Salesforce also holds Leader status in the 2021 Forrester Wave for Sales Force Automation.
Dutch vendor TIE Kinetix specializes in everything in the supply chain, from electronic data interchange (EDI) to e-invoicing. Through its cloud platform, FLOW Partner Automation, TIE Kinetix offers three document exchange modules: EDI-2-FLOW for trading partners with existing EDI and e-voicing solutions, PDF-2-FLOW for email, and PORTAL-2-FLOW for easy implementation.
TIE Kinetix boasts over 2,500 business clients, more than a billion B2B documents exchanged, 24/7/365 global support. With FLOW, organizations can use partner automation tools, including worldwide interoperability and compliance and integrations with existing ERP systems. TIE Kinetix’s strength lies in its vendor and partner communication solutions.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, TIE Kinetix was a Strong Performer in 2018. TIe Kinetix was named a Contender in the 2020 Forrester Wave for Through-Channel Marketing Automation.
Also read: How Can the Channel Use Cognitive Systems Like AI?
Sitting atop the PRM industry, Zift Solutions has gone from a channel marketing startup to a dominant channel services vendor in fifteen years. The comprehensive channel technology stack is available on the ZiftONE Channel Platform, which focuses on partner management, sales, marketing, learning, and technical information.
The ZiftONE Partner Management Tools include an easy-to-use portal manager for global channel organizations, partner segmentation planning based on sales behavior, digital asset management, and guided onboarding. Organizations can automate synchronization between ZiftONE data with an existing CRM system, optimize channel lead, and deal accounting for partners. Interested customers can request a demo.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, Zift has been a Leader for the last two cycles in 2018 and 2020 and a Leader in the 2020 Forrester Wave for Through-Channel Marketing Automation.
Launched in 2007, ZINFI is not far behind Zift in gaining channel momentum in a short period. The ZINFI Unified Channel Management (UCM) platform enriches vendor orchestration of channel partner programs through a cloud-based web console. Between five applications, ZINFI UCM offers automation for partner relationships, marketing, portal, and sales management that covers the channel relationship lifecycle.
A play on “Zero to Infinity,” ZINFI’s PRM solution helps channel chiefs understand the programs and policies increasing ROI and driving performance on those fronts. With more substantial visibility, organizations can make more strategic decisions related to channel activity. Administrators can access features like partner business planning and management tools for partner leads, market development funds, deal registration, and rebates.
In the Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, ZINFI was a Strong Performer in 2016 and a Leader in 2018 and 2020. ZINFI also earned Leader status in the 2020 Forrester Wave for Through-Channel Marketing Automation.
Read more: Top Remote Desktop Software Vendors
Partner relationship management (PRM) software helps IT vendors optimize indirect sales through channel partner programs with marketing and sales management.
Partner relationship management is an example of a backend system that supports a vendor’s operational systems. Examples of other backend systems include content management systems (CMS), EDI, document management systems (DMS), and human resource management (HRM).
Read more: Are You Still Calling Yourself a ‘Reseller’?
If an organization offers a quality product, a well-run channel program can be the difference in its reach beyond its in-house sales and marketing capabilities.
Three years ago, Gartner reported 65% of high-tech organizations and 20% of all B2B organizations utilized a PRM software solution. With a growing reliance on channel partners, PRM solutions fill a gap that enables organizations to organize, manage, and scale indirect sales relationships. We look at what vendors should consider while evaluating the top industry solutions.
Read more: The New Software Provider Business Model
PRM solutions offer a range of tools and features to help organizations enhance channel programs.
Partner relationship management’s roots are in customer relationship management (CRM). CRM has long been the industry method and software solution for managing activity and data related to customers, be they individual consumers or directly to other businesses.
With the exponential growth of IT products and services and the development of the channel ecosystem, CRM isn’t enough for organizations working with a multitude of partners. Therein lies the need for more tools specifically meeting channel program operators’ needs. Channel chiefs can benefit significantly from the automation offered by the top PRM solutions.
Also read: Top Vendor Risk Management (VRM) Software
PRM vendors attempt to fill the gaps between producers, sellers, and buyers as a channel-specific industry. Partner relationship solutions have a significant opportunity to empower vendors with nonexistent, inferior, or tedious partner programs. Like so many other industries, the ability to automate is a crucial demand of clients, and PRM does just that. As more organizations see the benefit, the above list of top solutions is sure to shift.
For reference, the industry earned over $401 million in revenue in 2019. With an expected CAGR of 14.2%, the PRM industry will be up to almost $900 million by 2025.
Read more: If We’re Not a Channel Anymore, What ARE We?
In the 2020 Forrester Wave for Partner Relationship Management, the Leaders’ circle included Impartner, Oracle, Salesforce, Zift Solutions, and Zinfi. Strong Performers included Allbound, AppDirect, Channeltivity, Magentrix, and Mindmatrix, with no market Challengers or Contenders. A far cry from the 2016 PRM report by Forrester, which claimed no vendor yet qualified as a Leader.
As a younger solution market, PRM applications have yet to receive enough reviews to justify their inclusion in this review. With 200 reviews across a dozen solutions, almost 83% belong to enterprise vendor Salesforce.
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Quest Software, a systems management, data protection, and security software provider, in collaboration with the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), has released the 2022 State of Data Governance and Empowerment Report, an annual report highlighting the top challenges and innovations in data governance, data management and DataOps.
The report found that data quality has overtaken data security as the top driver of data governance initiatives, with 41 per cent of those surveyed agreeing that their business decision-making relies fundamentally on trustworthy, quality data.
At the same time, however, upwards of 45 per cent of IT executives polled say that “data quality is the biggest detractor from ROI in data governance efforts.”
Patrick Nichols, CEO of Quest, said, “business users at all technical levels have an edge when they have full visibility into, control over and confidence in their data.
“Trustworthy data and efficient data operations have never been more influential in determining the success or failure of business goals. When people lack access to high-quality data and the confidence and guidance to use it properly, it’s virtually impossible for them to reach their desired outcomes.”
Key findings revealed that:
Of note is that business leaders struggle not only to make sense of their data, but to locate it and use it in the first place, with 42 per cent of survey respondents saying at least half of their data was “dark data” – retained by the organization, but unused, unmanageable and unfindable. An influx in dark data and a lack of data visibility often leads to downstream bottlenecks, impeding the accuracy and effectiveness of operational data.
Businesses, said Nichols, “can’t utilize data, much less optimize it for the benefit of their organization, if they can’t actually see it. IT leaders must make data empowerment their first priority, enabling their organizations to leverage business intelligence, creating a single source of the truth to succeed in today’s data-driven world.”
Mike Leone, senior analyst at ESG said, “today’s businesses are all but forced to be data-driven and evidence-based in their strategies, yet still face significant obstacles that prevent their people from being fully empowered to bring data to every decision.
“Organizations that invest in building a data-first culture – fueled by automation in DataOps processes, high-quality data, holistic governance, and enterprise-wide accessibility – to drive business success, will have the advantage.”
According to a release, ESG conducted the study with 220 business and IT professionals responsible for and/or familiar with data governance and empowerment strategies, investments and operations at their respective organizations.
All organizations had 1,000+ employees and annual revenues of US$100 million or more.
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