Article
|
3
 minutes
Nearbound Daily #011: The promised land
Article
|
3
 minutes
Monetize Your Tech Partnerships in 2023 with The Digital Bridge GoToEco Referral Flywheel
Article
|
3
 minutes
Meet your new partnerships mentor
Article
|
2
 minutes
Kind Folks Finish First: An Anthem For A New Era of Business
Article
|
3
 minutes
Introducing the Partnering Reference Architecture
Article
|
4
 minutes
Influence is the New Inbound
Article
|
6
 minutes
In the Face of Recession Pain, Partnerships Are the Answer
Article
|
28
 minutes
Howdy Partners #20: Partner Certifications
Article
|
28
 minutes
Howdy Partners #2 - Why You Need (Or Don't Need) A Partner Program
Article
|
8
 minutes
How We Use Partner Data to Drive Conversions and Product-Led Growth
Article
|
5
 minutes
How to Roll Out an Integration the Right Way: the G2 and ZoomInfo Story
Article
|
11
 minutes
How to communicate effectively with your customer success team about partnerships
Article
|
7
 minutes
How to Make Your First Co-selling Motion a Success: SugarCRM’s Step-by-Step Guide
Article
|
6
 minutes
How to land your next strategic partnership and build your reputation in the market
Article
|
13
 minutes
How to Get Your Partners’ Teams Using Nearbound
Article
|
7
 minutes
Harnessing the Power of Partner Led Sales with Lisa Lawson of SaaSy Sales
Article
|
4
 minutes
GoToEco for Sales
Article
|
1
 minutes
Google No Longer King: We've Entered the "Who Economy"
Article
|
18
 minutes
From Pitch to Partner-Influenced Revenue: How to Build and Scale a Partner Program in One Year
Article
|
1
 minutes
Ford and Tesla Shock the World with a Supercharged Partnership
Article
|
1
 minutes
Exclusive: In Revenue Capital Announces Launch on Nearbound Podcast Podcast
Article
|
4
 minutes
First-Giver Advantage
Article
|
3
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #634: Amplify MEDDIC with ELG
Article
|
4
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #633: The Ecosystem-Led Growth is coming from inside the house
Article
|
5
 minutes
Driving Partner Activation with ABM
Article
|
3
 minutes
ELG Insider Daily #615: Give Your Sales Team Ecosystem Intelligence
Article
|
10
 minutes
EcoOps and Scaling Partner Ecosystems
Article
|
3
 minutes
Connecting your CRM to The Partnerverse
Article
|
5
 minutes
Collision 2023 – Authenticity Is More Important Than AI
Article
|
10
 minutes
Building a Nearbound Strategy at the Nearbound Summit
Article
|
7
 minutes
Become a World-Class Partner Ecosystem Leader - Todd Hussey of SEBS
Article
|
1
 minutes
Bitly Bets Big On Partnerships With New VP of Partnerships Kevin Raheja
Article
|
7
 minutes
B2B Ecosystem Collaboration with Hubspot's Scott Brinker
Article
|
2
 minutes
A model to guide you to partnership success
Article
|
6
 minutes
4 Ways Partner-Sourced Leads Outperform Cold Leads Every Time
Article
|
19
 minutes
14 Things We Learned at Supernode: A Conference for Those Who Grow and Scale Partner Ecosystems
Article
|
7
 minutes
3 Steps to Ensure Partnerships Outperforms Outbound Sales
Article
|
6
 minutes
The Rule of 99: Why Partnerships Get Complicated at the 100-Employee Mark
Article
|
9
 minutes
It’s Time for the Other CEO: Chief Ecosystem Officer
Article
|
6
 minutes
How Bombora discovered hidden pipeline and closed $100K in 2 months with Crossbeam
Article
|
5
 minutes
Build Affective and Cognitive Trust to Bond With Your Remote Team. Here’s How.
Article
|
5
 minutes
7 Questions to Ask Before Starting a B2B Partnership Program
Case Study
|
 minutes
How Sendoso Doubled Their Partner-Influenced Pipeline In Just 3 Months with Crossbeam
Case Study
|
 minutes
How LeanData Makes it Easy for Reps to Close Partner-Sourced Revenue
Video
|
 minutes
The Problem is Access
Video
|
 minutes
The Nearbound Mindset: Part One
Video
|
37
 minutes
The 2023 'Boundie Awards - LIVE
Video
|
 minutes
SPECIAL RELEASE: Harry Mack Freestyles Nearbound Anthem: Nearbound Podcast #134
Video
|
27
 minutes
Session three. The Journey to Chief Marketing and Ecosystem Officer by Allison Munro and Jill Rowley
Video
|
 minutes
Session three. How PRMs Have Been Doing Things Wrong by Pete Rawlinson and Ornella Nardi
Video
|
30
 minutes
Session six. Biggest Problem in GTM: Lack of a Unified Operating Model by Sam Jacobs and Kathleen Booth
Video
|
 minutes
Session six: The 7 Deadly Sins of Customer Success in the Nearbound Era
Video
|
 minutes
Session seven. Partnerships as a Path to Acquisition by Andrew Gazdecki
Video
|
 minutes
Session seven. Gain Grow Retain LIVE at the Nearbound Summit by Jay Nathan and Jeff Breunsbach
Video
|
17
 minutes
Session one. Nearbound and the Rise of the 'Who' Economy by Jared Fuller
Video
|
 minutes
Session five. Why You Must Integrate to Differentiate your Product (And How) by Alexis Petrichos
Video
|
 minutes
Session five. How to Align Your Success Team with Your Partners by Bruno Yoffe and Sunir Shah
Video
|
 minutes
Session eight. Nearbound Ecosystem Strategy and Orchestration by Allan Adler
Video
|
52
 minutes
Sam Jacobs & Bob Moore: The Future of an Ecosystem-Led World | Supernode 2023
Video
|
57
 minutes
Partnerships and Contracts: Navigating the Legal Jungle
Video
|
31
 minutes
Nick Gray: Closing Keynote | Supernode 2023
Video
|
38
 minutes
New Video
Video
|
 minutes
NEARBOUND.COM Announcement
Video
|
32
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #19: Email Template — Use This To Get Account Intel
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #2: You Might Need to Rethink Your Sales Quota Says McKinsey
Video
|
27
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #16: Buyers Want Nearbound
Video
|
35
 minutes
Nearbound Sales #12: Why Sellers Don't Use Partner Leads
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #164: Why Your SaaS Partnerships Aren't Delivering Scott Wueschinski's Solution
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #98: Thinking Like a CEO as a Partnerships Professional with Kim Walsh
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #163: How to Go All In on an Ecosystem, with Daniel Zarick
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #157: The GTM Revolution and How AI Will Influence Sales
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #156: The End of Silos and the Need for Collaboration with Lizzie Chapman
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #152: Shifting From the How Economy to the Who Economy with Chris Walker
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #149: Evolving Partnerships in Business with Pete Rawlinson
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #147: Unlock the Power of Strategic Partnerships by TK Kader
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #139: Unleashing the Power of Nearbound Strategies to Close More Deals
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #138: Insights in Building Customer Success and Partnerships for 2024
Video
|
 minutes
NearBound Podcast #137: Marketing Against the Grain LIVE at the Nearbound Summit
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #136: SPECIAL RELEASE LIVE from the Nearbound Summit House
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #135: The Power of Owned Media with Anthony Kennada
Video
|
129
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #127: The Nearbound Moment is Here
Video
|
46
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #118: Insights From Over 100+ Conversations With Partner Pros
Video
|
44
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #116: The Future of AI, Agents, and Agencies
Video
|
53
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #110: HubSpot is Coming for Salesforce —The 4 Epochs of the Ecosystem
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #109: 6 Do's & Don'ts of Partner Marketing You Can't Ignore
Video
|
45
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #107: How Nearbound is Different From Channel
Video
|
51
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #081: Exploring the 16 Types of Network Effects with James Currier of NFX.com
Video
|
52
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #065: WTF Is An Ecosystem?! - Elevating Partnerships Out of the Shadows
Video
|
50
 minutes
Nearbound Podcast #064: "The Challenger Sale" Author Takes the Partner Pill
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #6: Not Your Grandma’s Co-Marketing Campaign
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #7: Understanding the Will of Your User s Existing Communities
Video
|
33
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #22: Trust + Scale — Where Partnerships & Marketing Come Together
Video
|
30
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #26: How to Identify the Nearbound Evangelists in Your Ecosystem
Video
|
 minutes
Nearbound Marketing #13: The 3 Marketer Personas Of the Future
Video
|
29
 minutes
Maureen Little: Scaling ain’t easy | Supernode 2022
Video
|
26
 minutes
Mike Stocker: 10 Partner Metrics Every Executive Ought To Know | Supernode 2023
Video
|
29
 minutes
Maureen Little: Scaling ain’t easy | Supernode Conference 2022
Video
|
29
 minutes
MythBusters: The GTM Edition
Video
|
23
 minutes
Lizzie Chapman: How to Make Your Leadership Care About Ecosystem-Led Growth | Supernode 2023
Video
|
18
 minutes
Lisa Hopkins: Navigating The Messy Teenage Years Of Your Partner Program | Supernode 2022
ELG Channel
How to Power Scalable Channel Demand with an Ecosystem-Led Strategy
by
Andrea Vallejo
SHARE THIS

Discover how top channel leaders are transforming partnerships into revenue engines with AI, Ecosystem Intelligence, and integrated tech stacks.

by
Andrea Vallejo
SHARE THIS

In this article

Join the movement

Subscribe to ELG Insider to get the latest content delivered to your inbox weekly.

In our last article, we shared a bit about how having misaligned communication, workflows, and tech stack has impacted at least 47% of organizations, which say that data siloing and poor accessibility are their top obstacles to gaining marketing insights.

So, if you want to drive revenue, you have to make your technology work together — this means connecting your workflows and orchestrating your ecosystem. 

The first step is to bridge the gap between all the parts of the technology map, and to do so, you’ll have to identify what are the crucial parts of your tech puzzle that matter the most in your motion. 

To help you with that, Crossbeam CEO Bob Moore, James Hodgkinson, SVP of Ecosystems at 360Insights, and Justin Zimmerman, Founder of Partner Playbooks, got together during Orchestrate25 — The Ecosystem Impact Summit organized by 360Insights — to connect platforms, strategic partners, and proven methodologies not only to drive immediate business results, but also to lay the groundwork for sustained ecosystem-led growth.

The future of channel partnerships

The channel is no longer just about portals, logos, or MDFs. It’s about intelligent, connected ecosystems that create scalable revenue through data-driven collaboration. As ecosystems mature, the most successful partner programs will be the ones that move beyond legacy tools to become ecosystem orchestrators, powered by real-time intelligence, embedded integrations, and AI.

Ecosystem Intelligence tools like Crossbeam are redefining how partnerships operate. Instead of manually trying to determine which partner is right for a deal, Crossbeam provides actionable insights based on account overlap, relationship signals, and partner engagement. These insights flow directly into your existing GTM stack — CRM, PRM, marketing automation — turning disconnected teams into a unified, data-fueled revenue engine.

The rise of AI adds even more velocity. AI helps you surface what matters, synthesize partner signals, and generate personalized, scalable plays. But AI alone isn’t the answer, it needs data only you can provide: second-party data from your partners. 

This is where Crossbeam and 360Insights become indispensable. Together, they empower you to harness your ecosystem data, enrich your GTM strategy, and outpace competitors stuck in siloed models.

Tomorrow’s high-performing channel teams won’t just manage partners, they’ll orchestrate revenue networks with AI and ecosystem data at the core.

How to orchestrate your channel ecosystem

Go-to-market motions are more complex than ever, with over 14,000 martech tools alone, and that’s before considering your partner tech stack. As a channel leader, your job is to simplify the chaos. That means connecting data across platforms, enabling co-selling and co-marketing, and embedding ecosystem intelligence into your team’s daily workflows.

But there’s often a disconnect between ecosystem data and your CRM or marketing tools. That misalignment leads to longer sales cycles and missed opportunities. When PRMs evolve into ecosystem orchestrators that include Ecosystem Intelligence and help you leverage your partners, you can:

  • Target new markets with ecosystem overlaps
  • Engage faster through Ecosystem Qualified Leads (53% more likely to close)
  • Differentiate with insights that increase ACV by 48%
  • Acquire deals 46% faster
  • Expand retention with “better together” value props that reduce churn by 58%

James Hodgkinson put it best: “Best-of-breed, integrated technology and workflows are the only way forward.”

Ecosystem data should be leveraged by all GTM, not just partnerships. That’s why having an orchestrated ecosystem can help sales, channel, marketing, and customer success teams to overlay Ecosystem Intelligence into their existing workflows. 

When you have Ecosystem Intelligence in your hands, you can fuel many motions and turn them into data first strategies that will drive revenue. 

Scale co-selling, and build partner-led campaigns

Channel teams must shift from guesswork to precision. For instance, let’s say you want to assess whether a partner is a good fit or not; here’s when you can use an account mapping matrix to identify your overlaps and discover opportunities. If there’s a considerable amount of overlap with your partner, that means they can be a good fit for your program. 

The next step would be to identify those key accounts your partner can help you with (and of course the ones you can help your partner with).

From a seller’s perspective, the role of partners shifts. It’s less about evaluating if a partner is worth engaging and more about understanding how the ecosystem can accelerate specific deals. Sales teams want a clear list of accounts, insights into how partners can add value, and clarity on which partner is the best fit — based on intel, influence, and warm introductions.

As Bob Moore emphasized, “Once the data layer is unlocked, you can curate how you leverage and share it. That’s when ecosystems become powerful.”

Showcase how your channel ecosystem is driving results

You can’t prove what you can’t measure, and even if it’s tracking down how your sellers are engaging with your partners, it can help you prove the impact of your program. To showcase ROI, track ecosystem influence:

  • % of deals with partner involvement
  • Missed opportunities due to lack of partner insights
  • Ecosystem influence: contacts, intel, procurement navigation

This tracking and measuring process will help you know if your team understands and engages with your partners. 

AI to scale: The agentic channel ecosystem

AI isn’t just a productivity tool, it’s a partner strategist. While first-party data (CRM) gives you a view of current customers, and third-party data is publicly accessible, the real gold lies in second-party data — the proprietary insights from your partner ecosystem. Crossbeam and platforms like 360Insights turn this data into strategic assets.

AI agents can now synthesize this data to generate deal-level insights, campaign content, and even sales plays. But to stand out, your AI must be fed with unique, relevant, and partner-shared data. Without that, you risk building generic experiences that don't convert.

As Bob Moore noted, “AI agents will only be as powerful as the second-party data you share with them. Without your ecosystem, your AI becomes an island.”

By leveraging your ecosystem you’re creating networks of second party data that can help you not only to build dashboards and improve your user experience, but is transformational when it comes to AI. “Integrated ecosystems with connected organizations, that’s the future,” said James.

The four pre-integrated solutions to boost your channel demand generation

To activate and execute your Ecosystem-Led Growth (ELG) strategies across your partner network, industry leaders Kevin Linehan (Director of Strategic Partnerships, Crossbeam), Cody Sunkel (Head of Growth, Partner Fleet), Steven Kellam (CEO, StructuredWeb), and Mike Reilly (CEO, Vartopia), shared actionable plays during Orchestrate25 to drive orchestrated ecosystem demand generation.

Scenario: You’re building your own partner marketplace in Partner Fleet and want to recruit, onboard, enable, co-sell, and co-market with your partners in a scalable, efficient way.

Here are the key steps to activate your ecosystem-led motion:

1. Show and tell: Onboarding through 360Insights Engage

Join the 360Insights platform to embed essential processes into your partner onboarding journey, from marketing to solution development to activation. In this stage, your partners will learn about your company, your partner program benefits, and how their offerings fit into your ecosystem. Feel free to share branded content directly through 360Insights to help scale onboarding and ensure consistency across your partners’ experiences.

2. Partner alignment and AI-enhanced listings

Next, your partner will be able to share some information about their company, goals, and ICP, this will help you align expectations and motions. Once done, it’s time to enable AI-generated listing content. 

Using 360Insights integration with Partner Fleet, you can detect whether your partner is already listed in your Partner Fleet marketplace. Provide resources to guide them through the listing process and increase adoption. The platform lets you automatically create and brand your marketplace listings, including AI-generated tags and metadata.

Use the Ecosystem Activation Dashboard to track onboarding progress, and the Ecosystem Activation Solutions Dashboard to tailor experiences for different partner types. 

As a bonus, 360Insights Ecosystem Orchestration Hub offers a holistic view of your program: assets, directories, dashboards, and more.

3. Account mapping and strategic data sharing

Once a listing is complete, the next step is seamless account mapping. Without leaving 360Insights (thanks to the 360Insights and Crossbeam integration), partners can access their Crossbeam account, connect CRMs or Google Sheets, and share second-party data to identify overlaps and drive collaboration.

Top tip: If you face resistance in data sharing, Suppeco CEO Sheldon Mydat recommends three proven tactics to improve trust and increase engagement while building out your partner program. 

Thanks to 360Insights orchestrated platform you can invite partners directly from 360Insights engage, since they have integrated a “directory” that includes all 360Insights partners. 

4. Co-sell signal activation

Leverage Partner Fleet’s marketplace visitor data and Crossbeam overlaps to surface high-intent prospects and identify how you can get an intro or figure out how to facilitate an intro to a partner. 

Use these co-sell signals to:

  • Identify joint target accounts
  • Discover which partners already have relationships with them
  • Define the best engagement strategy
  • Find the right points of contact

Through 360Insights Engage, you can manage referrals easily: select your partner, enter opportunity details, and streamline the entire co-selling motion.

5. Scalable channel marketing 

Now it’s time to promote and communicate about your new partnership. Here’s when we add marketing automation into the mix. Using StructuredWeb’s AI capabilities integrated into 360Insights Engage, you can:

  • Launch automated, multi-touch campaigns
  • Localize and personalize content by region, vertical, and language
  • Empower partners with clear instructions, ready-made assets, and campaign timelines

Top tip: Use incentives like points or rewards to increase partner engagement and campaign participation.

Based on ecosystem intelligence from Crossbeam and your own CRM data, reps and partners can generate highly targeted content at the deal level. Just click “Generate Deal Content” to create:

  • Personalized emails
  • Social posts
  • Landing pages
  • Short-form articles

Add variables like logos, first names, company names, and industry-specific messaging, thanks to StructuredWeb’s AI agent.

You can also tap into the channel marketing chatbot. Ask, "Build me a 3-week campaign on launching a reseller program," and get email sequences, social content, landing pages, and a complete rollout plan.

6. Deal registration and program visibility 

To scale, you must meet partners where they are. That’s where Vartopia comes in. Within the 360Insights Engage platform, Vartopia offers a unified partner experience:

  • Register deals
  • View deal pipelines
  • Access analytics and prospect insights

For example, if you're building a reseller motion, Vartopia acts as a centralized control hub. No need for your partners to manage another tool, everything is integrated and streamlined.

Channel leaders need more than tools, they need strategy, integration, and intelligence. With the combined power of 360Insights, Crossbeam, Partner Fleet, StructuredWeb, and Vartopia, your partner program can evolve from transactional to transformational.

The ecosystem is the channel

The future of the channel is not a tool, it’s a stack. A stack powered by Crossbeam’s Ecosystem Intelligence, scaled by AI, and orchestrated through platforms like 360Insights, StructuredWeb, and Vartopian. It’s not about isolated tactics anymore; it’s about building a network that can sense, respond, and sell together.

To thrive, you must stop treating your channel as an external initiative and start embedding it directly into your core GTM motion. This means enabling co-sell signals, activating content campaigns with AI, and tracking influence through a single pane of glass.

The companies that win tomorrow will be those that connect the dots, between teams, tools, and partners. Ecosystem Intelligence is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s the new competitive advantage for modern channel leaders.

If you’re ready to move beyond isolated tactics and into ecosystem-led growth, book a free ELG (Ecosystem-Led Growth) strategy call with our team. Let’s explore how to supercharge your channel program with the power of data, AI, and connected ecosystems and turn your partnerships into your greatest revenue engine.

You’ll also be interested in these

Article
|
6
 minutes
From Pitch to Program: Winning Internal Buy-In for Channel Success
Article
|
6
 minutes
How Suppeco Built their Reseller Program with WeTransact, Crossbeam, and ELG
Article
|
6
 minutes
Confessions of an ISV: How to Be a Good Channel Partner