This IDC study reviews the business case for investing in partners to build the channel's capacity to sell and deliver solutions on a partner's technology. It reviews and analyzes the business enablement resources that large software vendors provide for their business partners. These resources and initiatives include marketing resources, vendor promotion of partners, business support resources, and business development resources. This study provides an overview of some of the more innovative offerings available and IDC's opinion on these offerings as well as a glimpse on the future of business enablement.

This study will be helpful to software vendor employees who develop or market partner programs, or to those who work closely with partners. It answers key questions such as:

"Vendors are spending ever more time and effort on helping partners to build their businesses through sales, marketing, and business resources. Some vendors are introducing some novel initiatives in this area, while others are investing inefficiently," said Darren Bibby, senior analyst, Software Sales Channels.