s9800121

Topics

Allbound Taps Stephen Ceplenski as Chief Growth Officer

Stephen Ceplenski has joined Allbound, a partner relationship management (PRM) software provider, as Chief Growth Officer. Most recently, Ceplenski was Global Vice President of partner success and partner marketing at Marketo.

Ceplenski joins Allbound at a time when market watchers see sales of PRM solutions and related technologies growing substantially. For example, earlier this year Forrester predicted that sales of through-channel marketing solutions would climb at a CAGR of 25.5% to $1.18 billion by 2023.

Stephen Ceplenski, Chief Growth Officer, Allbound

Ceplenski agrees that demand for channel management solutions is on the rise. “There’s high demand for partner relationship management solutions within the market segments that have been the earliest adopters,” he said.

But driving the adoption of channel-related solutions by indirect sales companies in other industries  – such as manufacturing and automotive – will be critical to faster sales growth of the technology, he said.

“Many companies in mature industries are not conducting weekly webinars and other standard things you do in tech for partners,” he said. “By giving them a portal, a place for all to come together and communicate with vendors, then all of sudden you give them instant community and bring them together like you haven’t before. I think that creates new opportunities and is a fresh approach for them.”

Ceplenski also highlighted the role that marketing agencies will play in the growth of channel marketing solutions. Channel marketers “need content, and you need specific content personalized for your target market, and your sales processes,” he said. “Agencies and content are just key – as they have always been.”

Recruiting “a small set of agencies” that could help Allbound clients generate the strategies and related content PRM solutions support or deliver is high on his to-do list, he said.

Marketing agencies will likely be eager to partner with PRM solutions providers. According to Forrester’s report on through-channel marketing automation, thousands of digital marketing agencies will grow to generate $2 billion in related services in the next five years.

Share

PinIt