Everyone wants more visibility. Or at least everyone should want better visibility. If you really think about it 
visibility is the key to making the right decisions across the board. If you had visibility into the fact that your friend is always late you would not have asked him to bring the beer and wine to the party or if you had visibility into the fact that your manufacturing partner was having problems at a specific plant, you may have decided not to ask for an order to be filled at the last minute.
What it really comes down to is having the right data (or facts) and then analyzing the data and adding context to it so that you can use it to benefit ______ (you fill in the blank).
We can apply this thought process to the indirect sales channels of most businesses. There is a clear issue around access to timely or, more importantly, accurate channel sales data which in turn masks the critical visibility into their customers that is necessary to leverage for the overall benefit of the business.
It’s about the information. Not the data but the information. Data are facts. When the facts or data are analyzed, enriched and given context they become useful. It is at this point the facts become information.
Technology vendors simply can’t leverage the existing data they have to provide a complete view of their relationships with their partners and end customers so that they have useful information or strategic intelligence that would make an impact across the entire business including helping increase sales, reducing overall costs and more effectively managing business operations.
We think that visibility is the tipping point for reaching control and ultimately optimization in the channel. After talking with Mike Vizard we agree whole heartedly that transparency is the first step in getting to a smarter channel. What do you think?
