Channel partner relationships are like a three-legged stool, with vendors, partners, and businesses all reaping benefits from the relationship. For customers, channel partners often provide a high-touch, consultative approach that allows them to get to know the business’ needs and goals and offers a trusted, expert view of how to make their goals a reality. Partners can also be of great assistance to vendors, offering a broader sales footprint—including the ability to expand into new geographic markets and reach new customers and prospects, often at a decreased cost per sale. For the partners themselves, creating a diverse ecosystem of technology vendors enables them to better meet their customers’ needs in a comprehensive way, helping to ensure customer needs are met through a single point of contact. To attract new partners and increase productivity, many technology vendors are bolstering their channel partner programs by rolling out enhancements to traditional partner initiatives, adding training, certification tiers, and new sales incentives to make partners more successful. But as more vendors vie for partner mindshare, traditional tactics of partner enablement may not be enough to drive new business. Savvy vendors are looking at using new tools and techniques, often leveraging advanced technologies or concepts, to help increase partner productivity and ensure success in the partner channel. This report looks at updates in the partner channel, especially as they relate to the use of advanced technologies to help partners succeed. We focus on two vendors, Rackspace and Ingram Micro, that are integrating new technologies like automation and advanced analytics, as well as new strategies like gamification into their partner strategies. Topics include: --Winds of Change for the Channel --Vendors Respond: Recent Enhancements to Traditional Programs --Ingram Micro - Automation, Aggregation and Intelligence for Multi-Vendor Solutions --Rackspace - Gamification to Engage Partner Sales Teams --The Last Word