Partner Types

Partner type describes what type of business the partner engages in and, subsequently, what role the partner company will play in the partnership. There are many different types of partners, such as distributors, resellers, service providers, solution providers, and so on.

A number of default partner types are included. Sales administrators can add new partner types or disable existing partner types with the ZPM_PARTNER_CHANNEL_TYPES lookup type in the Manage Partner Lookups task.

The table below lists the default partner types.

Partner Type	Description
Business process owner	Partners that are responsible for managing business processes within an organization, typically by using key performance indicators to measure how successfully the organization meets it's business process objectives.
Certification and compliance provider	Partners that ensure companies have the appropriate qualifications and are in compliance with all are necessary policies or regulations. They also offer preparation for and assistance during certification and review process.
Education services provider	Companies that contract to sell education services as a product.
Independent software supplier	Companies that provide complimentary solutions on top of the supplier products.
Original equipment manufacturer	Companies that include the software or hardware components of a supplier in their own products. For example, a computer manufacturer could buy storage disks from a storage supplier and sell them as part of their own desktops. These relationships are very complex. Usually suppliers have specialized pricing and products for specific original equipment manufacturers.
Reseller	Partners can be direct resellers, who buy from suppliers and sell to end customers, or indirect resellers, who have a relationship with the supplier but do all buying through distributors.
Support services provider	Companies that provide hardware or software services, such as consulting or technical support, for the channel organization's products.
Systems integrator	Consulting companies that usually provide services.
Value added distributor	Partners that add features or services to existing products, maintain supplier stock, and sell to customers and to other partners of the supplier.