On AI-enabled unified incentives management platform. Q&A with Dr. Pratap Chillakanti

“ In the current marketplace, incentives and rewards management have outdated models. From the perspective of a channel chief, what they want is to increase their ROI and their partners’ mindshare.“

Q1.  You are the CEO of TenXEngage. What is so special about tenXengage?

In the current marketplace, incentives and rewards management have outdated models. From the perspective of a channel chief, what they want is to increase their ROI and their partners’ mindshare. The incentives Program Management teams reporting to the Channel Chief want to increase their partner engagement levels and they want to realize bookings and new logo growth through the channel. The finance and audit teams want to ensure that the programs comply with all the financial and regulatory provisions and the payouts are accurate. 

Using TenXengage, for the very first time, all the objectives outlined above are met optimally. One thing that makes TenXEngage so special is that the Enterprises and Mid-Market can finally have an AI-enabled unified incentives management platform to drive engagement and performance. 

Q2. So, it is the power of your AI-enabled unified platform. Why is it so disruptive, and can you share some essential details about it? 

In the legacy models, for every different type of incentive program, there is a separate application. In enterprises, the incentives span across rebates, discounts, market development funds and so on. For each of these incentive programs, there is a separate software application and not all these modules are integrated. As a result, the data across the applications is not harnessed to provide better insights to the executives. It also leads to sub-optimal partner experience, which is turn leads to dissatisfied partners and their engagement levels go down. Ultimately, it impacts the Enterprise’s ROI. In a rapidly changing technology-driven world, companies simply cannot afford to fall further behind with respect to their competition. This is where the tenXengage approach to provide an AI-enabled unified incentives program is a disruptive innovation that transforms incentives and rewards programs.

Q3. What else is unique from a partner perspective to your tenXengage platform?

We believe that a mobile experience enhances partner experience while closing deals much faster.  In the legacy way of doing this, the partner account manager communicates using his phone or email.  Using our branded mobile application, account executives can now collaborate with partners in real time driving productivity and closing deals orders of magnitude faster.

Q4.  Can you share key success metrics that Enterprises have realized using tenXengage?

Our platform enabled a 40 to 50 percent increase in partner engagement. It also reduced the enterprise operational budget by up to 50 percent. The platform increased partner-led bookings growth by 25%. All these metrics have a direct correlation to an increased ROI. Finally, a fourth key dimension as a managed service provider, tenXengage has achieved over 99% SLAs in supporting partners for case resolution.

Q5. What is your ideal customer profile?

In our experience, for channel led sales, where partner led bookings constitute at least a third of the overall sales revenue, the tenXengage platform would be an optimal investment.

Q6 How does your platform help customers achieve operational excellence?

Our philosophy is to focus on end-to-end automation to streamline the partner program operations while eliminating costly manual operations and processes. In the process, we also eliminate errors and inaccuracies. 

Q7. What can we expect from tenXengage in the near future?

Continuous technology innovation to support the evolving customer buying journeys and to support evolving models for both transactional and value-based incentives (non-transactional). In essence, the models scale to incentivize and reward all kinds of partners.

Q8. Tell us more about your journey that led you to tenXengage?

I am a researcher, educator, and a mentor.  My strength is technology innovation. I believe in creating innovative solutions for complex problems impacting society overall. My research focusses on trans-disciplinary collaboration. Based on my observations and expertise in the incentives management domain, my hypothesis was that this field is ripe for innovation and transformation.  My deeper study of the technology solutions in the marketplace validated my hypothesis. Stay tuned for further innovations in this space in quick succession! You can reach me at pratap@tenxengage.com

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Dr. Pratap Chillakanti is the CEO of tenXengage.

Interview conducted by WW Channel Leader Ramesh Chitor