We make partners visible.
Global boutique consultancy engineering partner ecosystems into measurable revenue channels for B2B SaaS organisations.
Radical visibility. Ecosystem orchestration. Revenue integrity.
ERD is a global boutique consultancy that engineers partner ecosystems into measurable revenue channels. We serve B2B SaaS organisations typically between $100M and $2B ARR where ecosystem complexity has outpaced internal capability.
Radical Visibility
Attribution models that prove partner contribution. Every touchpoint tracked. Every dollar accounted for. Nothing left invisible.
Ecosystem Orchestration
Workflow automation across CRM, PRM, and partner systems. Co-sell coordination that actually scales. Integration architecture built to last.
Revenue Integrity
Clean data foundations. Governed processes. Compliant systems. The structural work that makes AI deployment possible.
The 6E Framework
Evaluate. Envision. Establish. Empower. Enable. Evolve. Six stages that take ecosystem programmes from ambiguity to measurable revenue contribution.
Evaluate
Where are we now? Assessment of current capability across people, process, technology, and data. Gap analysis against target state. Readiness scoring across four pillars.
Envision
Where do we need to be? Definition of target architecture - attribution models, workflow automation, integration map, governance framework. Vision documented with acceptance criteria.
Establish
Build the foundation. Data cleanup, CRM/PRM buildout, API integration, role definition, policy documentation. The structural work that holds everything else up.
Empower
Equip the team. Formal training delivery, AI literacy workshops, process documentation, playbook creation. Move capability from external consultants to internal operators.
Enable
Deploy the tools. Workflow automation activation, AI agent deployment, partner portal rollout, reporting dashboard configuration. Technology brought live under governance.
Evolve
Continuous improvement. Performance monitoring, model calibration, new use case identification, capability expansion. Ecosystem revenue becomes a living practice, not a one-time project.
Why AI matters for ecosystem revenue
AI is not a replacement for strategy. It is the infrastructure that makes ecosystem revenue visible, predictable, and scalable.
Automation
Deal registration routing, lead scoring with partner signal, co-sell orchestration across teams. The manual handoffs that slow deals down get eliminated. What used to take three people and five days happens in real time.
Prediction
Forecasting partner-influenced pipeline with confidence intervals. Identifying at-risk deals before they stall. Understanding which partner motions convert and which burn time. AI turns historical data into forward signal.
Orchestration
Multi-party deal coordination where everyone sees the same state. Partner enablement delivery that adapts to competency gaps. Reporting dashboards that update without human intervention. The complexity gets managed, not avoided.
AI readiness is not about having the latest tools. It is about having clean data, documented processes, governed systems, and people who understand what the technology can actually do. Without those foundations, AI adoption becomes expensive theatre.
The RevOps tax on ecosystem revenue
Revenue operations was built for direct sales. Partner-influenced deals break the assumptions. These are the gaps that cost time, trust, and margin.
Data silos
Sales has one version of the customer. Marketing has another. CS has a third. Partners log activity in the PRM that never makes it to the CRM. Every forecast conversation starts with reconciliation.
Attribution gaps
Partner touchpoints disappear between systems. First-touch gets lost when the CRM only sees last-touch. Nobody agrees on what sourced means versus influenced. Revenue gets credited to the wrong motion.
Manual processes
Deal registration is email and spreadsheets. Pipeline reporting is copy-paste across systems. Forecasting is gut feel dressed up as data. The team spends more time managing the process than executing the motion.
Governance holes
No policy on what data can be shared with partners. No approval process for new tools. No audit trail when something goes wrong. Shadow AI is already in use and nobody knows where or how.
Forecasting fragility
Partner-influenced pipeline is invisible to the forecast model. Deal stages mean different things across regions. Conversion rates ignore partner signal entirely. The forecast accuracy degrades the moment ecosystem deals enter the mix.
Integration debt
Systems were connected years ago with duct tape middleware. Nobody knows what breaks if you change a field. API documentation is missing or wrong. The tech stack is brittle and every new integration adds risk.
The impact: Longer sales cycles, inflated CAC, partner friction, forecast variance, and RevOps teams burning out trying to hold it together with duct tape.
Where partner programs leak revenue
Partner ecosystems are sold as force multipliers. In practice, most operate as cost centres with attribution theatre. These are the structural issues that prevent ecosystem revenue from scaling.
Invisibility
Partners touch deals but the CRM does not see it. Influence happens in Slack, email, and calls that leave no structured record. When the board asks what partners contribute, the answer is anecdotal.
Deal registration conflicts
Two partners claim the same opportunity. One registered in the PRM, one emailed the rep directly. No single source of truth. Resolution becomes politics, not process. Trust erodes on all sides.
Co-sell chaos
Multi-party deals where nobody knows who owns what. Partners waiting on internal approvals that get stuck in unmonitored queues. Opportunities stall because coordination is manual and nobody has visibility into the full pipeline state.
Enablement theatre
Training gets delivered once and never tracked. Competency gaps go undetected until deals are lost. No measurement of which enablement actually moves conversion rates. Investment continues without evidence of impact.
Compensation disputes
Partner margin gets calculated manually across disconnected systems. Disputes over what counts as influenced versus sourced. Payment delays because nobody can produce an audit trail. Partners leave over money that should have been automatic.
Technology fragmentation
Partners use different CRMs, different portals, different collaboration tools. No standardized integration points. Data exchange happens via CSV exports and email attachments. Automation is impossible when every partner speaks a different protocol.
The impact: Partner churn, missed revenue targets, internal teams treating the ecosystem as overhead rather than channel, and executives cutting budgets because ROI cannot be proven.
What we offer
Three service layers. Advisory builds the plan. Implementation delivers the infrastructure. Augmentation provides ongoing capacity.
Workshop
Structured session covering AI readiness framework, ecosystem revenue architecture, and diagnostic assessment. Delivered live with your leadership team. Establishes shared language and surfaces critical gaps.
Fractional
Embedded advisory capacity. Monthly retainer covering strategic guidance, architecture design, vendor evaluation, and ongoing programme oversight. Three tiers available.
Audit
Two-week assessment of ecosystem readiness across people, process, technology, and data. Deliverable is a prioritised action plan with sequenced milestones and estimated ROI per fix.
Implementation and augmentation engagements are scoped per use case. Delivery pods for CRM/PRM buildouts, workflow automation, AI agent deployment, and RevOps infrastructure typically range from $25,000 to $150,000 depending on complexity and timeline.
Partner attribution at a glance
The model you choose should match the motion you run. We help you pick.
First-touch
Full credit to the first interaction. Simple. Biased toward top-of-funnel partners.
Last-touch
Full credit to the final touchpoint before close. Default in most CRMs. Biased toward closers.
Linear
Equal credit distributed across every touchpoint. Fair. Rarely reflects the reality of deal influence.
Time-decay
More credit to touchpoints closer to close. Reflects deal momentum. Requires clean timestamps.
Position-based
Weighted credit to the first and last touches, with the remainder spread across the middle. Balances discovery and close.
Sourced, Influenced, Closed-with
The three states every partner-touched deal should carry. Sourced stays sourced. Influenced stays influenced. Nothing hides.
How visible is your ecosystem revenue?
Book a 30-minute call. We will walk through the four pillars - people, process, technology, data - and give you a clear picture of where the gaps are.
Book a discovery call event