I have some game-changing news to share with you: in April, OneAffiniti was acquired by leading Channel Incentives Management (CIM) provider, Incentive Solutions! This alliance of channel experts will bring about some big changes, all of them positive for OneAffiniti, Incentive Solutions, and our respective client families.
In a 2021 tech stack analysis, Forrester channel expert Jay McBain listed channel incentives management (CIM) and through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) as two of the largest categories in the channel software space. Both OneAffiniti and Incentive Solutions are leaders in our respective categories, so it was natural for our two companies to join forces and become a united channel management technology provider.
The acquisition was driven by three main reasons:
Consolidation: less is more
Enterprise organizations and their respective channels have a plethora of tools and systems at their fingertips. Each of these have their own distinct purpose, but few integrate well to create a seamless user experience. Businesses are finding themselves with too many products, and not enough resources to capitalize on all of them.
Both Incentive Solutions and OneAffiniti saw a trend reflected in the needs and requests of our clients: they want to consolidate their supplier relationships and ensure their channel management technology works effortlessly together.
OneAffiniti offers through-channel marketing capabilities for their brands, and to their partners, while Incentive Solutions focuses on providing comprehensive incentive programs to clients for participants. What better way to help clients consolidate their supplier relationships than by offering them a wider range of channel management technology and data sources via a powerful, effortlessly integrated solution?
We will be one of the first to bring a full suite of best of breed channel programs together and get to market. Mark Herbert, CEO of Incentive Solutions and I agree – this is a game-changer.
Organic growth across industries and geographies
For years, OneAffiniti has been focused on amplifying sales with measured ROI in the technology, insurance, and financial industries.
Incentive Solutions services a range of complementary industries including manufacturing, finance, insurance, medical device and building/HVAC. While the similarities across industries creates an obvious symbiosis for both of our organizations, the new industries for us will offer interesting opportunities for growth. In partnering with Incentive Solutions, we will be able to broaden our content horizons to appeal to an even larger audience.
While OneAffiniti may experience growth into new industries, we expect Incentive Solutions to be able to take advantage of our global footprint, and expand their incentive programs into new Geographic markets, including those in Asia and Europe.
Cultural harmony
As we continued discussions towards this acquisition, Mark and I were pleasantly surprised to learn that our companies were corporate culture twins! It was when we looked at how similar our cultures are that we were truly excited about joining forces. We both built our corporate cultures around the basic principles and values we uphold. Our “Challenge the norm” value matches their “Make it better!” Our “Step up and own it!” mirrors their “Act now!”
At OneAffiniti, we strongly believe that our team is our greatest asset. We believe in hard work, doing the right thing, working towards a greater good, and having fun along the way. Our technology and our content may be the foundation of our program, but our team is what sets us apart from the competition. Therefore, it was paramount to me that any team we planned to join would have a similar mindset and values. We’re not just merging two teams – we’re collaborating and growing, together.
Onward and upward
So, what’s next? For the time being, Incentive Solutions and OneAffiniti will continue operating as two separate brands. Both businesses are very strong as we are, and we don’t plan to disrupt that. Our customers and partners will continue to engage with the day-to-day contacts they know and trust. Additionally, unlike other ‘all-in-one’ channel marketing providers that spread one R&D team thin across a range of products and features, OneAffiniti and Incentive Solutions will maintain separate product and engineering teams. We’ll stay focused on innovation across our respective products, without resource overlap.
However, we will be jointly focused on developing a sophisticated API that will merge our channel solutions and provide a seamless experience for both of our clients and their respective partners/participants. Expect some major expansions of product offerings and channel programs, and more channel management technology news from us to come!
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Here’s a bit more about who we are and what we do:
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