SAP Receives 5-Star Award for its SAP PartnerEdge Partner Program
SAP PartnerEdge, the partner program for SAP’s partner ecosystem, has received industry top honors with the distinguished 5-Star partner program award rating for 2017 from CRN, a channel magazine owned by The Channel Company, a leading IT channel industry publisher. 
SAP was listed as winner of the 5-star rating again in CRN’s 2017 Partner Program Guide for more than a straight decade now that our SAP PartnerEdge program has consistently earned the top rating from The Channel Company.
The 5-Star Partner Program Guide rating recognizes an elite subset of companies that offer solution providers the best partnering elements in their channel programs. The rating is a stamp of approval that shows that SAP has a partner-centric program and that it puts partners first.
The 2017 CRN Partner Program Guide and CRN 5-Star Rating, which is published in the April 10 issue of CRN magazine and online, provides a rich resource for IT industry partners to discover, research and evaluate the various vendor partner programs available to them. The information in this guide is extremely important as they weigh the benefits and incentives offered by manufacturers when making their vendor selections.
The 5-Star rating is awarded to vendor partner programs whose overall rating is among the elite and not all companies are able to win the award each year. Our consistency showcases ongoing development and innovation, and the fact that we can provide information and proof of program enhancements especially with the next generation of SAP PartnerEdge.
Winning Factors
Other winning factors included the program’s comprehensive benefits, including digital enablement platform, SAP PartnerEdge Cloud Choice, profit option, partner website and communications platform, the commercial sales teaming with partners and the SAP Partner First strategy that brings together GTM segmentation in the general business market space, policies and innovative GTN initiatives to help partners succeed in the market place.
To determine the 2017 5-Star ratings, The Channel Company’s research team assessed each vendor’s partner program based on investments in program offerings, partner profitability, partner training, education and support, marketing programs and resources, sales support and communication.
Partner First Strategy
“Winning the 5-star partner program award shows that our Partner First strategy is a winning combination with the SAP PartnerEdge program as we continue to evolve the program,” said Karl Fahrbach, Head of Global Channels.
” For more than ten straight years we have now received the 5-star rating for our SAP PartnerEdge program and that means that we are doing a lot of things right with our partner program. Our digital enablement platform beginning with the SAPPartnerEdge.com partner portal is the nerve center for our partners,” said Ira Simon, Global Vice President, Partner & SME Marketing COO Communications
“We have the right marketing and communications strategy in place to keep our partners in the loop and ahead of the curve,” Simon added.