As ERP continues to evolve into the operational backbone of modern enterprises, the role of channel partners is undergoing a significant transformation. No longer limited to resale and implementation, partners are increasingly expected to act as strategic advisors—supporting customers across the full lifecycle, from modernization to long-term value realization.
In this ERP News Q&A, Holly Oberbroeckling, Director of Channel Sales at Epicor, shares her perspective on how partner ecosystems are evolving in response to changing customer expectations, cloud adoption, and the growing importance of industry specialization. Drawing on her experience across Epicor, Infor, Oracle, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Holly outlines what it takes to build scalable, high-performing partner networks in today’s enterprise software landscape.
From Resellers to Strategic Partners
Q: From your perspective, how has the role of channel partners evolved in the ERP landscape over the past few years?
A: Channel partners have moved well beyond being transactional resellers. Today, they are expected to help customers evaluate, implement, extend, and support ERP as part of a broader business transformation agenda.
In ERP, especially in distribution and industry-specific environments, customers want partners who understand operations, can guide modernization, and can stay engaged after the sale to drive adoption and outcomes. That shift makes partners far more strategic than they were even a few years ago.
Building and Scaling High-Performance Ecosystems
Q: What are the key priorities for building a high-performing partner ecosystem in today’s enterprise software market?
A: The biggest priorities are clarity, enablement, specialization, and mutual commitment. Partners need a clear framework, strong onboarding, ongoing sales and services enablement, and access to demand generation and value-engineering resources. Just as important, the ecosystem performs best when partners have room to differentiate by industry, micro-vertical expertise, and customer intimacy rather than competing on generic product access alone.
Q: As ERP becomes more central to business transformation, how are expectations from channel partners changing?
A: Expectations are rising across several areas, including business advisory capability, delivery consistency, integration expertise, and post-sale engagement. Customers increasingly expect partners to tie ERP decisions to measurable business outcomes—not just software features. At the same time, partners are being relied on not only for strong implementation discipline, but also for deep integration expertise and the ability to build custom extensions that address specific customer needs. There is also a growing expectation that partners remain actively engaged after go-live, supporting adoption, optimization, and ongoing innovation. This evolution reflects ERP’s expanding role at the center of cloud, data, and broader operational transformation initiatives.
From Delivery to Long-Term Value
Q: What capabilities or investments are becoming critical for partners who want to move beyond transactional sales and build long-term value?
A: Partners need to invest in repeatable delivery methods. This includes certified skills, customer success motions, and industry-specific solution depth. They also need stronger capabilities around integration, cloud migration, and change management so they can stay relevant throughout the customer lifecycle.
Q: How does Epicor approach partner enablement to ensure consistency across sales, delivery, and customer success?
A: The approach is end-to-end. Our team emphasizes a smooth onboarding process, channel sales and services enablement, partner-hub resources around marketing, easy access to training materials, demand-generation tools, value-engineering support, and front-line support across solutions.
Q: In your experience, what differentiates partners that scale successfully from those that struggle to grow?
A: The partners that scale usually do a few things consistently well: they specialize, they invest in capability early, and they stay aligned with the vendor on execution. They do not treat ERP as a one-time license motion; they build services, customer relationships, and domain credibility around it.
The partners that struggle tend to remain too opportunistic, underinvest in enablement, or fail to build repeatable practices.
Collaboration, Innovation, and the Future of ERP Ecosystems
Q: How do you see the balance evolving between vendor-led strategy and partner-led innovation within the ERP ecosystem?
A: The strongest ecosystems are not vendor-only or partner-only; they are collaborative by design. Vendors should provide platforms, roadmaps, enablement, and guardrails. Partners should bring vertical expertise, service innovation, local market reach, and customer-specific extensions.
Q: What role does collaboration play in driving demand generation and pipeline growth across partner networks?
A: Collaboration is central. Pipeline grows faster when vendors and partners align around target markets, messaging, co-marketing, and shared execution. Epicor explicitly highlights collaboration, demand-generation tools, dedicated sales support, and a partner community model built around working together to reach more customers and accelerate deals.
In practice, that means the best pipeline outcomes usually come from coordinated plays rather than isolated partner activity.
Q: As cloud, AI, and automation continue to reshape enterprise systems, how should partners adapt their go-to-market strategies?
A: Partners should lead with business outcomes, not just product positioning.
Cloud, AI, and automation change the conversation from “which ERP system” to “how do we improve productivity, resilience, and decision-making faster.”
That means partners need sharper points of view on modernization, clearer migration paths, and stronger integration and advisory capabilities.
Q: Looking ahead, what should partners prioritize over the next 12–24 months to remain competitive and relevant in the ERP space?
A: Over the next 12–24 months, partners should prioritize four things: deep industry specialization, cloud and services readiness, stronger customer success discipline, and practical AI/automation relevance. The market is moving toward fewer generic players and more partners who can show measurable value in a defined segment. For ERP ecosystems like Epicor’s, that likely means doubling down on enablement, certifications, solution extensions, and differentiated expertise that ties technology to operational results.
Holly Oberbroeckling is a seasoned channel sales leader with deep experience in the ERP and enterprise software space. As Director of Channel Sales at Epicor, she focuses on driving growth and strengthening partner ecosystems across the distribution market. Holly brings more than a decade of experience building and scaling partner channels, including leadership roles at Infor where she led North American distribution channels, as well as prior sales leadership positions at Oracle, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and SBS Group. Known for her strategic approach to partner development and revenue growth, she helps organizations expand market reach and deliver value through strong channel relationships.
ERP News Editorial Team
The ERPNews Editorial Team covers global developments in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), enterprise software, cloud platforms, AI, automation, and digital transformation, providing independent news and editorial analysis for senior business and technology leaders. Our reporting focuses on market signals, strategic shifts, and enterprise impact across the ERP and enterprise technology ecosystem.
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