Features & Benefits
World’s First & #1 Bestselling WordPress PRM
World-Class Content Management System (CMS)
It is designed for multiple users to add content. Most pages are as easy to edit as MS Word.
Quick Feature Updates
While other PRMs take months to add minor functionality, Chanimal could add more advanced world-class features in weeks–faster, better, and much less costly.
Intuitive Interface
With only a short tutorial video, you are completely up to speed. It’s easy to use with no coding or HTML needed.
Redundant Triple Navigation
The Chanimal Partner Portal uses Top, Side, and Breadcrumb navigation with “buckets” of content. It is ridiculously easy for partners to find what they need.
100% Customizable WordPress PRM
Unlike most PRMs that cannot match the look of your brand, the Chanimal Partner Portal WordPress PRM is extremely easy to match your brand. You have total control of the colors, fonts, graphics and layout.
Responsive – Mobile
Your PRM adjusts to all browsers on your desktop, tablet, or phone.
Built-in Power Features
The Chanimal WordPress PRM includes access control, one of the world’s most preferred blogs, a media library, drag and drop interface with formatting, and multilingual support. Plus, it is open-source and infinitely scalable for small or large companies.
MOST Plugins and Apps
With over 60,000 plugins, WordPress is easy to add new capabilities. Many of these plugins are open source (free), or have a very nominal cost—similar to the iPhone apps.
Regular Automatic Updates
WordPress is constantly adding updates, refinements, and fixes. Execute one-click or automatic updates for WordPress and the plugins.
Community
There are thousands of WordPress support groups offering faq, support, tips, and advice—for free.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can’t I create my own PRM using WordPress?
Absolutely—the platform itself is open source. But just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.
First, you need to know proven industry best practices to scope the project—what do partners need and prefer? Or you may create a bad PRM that the partners and your channel manager hate.
Second, assuming you have your own team to build a portal, the folks you would divert to create it (even a webmaster) already have a full-time job, so this would either be a step-child project that could take weeks to months to complete, vs 10 minutes to clone and a few hours to set up (add your contact info, match colors, connect to your CRM, etc.). Or it will delay your own product roadmap and features (the opportunity cost is too high).
Even if you outsourced it, at appx $50-100 per hour, it’s going to take hundreds of hours for even a base system—and it always takes longer than expected (so you end up spending more than the cost for the Chanimal Partner Portal). Plus, the Chanimal PRM has had over 70 revisions over the last decade (so it’s already been massively refined).
In addition, it takes hours and sometimes weeks just to research each plugin to use, and then to regression test each one to ensure cross-platform compatibility and cross-product integration. Many of the plugins used may also cost hundreds (totaling thousands) of recurring costs—and it usually doesn’t pay to buy the lifetime development license for a single site (versus a developer license that is amortized over hundreds of companies). And then there’s still the custom development cost to make the existing plug-ins do all the PRM magic.
If ethically challenged, you could find a copy of the site to clone—but the developer’s license for several of the plugins automatically self-registers, requiring authorization for an unknown URL, and can be disabled remotely. In addition, the original work and custom code, which is the secret sauce, is not open source, it “calls home” and detects unlicensed use, and is covered by a legal EULA. Not that you would even consider it—unless you’re in China. 😉
So, thinking it through, a home-spun WordPress PRM takes a lot longer to create and delays your partner program and the time to revenue (recruiting just one partner during this delayed time can usually pay for itself ten times over), you end up with a better, proven PRM that is already usability tested and debugged with tens of thousands of partners over almost a decade, and the Chanimal Partner Portal can cost significantly less and include more features. Plus, you’re missing all the industry’s best-in-class copyright content (agreements, policies, samples, templates, and processes) that is worth more than the entire system.
In addition, with the Chanimal Partner Portal, you also end up with an almost unlimited extendable stable PRM that you can personally customize further and build upon to provide anything you need in the future—the advantage of WordPress. Several vendors that use the Chanimal Partner Portal, many with thousands of partners, have since added additional features unique to their business (one has different content in different languages for partners ranging from affiliates to distributors—all in the same system), which was not even possible with other systems without tens of thousands in custom development expense.
And finally—support. Companies already pay for advanced support with other open-source systems (think RedHat Linux). It is the same with the Chanimal Partner Portal built on WordPress. The support is critical when your site goes down and all your partners are locked out (think of the lost revenue of one sale—it pays to have timely help).
How much WordPress do I need to know?
The site is designed to require some, but relatively minor WordPress knowledge—some channel managers know WordPress, others don’t. Fortunately, in the Admin section (only seen when you log in as the admin), there is a link to a WordPress introductory video, plus there are instructions and videos for most of the common tasks.
In addition, because WordPress is the world’s most popular CRM, hundreds of thousands of people know how to use and manage it already—so it’s not hard to find support. Plus, a lot of folks (often several members of your existing team) chose the Chanimal Partner Portal because they already know how to use WordPress, and take to it like a pro.
How easy is it to mess up my WordPress portal?
EASY. As the admin, you can mess up and fix the portal in minutes (just like you can mess up your own PC if you don’t know what you’re doing (ask my kid’s Grandma about her laptop—she is the “mess up” that just keeps giving! Hint: if in doubt, do NOT delete!))—so don’t just play around with it.
There should only be one admin (no, every member of the team is not an admin), and they will receive as much training and help as they need (one-on-one and self-help). Other user’s access can be limited, and most cannot make any changes or do any damage to the portal (including dubious hackers—when security is turned on).
Is the Chanimal PRM the First PRM for WordPress?
Chanimal is the first commercial PRM for WordPress. There is another major PRM in the market that also built upon the WordPress platform. However, they launched in 2014, while the first release of the WordPress version of the Chanimal Partner Portal was in 2013 (with over 20 customers) and it has had over 73 revisions and updates since then. Besides, the other PRM has since moved away from WordPress and created their own proprietary system–losing some of the advantages of WordPress. But their cost is also substantially higher and it is aimed at enterprise, not NEW partner programs (regardless of company size).
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