About National Instruments

National Instruments (NI) is a $1.2B global leader in the market for automated test and measurement products. The company's solutions support the work of engineers and scientists who are solving some of the world's most pressing challenges, such as developing better medical diagnostic and treatment tools, finding renewable energy alternatives, and improving infrastructure stabil-ity. NI equips engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery to meet both daily and grand scale engineering challenges in an increasingly complex world.

With more than 800 partners in 62 countries, NI's 23-year old Alliance Partner Network program is a critical part of its go-to-market strategy. Because the company addresses a range of industries and application areas, NI certified partners and those with industry-specific expertise are key to driving business goals and revenue.

The Problem

While NI's partner program has been very successful over the years, it faced growing pains by the end of its second decade. Around 2010, the company determined it was time to re-evaluate the program and the support provided to partners and customers. This included an assessment of the in-house technology NI was using as a PRM platform for the program.

The homegrown system, which had been considered state-of-the-art in 2000, had become gradually less effective over the years. Unable to ensure the integrity or qualifications of NI partners, it was difficult to identify the right partners, and remove those who were unquali-fied, in addition to other challenges.

From an internal perspective, some of the problems NI faced included:

• Out of date technology that made it difficult to communicate effectively with partners and provide them with the needed information;

• Data that was incomplete or inaccurate, and time-consuming to manually enter into the system;

• Lack of internal resources and IT support, making the system hard to use and maintain.

OrganizationNational Instruments | www.ni.com

Industry Automated test and measurement products

Employees7100

ChallengeNational Instruments needed to replace their out-dated homegrown Partner Relationship Management (PRM) technology with a system that facilitated partner communication and access to training, marketing and sales support materials, while enabling end customers to find their selling partners

Solution DeployedTreeHouse Interactive Reseller ViewTM

OutcomeNational Instruments has achieved significant results:

• Increased revenue growth of91.1% since 2010

• Tripled the number of leads provided to partners, and are on track for a 5x increase in 2014

• Will have generated more than 250,000 unique page views by the end of 2014

As a result, NI's partners faced challenges such as:• Limited or no access to training, marketing and sales support materials;• Lack of a partner portal that provided partners with marketing, sales and support materials they needed

to support NI customers effectively;• A directory that was difficult to use, and made it challenging for end users to find the right partner;• A directory that lacked industry leading features such as the ability to use multimedia that would allow

partners to differentiate themselves, and update their own profile information;• Lack of leads and a system that facilitated lead transfer from NI to partners.

It became evident that the company's internal problems impaired the overall execution of the program, directly impacting business results and channel-generated revenue. As NI's market grew and its partners evolved, the company decided to re-examine its strategy, with a focus on identifying a technology solution, either in-house or from a provider, that would better support partners and customers, and scale with the program over the next decade.

The Search

NI committed to revamping the program, which required a major team effort involving stakeholders from all levels of the company, as well as from its partners. The company focused its efforts on long term needs, addressing policies and requirements, prioritizing the right behaviors internally and externally, eliminating ambiguity, and increasing transparencies. Alignment on this strategy dictated the requirements of the new system and subsequent changes in the program.

The next step involved securing stakeholder feedback and participation, establishing internal and external align-ment, requirements building, and gathering RFPs as part of technology vendor selection. Stakeholder feedback and participation were crucial to this course of action. In fact, NI did something that companies rarely do, and that was to take into account partner feedback and the issues they faced, at the same time that NI defined its own challenges.

"Our partners are our most loyal customers, and we've established a solid communication line with them over the last 23 years," said Armando Valim, global partner program and channel manager for National Instruments. "Their input has become part of our culture, and that helped us stay focused on their needs so we could redefine the program from both the partner and customer point of view."

With a clear strategy and support from all key stakeholders, NI embarked on its mission to ensure the program delivered value to prospective customers and expert partners. "Our directive for customers was simple: help them find the right partner," said Valim. "For partners, our value was two-fold. We wanted to give them leads, as well as equip partners with the marketing tools and sales enablement materials through a branded portal to conduct NI business."

The company received 10 proposals from vendors, but ultimately invited only six to deliver on-site presentations and demonstrations of their technology. About 25 NI personnel participated in the presentation deliveries, which began with an overview for the NI senior sales team, operations, engineers and related departments. All partici-pants were given an evaluation spreadsheet, and then organized into subgroups to conduct vendor interviews. In the final stage, the selection was narrowed down to TreeHouse Interactive and the option of building another in-house solution. When presented to the company's board of directors for approval, TreeHouse Reseller View PRM was chosen over the in-house option.

"NIʼs goal is to focus on developing ʻinsanely great productsʼ while our Alliance Partners help our customers create solutions through integrating systems, consulting, and extending our ecosystem."

Dr. James TruchardPresident and CEO

National Instruments, 2013

National Instruments Leverages Partners to Generate the Next $1 Billion

Global Leader's Partner Program Progresses from "Home Grown" to "Home Run" with TreeHouse Reseller View™ PRM

www.treehousei.com

"In addition to TreeHouse's capabilities and strong channel expertise, a major deciding factor was that the Reseller View PRM system would remain updated with state-of-the-art functionality," said Valim. "We could have gone with building an in-house solution, but at the risk of putting ourselves in the same situation we were in before - relying on a system that, over time, becomes antiquated and less effective. With Reseller View, we know the solution would allow for continuous improvements on a monthly basis, and in fact already we've seen the tool’s capabilities expand, and the value proposition to Alliance Partners and customers improve since it was fully implemented in 2013."

Results

Since implementing TreeHouse Reseller View PRM, National Instruments has achieved significant results:• Increased revenue growth of 91.1% since 2010• Tripled the number of leads provided to partners, and are on track for a 5x increase in 2014• Will have generated more than 250,000 unique page views by the end of 2014,

attesting to the value of the Alliance Directory to customers• Reduced the costs associated with manual updating by automating management processes• Improved the amount and quality of partner data• Enhanced the experience for end users, partners and NI

"Managing a large partner network on a global scale poses a number of challenges, said Valim. “We reached a point where the technology was outdated, resources to manage it were scarce and neither we nor our partners were achieving desired results.

At the end of this process we were able to achieve extraordinary success in terms of partner leads, page views, portal visits and most importantly incremental revenue growth - demonstrating what is possible when you involve all stakeholders in the process, align on strategy, and combine that with the power of technology. We now have an infrastructure in place to hit more home runs."

The Solution

National Instruments is using TreeHouse Reseller View PRM to serve as both an Alliance Partner Directory, where customers can search for partners who fit their requirements, and as a partner portal where NI can share confi-dential information and NI marketing materials with partners.

After a 12-week implementation process, the solution was formally introduced to Alliance Partners at NI's annual partner conference, Alliance Day, in August of 2012. Full implementation and population of materials, such as partner profiles and identities, was conducted that year and into 2013, with massive training both internally with the NI sales force and externally with partners. By August of 2013, the Alliance Partner Directory was launched to customers at NI's global customer facing conference, NIWeek.

Helping End Users Find the Right Partner – Partner DirectoryWhen customers visit the Alliance Partner Directory, there are a number of different ways they can search for partners who match their specific requirements:

• Geography• Industry• Application area• Product expertise• Services• Specialties• Certifications

Customers can also search by key words or specific partner names, which lead directly to partner pages. Each partner has a subset of pages which individually show partner locations/branch offices, industry certifications, products and solutions. Detailed directory listings include com-pany descriptions, training and certifications, areas of technical specialization, branch office locations, and marketing materials including multimedia options such as video demos and case studies - important proof points for potential customers. The listings even include reviews from end user customers who have used a partner’s services. The Partner Directory also includes the ability to deliver leads directly to partners through a “have- partner-contact-me” form that is routed directly to partners in real-time.

For Partners Only: Partner Portal

The Alliance Partner portal enables NI to share exclusive and confidential marketing and sales enablement resources with its partners. The portal features monthly highlights and resource articles, membership information that may not be made public (such as revenue goals for each partner level), marketing and sales resources that feature confidential information such as product roadmaps, training and certification resources, news and events, archived monthly newsletters, and exclusive partner events.

Partners can self-manage their Partner Directory profile pages and user access via delegated administration func-tionality. Here, they can also update their company information, add a branch location, highlight new services and skills, and even switch out featured video demos and case studies. Since this is a self managed process, NI has checks and balances set up to ensure that the partner information is accurately input.

"As a result of these self-management capabilities and flexibility, NI end users and Alliance Partners now have a much better experience," said Kathryn Ary, senior marketing communication manager for the Alliance Partner Network. "The have partner contact me form is one of the top benefits of the directory - leads to partners have doubled in 2014 with just this one capability."

Today, NI's focus is on expanding its go to market strategy, with activities centered around increasing traffic to the Alliance Partner Directory, and lead generation to partners which directly generates revenue growth for both partners and NI.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (NI) is a $1.2B global leader in the market for automated test and measurement products. The company's solutions support the work of engineers and scientists who are solving some of the world's most pressing challenges, such as developing better medical diagnostic and treatment tools, finding renewable energy alternatives, and improving infrastructure stabil-ity. NI equips engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery to meet both daily and grand scale engineering challenges in an increasingly complex world.

With more than 800 partners in 62 countries, NI's 23-year old Alliance Partner Network program is a critical part of its go-to-market strategy. Because the company addresses a range of industries and application areas, NI certified partners and those with industry-specific expertise are key to driving business goals and revenue.

The Problem

While NI's partner program has been very successful over the years, it faced growing pains by the end of its second decade. Around 2010, the company determined it was time to re-evaluate the program and the support provided to partners and customers. This included an assessment of the in-house technology NI was using as a PRM platform for the program.

The homegrown system, which had been considered state-of-the-art in 2000, had become gradually less effective over the years. Unable to ensure the integrity or qualifications of NI partners, it was difficult to identify the right partners, and remove those who were unquali-fied, in addition to other challenges.

From an internal perspective, some of the problems NI faced included:

• Out of date technology that made it difficult to communicate effectively with partners and provide them with the needed information;

• Data that was incomplete or inaccurate, and time-consuming to manually enter into the system;

• Lack of internal resources and IT support, making the system hard to use and maintain.

As a result, NI's partners faced challenges such as:• Limited or no access to training, marketing and sales support materials;• Lack of a partner portal that provided partners with marketing, sales and support materials they needed

to support NI customers effectively;• A directory that was difficult to use, and made it challenging for end users to find the right partner;• A directory that lacked industry leading features such as the ability to use multimedia that would allow

partners to differentiate themselves, and update their own profile information;• Lack of leads and a system that facilitated lead transfer from NI to partners.

It became evident that the company's internal problems impaired the overall execution of the program, directly impacting business results and channel-generated revenue. As NI's market grew and its partners evolved, the company decided to re-examine its strategy, with a focus on identifying a technology solution, either in-house or from a provider, that would better support partners and customers, and scale with the program over the next decade.

The Search

NI committed to revamping the program, which required a major team effort involving stakeholders from all levels of the company, as well as from its partners. The company focused its efforts on long term needs, addressing policies and requirements, prioritizing the right behaviors internally and externally, eliminating ambiguity, and increasing transparencies. Alignment on this strategy dictated the requirements of the new system and subsequent changes in the program.

The next step involved securing stakeholder feedback and participation, establishing internal and external align-ment, requirements building, and gathering RFPs as part of technology vendor selection. Stakeholder feedback and participation were crucial to this course of action. In fact, NI did something that companies rarely do, and that was to take into account partner feedback and the issues they faced, at the same time that NI defined its own challenges.

"Our partners are our most loyal customers, and we've established a solid communication line with them over the last 23 years," said Armando Valim, global partner program and channel manager for National Instruments. "Their input has become part of our culture, and that helped us stay focused on their needs so we could redefine the program from both the partner and customer point of view."

With a clear strategy and support from all key stakeholders, NI embarked on its mission to ensure the program delivered value to prospective customers and expert partners. "Our directive for customers was simple: help them find the right partner," said Valim. "For partners, our value was two-fold. We wanted to give them leads, as well as equip partners with the marketing tools and sales enablement materials through a branded portal to conduct NI business."

The company received 10 proposals from vendors, but ultimately invited only six to deliver on-site presentations and demonstrations of their technology. About 25 NI personnel participated in the presentation deliveries, which began with an overview for the NI senior sales team, operations, engineers and related departments. All partici-pants were given an evaluation spreadsheet, and then organized into subgroups to conduct vendor interviews. In the final stage, the selection was narrowed down to TreeHouse Interactive and the option of building another in-house solution. When presented to the company's board of directors for approval, TreeHouse Reseller View PRM was chosen over the in-house option.

"Increasing the overall awareness and understanding the value of our Alliance Partners and their differentiated skills is essential for our customers' overall success. The new Alliance Partner Directory is proving to be an invaluable tool, not only for customers, but for our sales force. Since its inception, we have seen dramatic increases in Alliance Partner engagements with customers, and ultimately more business for both NI and our valued partners."

Rob ReichmeiderAmericas Partner Sales Manager, National Instruments, 2014

Page 2

"In addition to TreeHouse's capabilities and strong channel expertise, a major deciding factor was that the Reseller View PRM system would remain updated with state-of-the-art functionality," said Valim. "We could have gone with building an in-house solution, but at the risk of putting ourselves in the same situation we were in before - relying on a system that, over time, becomes antiquated and less effective. With Reseller View, we know the solution would allow for continuous improvements on a monthly basis, and in fact already we've seen the tool’s capabilities expand, and the value proposition to Alliance Partners and customers improve since it was fully implemented in 2013."

Results

Since implementing TreeHouse Reseller View PRM, National Instruments has achieved significant results:• Increased revenue growth of 91.1% since 2010• Tripled the number of leads provided to partners, and are on track for a 5x increase in 2014• Will have generated more than 250,000 unique page views by the end of 2014,

attesting to the value of the Alliance Directory to customers• Reduced the costs associated with manual updating by automating management processes• Improved the amount and quality of partner data• Enhanced the experience for end users, partners and NI

"Managing a large partner network on a global scale poses a number of challenges, said Valim. “We reached a point where the technology was outdated, resources to manage it were scarce and neither we nor our partners were achieving desired results.

At the end of this process we were able to achieve extraordinary success in terms of partner leads, page views, portal visits and most importantly incremental revenue growth - demonstrating what is possible when you involve all stakeholders in the process, align on strategy, and combine that with the power of technology. We now have an infrastructure in place to hit more home runs."

The Solution

National Instruments is using TreeHouse Reseller View PRM to serve as both an Alliance Partner Directory, where customers can search for partners who fit their requirements, and as a partner portal where NI can share confi-dential information and NI marketing materials with partners.

After a 12-week implementation process, the solution was formally introduced to Alliance Partners at NI's annual partner conference, Alliance Day, in August of 2012. Full implementation and population of materials, such as partner profiles and identities, was conducted that year and into 2013, with massive training both internally with the NI sales force and externally with partners. By August of 2013, the Alliance Partner Directory was launched to customers at NI's global customer facing conference, NIWeek.

Helping End Users Find the Right Partner – Partner DirectoryWhen customers visit the Alliance Partner Directory, there are a number of different ways they can search for partners who match their specific requirements:

• Geography• Industry• Application area• Product expertise• Services• Specialties• Certifications

Customers can also search by key words or specific partner names, which lead directly to partner pages. Each partner has a subset of pages which individually show partner locations/branch offices, industry certifications, products and solutions. Detailed directory listings include com-pany descriptions, training and certifications, areas of technical specialization, branch office locations, and marketing materials including multimedia options such as video demos and case studies - important proof points for potential customers. The listings even include reviews from end user customers who have used a partner’s services. The Partner Directory also includes the ability to deliver leads directly to partners through a “have- partner-contact-me” form that is routed directly to partners in real-time.

For Partners Only: Partner Portal

The Alliance Partner portal enables NI to share exclusive and confidential marketing and sales enablement resources with its partners. The portal features monthly highlights and resource articles, membership information that may not be made public (such as revenue goals for each partner level), marketing and sales resources that feature confidential information such as product roadmaps, training and certification resources, news and events, archived monthly newsletters, and exclusive partner events.

Partners can self-manage their Partner Directory profile pages and user access via delegated administration func-tionality. Here, they can also update their company information, add a branch location, highlight new services and skills, and even switch out featured video demos and case studies. Since this is a self managed process, NI has checks and balances set up to ensure that the partner information is accurately input.

"As a result of these self-management capabilities and flexibility, NI end users and Alliance Partners now have a much better experience," said Kathryn Ary, senior marketing communication manager for the Alliance Partner Network. "The have partner contact me form is one of the top benefits of the directory - leads to partners have doubled in 2014 with just this one capability."

Today, NI's focus is on expanding its go to market strategy, with activities centered around increasing traffic to the Alliance Partner Directory, and lead generation to partners which directly generates revenue growth for both partners and NI.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (NI) is a $1.2B global leader in the market for automated test and measurement products. The company's solutions support the work of engineers and scientists who are solving some of the world's most pressing challenges, such as developing better medical diagnostic and treatment tools, finding renewable energy alternatives, and improving infrastructure stabil-ity. NI equips engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery to meet both daily and grand scale engineering challenges in an increasingly complex world.

With more than 800 partners in 62 countries, NI's 23-year old Alliance Partner Network program is a critical part of its go-to-market strategy. Because the company addresses a range of industries and application areas, NI certified partners and those with industry-specific expertise are key to driving business goals and revenue.

The Problem

While NI's partner program has been very successful over the years, it faced growing pains by the end of its second decade. Around 2010, the company determined it was time to re-evaluate the program and the support provided to partners and customers. This included an assessment of the in-house technology NI was using as a PRM platform for the program.

The homegrown system, which had been considered state-of-the-art in 2000, had become gradually less effective over the years. Unable to ensure the integrity or qualifications of NI partners, it was difficult to identify the right partners, and remove those who were unquali-fied, in addition to other challenges.

From an internal perspective, some of the problems NI faced included:

• Out of date technology that made it difficult to communicate effectively with partners and provide them with the needed information;

• Data that was incomplete or inaccurate, and time-consuming to manually enter into the system;

• Lack of internal resources and IT support, making the system hard to use and maintain.

As a result, NI's partners faced challenges such as:• Limited or no access to training, marketing and sales support materials;• Lack of a partner portal that provided partners with marketing, sales and support materials they needed

to support NI customers effectively;• A directory that was difficult to use, and made it challenging for end users to find the right partner;• A directory that lacked industry leading features such as the ability to use multimedia that would allow

partners to differentiate themselves, and update their own profile information;• Lack of leads and a system that facilitated lead transfer from NI to partners.

It became evident that the company's internal problems impaired the overall execution of the program, directly impacting business results and channel-generated revenue. As NI's market grew and its partners evolved, the company decided to re-examine its strategy, with a focus on identifying a technology solution, either in-house or from a provider, that would better support partners and customers, and scale with the program over the next decade.

The Search

NI committed to revamping the program, which required a major team effort involving stakeholders from all levels of the company, as well as from its partners. The company focused its efforts on long term needs, addressing policies and requirements, prioritizing the right behaviors internally and externally, eliminating ambiguity, and increasing transparencies. Alignment on this strategy dictated the requirements of the new system and subsequent changes in the program.

The next step involved securing stakeholder feedback and participation, establishing internal and external align-ment, requirements building, and gathering RFPs as part of technology vendor selection. Stakeholder feedback and participation were crucial to this course of action. In fact, NI did something that companies rarely do, and that was to take into account partner feedback and the issues they faced, at the same time that NI defined its own challenges.

"Our partners are our most loyal customers, and we've established a solid communication line with them over the last 23 years," said Armando Valim, global partner program and channel manager for National Instruments. "Their input has become part of our culture, and that helped us stay focused on their needs so we could redefine the program from both the partner and customer point of view."

With a clear strategy and support from all key stakeholders, NI embarked on its mission to ensure the program delivered value to prospective customers and expert partners. "Our directive for customers was simple: help them find the right partner," said Valim. "For partners, our value was two-fold. We wanted to give them leads, as well as equip partners with the marketing tools and sales enablement materials through a branded portal to conduct NI business."

The company received 10 proposals from vendors, but ultimately invited only six to deliver on-site presentations and demonstrations of their technology. About 25 NI personnel participated in the presentation deliveries, which began with an overview for the NI senior sales team, operations, engineers and related departments. All partici-pants were given an evaluation spreadsheet, and then organized into subgroups to conduct vendor interviews. In the final stage, the selection was narrowed down to TreeHouse Interactive and the option of building another in-house solution. When presented to the company's board of directors for approval, TreeHouse Reseller View PRM was chosen over the in-house option.

Page 3

"In addition to TreeHouse's capabilities and strong channel expertise, a major deciding factor was that the Reseller View PRM system would remain updated with state-of-the-art functionality," said Valim. "We could have gone with building an in-house solution, but at the risk of putting ourselves in the same situation we were in before - relying on a system that, over time, becomes antiquated and less effective. With Reseller View, we know the solution would allow for continuous improvements on a monthly basis, and in fact already we've seen the tool’s capabilities expand, and the value proposition to Alliance Partners and customers improve since it was fully implemented in 2013."

Results

Since implementing TreeHouse Reseller View PRM, National Instruments has achieved significant results:• Increased revenue growth of 91.1% since 2010• Tripled the number of leads provided to partners, and are on track for a 5x increase in 2014• Will have generated more than 250,000 unique page views by the end of 2014,

attesting to the value of the Alliance Directory to customers• Reduced the costs associated with manual updating by automating management processes• Improved the amount and quality of partner data• Enhanced the experience for end users, partners and NI

"Managing a large partner network on a global scale poses a number of challenges, said Valim. “We reached a point where the technology was outdated, resources to manage it were scarce and neither we nor our partners were achieving desired results.

At the end of this process we were able to achieve extraordinary success in terms of partner leads, page views, portal visits and most importantly incremental revenue growth - demonstrating what is possible when you involve all stakeholders in the process, align on strategy, and combine that with the power of technology. We now have an infrastructure in place to hit more home runs."

The Solution

National Instruments is using TreeHouse Reseller View PRM to serve as both an Alliance Partner Directory, where customers can search for partners who fit their requirements, and as a partner portal where NI can share confi-dential information and NI marketing materials with partners.

After a 12-week implementation process, the solution was formally introduced to Alliance Partners at NI's annual partner conference, Alliance Day, in August of 2012. Full implementation and population of materials, such as partner profiles and identities, was conducted that year and into 2013, with massive training both internally with the NI sales force and externally with partners. By August of 2013, the Alliance Partner Directory was launched to customers at NI's global customer facing conference, NIWeek.

Helping End Users Find the Right Partner – Partner DirectoryWhen customers visit the Alliance Partner Directory, there are a number of different ways they can search for partners who match their specific requirements:

• Geography• Industry• Application area• Product expertise• Services• Specialties• Certifications

Customers can also search by key words or specific partner names, which lead directly to partner pages. Each partner has a subset of pages which individually show partner locations/branch offices, industry certifications, products and solutions. Detailed directory listings include com-pany descriptions, training and certifications, areas of technical specialization, branch office locations, and marketing materials including multimedia options such as video demos and case studies - important proof points for potential customers. The listings even include reviews from end user customers who have used a partner’s services. The Partner Directory also includes the ability to deliver leads directly to partners through a “have- partner-contact-me” form that is routed directly to partners in real-time.

For Partners Only: Partner Portal

The Alliance Partner portal enables NI to share exclusive and confidential marketing and sales enablement resources with its partners. The portal features monthly highlights and resource articles, membership information that may not be made public (such as revenue goals for each partner level), marketing and sales resources that feature confidential information such as product roadmaps, training and certification resources, news and events, archived monthly newsletters, and exclusive partner events.

Partners can self-manage their Partner Directory profile pages and user access via delegated administration func-tionality. Here, they can also update their company information, add a branch location, highlight new services and skills, and even switch out featured video demos and case studies. Since this is a self managed process, NI has checks and balances set up to ensure that the partner information is accurately input.

"As a result of these self-management capabilities and flexibility, NI end users and Alliance Partners now have a much better experience," said Kathryn Ary, senior marketing communication manager for the Alliance Partner Network. "The have partner contact me form is one of the top benefits of the directory - leads to partners have doubled in 2014 with just this one capability."

Today, NI's focus is on expanding its go to market strategy, with activities centered around increasing traffic to the Alliance Partner Directory, and lead generation to partners which directly generates revenue growth for both partners and NI.

"NI has a renewed focus on its Alliance Program. Other test and measurement companies seem to be doing the opposite."

Dean StreckPresident, VI Engineering, 2013

About National Instruments

National Instruments (NI) is a $1.2B global leader in the market for automated test and measurement products. The company's solutions support the work of engineers and scientists who are solving some of the world's most pressing challenges, such as developing better medical diagnostic and treatment tools, finding renewable energy alternatives, and improving infrastructure stabil-ity. NI equips engineers and scientists with tools that accelerate productivity, innovation, and discovery to meet both daily and grand scale engineering challenges in an increasingly complex world.

With more than 800 partners in 62 countries, NI's 23-year old Alliance Partner Network program is a critical part of its go-to-market strategy. Because the company addresses a range of industries and application areas, NI certified partners and those with industry-specific expertise are key to driving business goals and revenue.

The Problem

While NI's partner program has been very successful over the years, it faced growing pains by the end of its second decade. Around 2010, the company determined it was time to re-evaluate the program and the support provided to partners and customers. This included an assessment of the in-house technology NI was using as a PRM platform for the program.

The homegrown system, which had been considered state-of-the-art in 2000, had become gradually less effective over the years. Unable to ensure the integrity or qualifications of NI partners, it was difficult to identify the right partners, and remove those who were unquali-fied, in addition to other challenges.

From an internal perspective, some of the problems NI faced included:

• Out of date technology that made it difficult to communicate effectively with partners and provide them with the needed information;

• Data that was incomplete or inaccurate, and time-consuming to manually enter into the system;

• Lack of internal resources and IT support, making the system hard to use and maintain.

As a result, NI's partners faced challenges such as:• Limited or no access to training, marketing and sales support materials;• Lack of a partner portal that provided partners with marketing, sales and support materials they needed

to support NI customers effectively;• A directory that was difficult to use, and made it challenging for end users to find the right partner;• A directory that lacked industry leading features such as the ability to use multimedia that would allow

partners to differentiate themselves, and update their own profile information;• Lack of leads and a system that facilitated lead transfer from NI to partners.

It became evident that the company's internal problems impaired the overall execution of the program, directly impacting business results and channel-generated revenue. As NI's market grew and its partners evolved, the company decided to re-examine its strategy, with a focus on identifying a technology solution, either in-house or from a provider, that would better support partners and customers, and scale with the program over the next decade.

The Search

NI committed to revamping the program, which required a major team effort involving stakeholders from all levels of the company, as well as from its partners. The company focused its efforts on long term needs, addressing policies and requirements, prioritizing the right behaviors internally and externally, eliminating ambiguity, and increasing transparencies. Alignment on this strategy dictated the requirements of the new system and subsequent changes in the program.

The next step involved securing stakeholder feedback and participation, establishing internal and external align-ment, requirements building, and gathering RFPs as part of technology vendor selection. Stakeholder feedback and participation were crucial to this course of action. In fact, NI did something that companies rarely do, and that was to take into account partner feedback and the issues they faced, at the same time that NI defined its own challenges.

"Our partners are our most loyal customers, and we've established a solid communication line with them over the last 23 years," said Armando Valim, global partner program and channel manager for National Instruments. "Their input has become part of our culture, and that helped us stay focused on their needs so we could redefine the program from both the partner and customer point of view."

With a clear strategy and support from all key stakeholders, NI embarked on its mission to ensure the program delivered value to prospective customers and expert partners. "Our directive for customers was simple: help them find the right partner," said Valim. "For partners, our value was two-fold. We wanted to give them leads, as well as equip partners with the marketing tools and sales enablement materials through a branded portal to conduct NI business."

The company received 10 proposals from vendors, but ultimately invited only six to deliver on-site presentations and demonstrations of their technology. About 25 NI personnel participated in the presentation deliveries, which began with an overview for the NI senior sales team, operations, engineers and related departments. All partici-pants were given an evaluation spreadsheet, and then organized into subgroups to conduct vendor interviews. In the final stage, the selection was narrowed down to TreeHouse Interactive and the option of building another in-house solution. When presented to the company's board of directors for approval, TreeHouse Reseller View PRM was chosen over the in-house option.

801.576.8428 • sales@treehousei.com© 2014 TreeHouse Interactive l Case_Study_National Instruments_6.14

Page 4

"In addition to TreeHouse's capabilities and strong channel expertise, a major deciding factor was that the Reseller View PRM system would remain updated with state-of-the-art functionality," said Valim. "We could have gone with building an in-house solution, but at the risk of putting ourselves in the same situation we were in before - relying on a system that, over time, becomes antiquated and less effective. With Reseller View, we know the solution would allow for continuous improvements on a monthly basis, and in fact already we've seen the tool’s capabilities expand, and the value proposition to Alliance Partners and customers improve since it was fully implemented in 2013."

Results

Since implementing TreeHouse Reseller View PRM, National Instruments has achieved significant results:• Increased revenue growth of 91.1% since 2010• Tripled the number of leads provided to partners, and are on track for a 5x increase in 2014• Will have generated more than 250,000 unique page views by the end of 2014,

attesting to the value of the Alliance Directory to customers• Reduced the costs associated with manual updating by automating management processes• Improved the amount and quality of partner data• Enhanced the experience for end users, partners and NI

"Managing a large partner network on a global scale poses a number of challenges, said Valim. “We reached a point where the technology was outdated, resources to manage it were scarce and neither we nor our partners were achieving desired results.

At the end of this process we were able to achieve extraordinary success in terms of partner leads, page views, portal visits and most importantly incremental revenue growth - demonstrating what is possible when you involve all stakeholders in the process, align on strategy, and combine that with the power of technology. We now have an infrastructure in place to hit more home runs."

The Solution

National Instruments is using TreeHouse Reseller View PRM to serve as both an Alliance Partner Directory, where customers can search for partners who fit their requirements, and as a partner portal where NI can share confi-dential information and NI marketing materials with partners.

After a 12-week implementation process, the solution was formally introduced to Alliance Partners at NI's annual partner conference, Alliance Day, in August of 2012. Full implementation and population of materials, such as partner profiles and identities, was conducted that year and into 2013, with massive training both internally with the NI sales force and externally with partners. By August of 2013, the Alliance Partner Directory was launched to customers at NI's global customer facing conference, NIWeek.

Helping End Users Find the Right Partner – Partner DirectoryWhen customers visit the Alliance Partner Directory, there are a number of different ways they can search for partners who match their specific requirements:

• Geography• Industry• Application area• Product expertise• Services• Specialties• Certifications

Customers can also search by key words or specific partner names, which lead directly to partner pages. Each partner has a subset of pages which individually show partner locations/branch offices, industry certifications, products and solutions. Detailed directory listings include com-pany descriptions, training and certifications, areas of technical specialization, branch office locations, and marketing materials including multimedia options such as video demos and case studies - important proof points for potential customers. The listings even include reviews from end user customers who have used a partner’s services. The Partner Directory also includes the ability to deliver leads directly to partners through a “have- partner-contact-me” form that is routed directly to partners in real-time.

For Partners Only: Partner Portal

The Alliance Partner portal enables NI to share exclusive and confidential marketing and sales enablement resources with its partners. The portal features monthly highlights and resource articles, membership information that may not be made public (such as revenue goals for each partner level), marketing and sales resources that feature confidential information such as product roadmaps, training and certification resources, news and events, archived monthly newsletters, and exclusive partner events.

Partners can self-manage their Partner Directory profile pages and user access via delegated administration func-tionality. Here, they can also update their company information, add a branch location, highlight new services and skills, and even switch out featured video demos and case studies. Since this is a self managed process, NI has checks and balances set up to ensure that the partner information is accurately input.

"As a result of these self-management capabilities and flexibility, NI end users and Alliance Partners now have a much better experience," said Kathryn Ary, senior marketing communication manager for the Alliance Partner Network. "The have partner contact me form is one of the top benefits of the directory - leads to partners have doubled in 2014 with just this one capability."

Today, NI's focus is on expanding its go to market strategy, with activities centered around increasing traffic to the Alliance Partner Directory, and lead generation to partners which directly generates revenue growth for both partners and NI.