ASK CHANNELNOMICS: What’s a Reasonable CAM-to-Partner Ratio?

At Channelnomics, we field questions about best practices, partner strategies, and channel programs every day. In this series, called “Ask Channelnomics,” we answer some of the questions we receive most from vendors.
Question: Hey Channelnomics, Like many tech companies, my organization is considering some cutbacks due to the state of the economy. This may force us to reduce the size of our team that supports channel partners. We’d like to collect some information so we can review our options. What are the industry standards when it comes to the ratio of channel partners to channel account managers (CAMs)? How many partners can a CAM support?

Response: Google the number of partners that a technology vendor’s CAMs can manage and you’ll get a range of responses. Some sources say the number is around a dozen each. Other sources insist it’s more like 50. Channelnomics research finds that...