Partnerships Glossary

Partner-led onboarding is an approach where certified partners, rather than internal customer success teams, guide new customers through the initial setup and adoption of a product or service. Partners take responsibility for key onboarding activities such as configuration, data setup, training and early usage guidance, helping customers get up and running quickly.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all onboarding experience managed entirely by the vendor, partner-led onboarding leverages partners’ hands-on expertise and industry knowledge. Because partners often understand a customer’s specific workflows, technical environment and business goals, they can tailor onboarding to real-world needs and reduce time to value.

Partner-led onboarding is commonly used in B2B SaaS environments where products require customization, integrations or change management. It allows vendors to scale onboarding efficiently while maintaining a high-touch experience for customers.

When implemented effectively, partner-led onboarding improves adoption, reduces early churn and frees internal customer success teams to focus on strategic accounts. It also strengthens partner relationships by positioning partners as trusted advisors from the very beginning of the customer lifecycle.

Partner-led migration refers to moving customers, data and workflows from a legacy system, competing platform or older product version to a new solution, with most of the migration work handled by partners. Instead of vendors managing these transitions alone, implementation and services partners take the lead on both the technical and operational parts of the move.

Partners typically manage tasks like data migration, system configuration, integration setup and change management. This could include mapping and transferring data, validating accuracy, minimizing disruption and helping customer teams adapt through training and hands-on support. Because partners often have deep domain expertise and prior migration experience, they help mitigate technical risk, reduce data loss and speed up time-to-value.

Partner-led migration is especially valuable for complex or large-scale environments where migrations require customization, coordination across systems or careful user adoption planning. It also allows vendors to scale migrations without overloading internal teams.

In B2B SaaS ecosystems, partner-led migration supports smoother transitions, higher adoption and stronger retention. When done well, it strengthens partner relationships and creates a more reliable, partner-driven path to growth.

A solution packaging framework is a structured way to bundle software, services and integrations into standardized, repeatable offerings that partners can easily position, sell and deliver. Instead of selling individual products or features in an isolated vacuum, this framework slots components into cohesive solution packages designed to solve specific customer problems or address defined use cases.

Solution packaging frameworks often pull together core software products, complementary integrations, implementation or consulting services, and optional add-ons into clearly defined tiers or bundles. These packages are typically aligned to customer segments, industries or maturity levels — making it easier for partners to communicate value, scope projects accurately and accelerate sales cycles. By standardizing pricing, messaging and delivery expectations, this type of framework decreases complexity for both partners and buyers.

In partner ecosystems, a solution packaging framework unlocks consistency and scalability. It helps partners move from custom, one-off deals to repeatable motions while continuing to offer flexibility for customization where needed. When implemented effectively, solution packaging frameworks improve partner productivity, shorten time-to-value for customers and drive more predictable, ecosystem-led revenue growth.