A November 2024 webcast hosted by EY Americas Investigations & Compliance Leader discussed how to mitigate and respond to these key compliance risks at each stage within the channel partner lifecycle. He summarized the key steps as 1) program governance and stakeholder engagement; 2) partner onboarding and selection; 3) partner discounts, incentives and rebates; 4) ongoing activities, risk monitoring and investigations; and 5) partner close-out. Panelists were Courtney Andrews, a partner in White & Case’s global white-collar and investigations practice; Ethan LeKate, a director of global compliance at Dell Technologies; and Karin Reiss, an assistant general counsel at Microsoft.

The panelists all described a dynamic risk environment along with regulations that are becoming more complex. They emphasized the need for technology companies to proactively engage within their organization, outside of just the legal and compliance functions, and to get all levels of employees educated and aligned about the strategic goals and key priorities of the channel partner compliance program.