Extu says B2B channel programs still can’t trace revenue

Extu released a new report on June 11, 2026, arguing that many B2B companies cannot connect channel partner activity to revenue and are wasting sales and marketing spend. The report says channel intelligence can close the gap by linking partner signals to outcomes across fragmented systems.

Why it matters: - B2B manufacturers and distributors are making sales and marketing decisions without knowing which channel partners are actually driving revenue. - Extu says that blind spot is costing companies millions in wasted investment. - The report argues that better attribution can improve partner ROI, marketing efficiency and AI readiness.

What happened: - Extu published The Channel’s Billion-Dollar Blind Spot: The State of Channel Attribution in 2026 on June 11, 2026. - The report draws on data from Extu’s 200+ channel partner programs. - It also incorporates published research from Forrester, Omdia, McKinsey & Company and the Incentive Federation. - Extu says the report examines the causes and costs of the channel attribution crisis and proposes channel intelligence as the fix.

The details: - The channel software market has more than 261 companies and is projected to reach $13.48 billion by 2028. - Even with that market depth, 57% of channel marketers still struggle to track partner performance clearly. - Another 59% lose data when switching between solutions. - Extu identifies five core problems: B2B attribution tools built for B2C environments; fragmented partner data across disconnected systems; incentive spend not tied to revenue in a closed loop; partner marketing activity that manufacturers cannot see before transactions; and pre-privacy attribution models strained by restricted data collection and new partner types. - Nichole Gunn, Extu CEO, said most B2B companies are using attribution tools built for a linear B2C setup, while channel sales are non-linear and data is not fully owned by the company by default. - Extu defines channel intelligence as the ability to connect partner behavior signals to revenue outcomes by integrating data that is usually siloed across sales and marketing systems. - Extu says channel intelligence is also the connected data foundation needed for effective AI. - The report gives companies diagnostic questions to place themselves on a four-level attribution maturity spectrum. - The report also suggests building a unified data environment to make channel intelligence possible.

Between the lines: - Extu is framing attribution as a systems problem, not a reporting problem. - The report’s argument is that better results come from combining partner marketing, incentive and sales data in one environment. - That positioning links channel management with the broader push for AI-ready data infrastructure.

What’s next: - Extu says programs with 90%+ activated partners generate five times more leads than programs below 75% activation. - Extu platform data shows partner-executed email campaigns average a 30.4% click-through rate, versus an industry average of 1% to 3%. - Extu-managed programs with incentive spend and downstream sales data in the same platform show documented sales ROI from 5:1 to 69:1. - Extu says the full report is available for download on Extu’s website.

The bottom line: - Extu’s central claim is blunt: B2B channel teams cannot improve revenue performance until they can connect partner activity to sales outcomes in one place.