Automating Mechanisms for Trust: Relying on Partners and Relationships for Entended Enterprises Ramesh Sairamesh IBM TJ Watson Research Lab jramesh@us.ibm.com Abstract: A majority of businesses currently operate through "deep" relationships that enable trusted environments for sales, marketing, communication and services. The relationship management is typically handled through complex person-to-person interactions, and the implementation details are handled manually. Today's business environment requires Enterprises to operate quickly and nimbly in response to the ever-changing, dynamic marketplace. As market pressures mount, cutting costs and doing business more efficiently have become pervasive to all business initiatives. In this environment, channel partnerships, partner relationships and the programs that support them have made the difference for those enterprises that grow and continue to lead. Channels are the life blood of today s business landscape offering critical services ranging from logistics support to establishing a localized brand presence. Estimates range that anywhere from 40 to over 70%. This range is derived through the compilation of multiple sources: In industries such as high technology, consumer goods and discrete manufacturing, indirect sales partners represent more than 70 percent of total revenue. By 2010, it is estimated that 65 percent of revenue for Global 2000 enterprises will be driven or influenced by indirect demand- network partners. Roughly 65 percent of all goods move through channel partners. Depending on the industry, indirect channels will account for as much as 65-70 percent of sales for Enterprises worldwide. In this talk, we paper we present "Channel management and Partner relationship management" frameworks based on trust models, multi- tier contracts, complex terms and conditions (industry specific), and reputation mechanisms. The paper describes the underlying middleware components and services required for automating the interactions between businesses for greater efficiencies in the supply-chain and demand-chain. We also present mechanisms based on reputation and quality management that play a key role in ensuring transparent transactions between one or more partners for the Extended Enterprise.