"It was a lot more broad-based before, while now it's a sharper focus by the manufacturers," said Gonzalez.

Vendors are also trying incentives to the level of commitment each partner is willing to make to the vendor and its solution set, such as the number of sales and technical staff with certifications the partner has on staff. The greater the commitment, the greater the incentives.

While that has always been the case to a large degree, Gonzalez says what's changing is vendors are no longer necessarily tying incentives to partner program tiers. Rather than wait for a partner to graduate within the program, he says vendors are making greater incentives available immediately to partners with the potential to move-up, in essence helping the partner boost itself up in the program.

If a partner can demonstrate commitment to the vendor, there may the opportunity to negotiate improved incentives ahead of qualifying for the traditional higher program tiers.

"Manufacturers are making immediate funds available to partners without a history of accrual. They might have programs that reward partners for continued success, but at the same time they're making incentive dollars available up front," said Gonzalez. "There's certainly a sign of economic strain here. They don't want partners to have to shell-out the cash up front."