Articles About Better Partnering
Collaboration Bliss
Finding the Right Partner Qualifying the right partner can have an immense impact on the eventual success of a partnership. Too often I’ve seen companies rush into a partner relationship, because “we like those guys!” While chemistry is important in a successful partnership, there has to be the right fit in other dimensions as well. Best practice recommends you [...]
Are you Ready to Collaborate?
Imagine you have just joined a new high-flying company, leading the partnering organization. You are full of aspirations and optimism. This is going to be great! A nascent partner organization that you can shape and grow to meet the astounding growth potential of this booming market. Then you quickly come to realize that this organization is NOT partner friendly. The [...]
Why Channels Matter – to Alliance Managers
ASAP Netcast Webinar I was honored to moderate a panel of experts in discussing the growing interdependencies of channels and alliances in the industry. Here is the feature write up from the ASAP newsletter, Quick Takes. Moderator: Norma Watenpaugh, CSAP, Founding Principal, Phoenix Consulting Group Panelists Erna Arnesen, CSAP, Global Channel and Alliances Officer, ZL Technologies Steven McGarr, Global Strategic Partners [...]
The Next Generation Partner Ecosystem
Business models have fundamentally changed from selling and buying gear to responding to how customers consume technology and how it changes their businesses. We are experiencing seismic changes in the tech industry driven by the convergence of SMAC (social media, mobile computing, analytics and cloud technology), the change in technology consumption, the rise of Digital Transformation (DX) and the [...]
Take Time to Dance – Don’t Rush to Contract
When should you write an alliance contract? Best practice puts alliance design ahead of structuring a contract. Many teams jump into contract way too early. It is important to have a pretty good picture of the business case for the alliance, the operating model, buy-in from stakeholders and value propositions, etc before you start formalizing the contract. There is [...]
Partners ARE the Customer Experience
When we talk about digital transformation, so much about it is about the customer experience. At a recent ASAP Tech Partner Forum, Tiffani Bova from Salesforce cited an example of how as a consumer, you might order a Starbucks, from your Tesla, through Alexa. When you drive up to pick up your coffee, it has already been made and [...]
Collaborating at the Speed of Digital Transformation
Recently I was invited to facilitate a roundtable/workshop at the June 7, 2017 ASAP Tech Partner Forum in Santa Clara, Calif., centered on digital transformation. We heard from many experts and pioneers in the technology space about the challenges and changes they were navigating. It was like drinking from a firehose. The workshop on “Managing the Digital Experience” was [...]
IoT Go-to-Market: Why Use Cases are Important
A View from the Trenches IoT (Internet of Things) has been and continues to be predicted as one of the most compelling factors for driving digital transformation spanning business to business, business to consumer, and government (federal, state, and local). Gartner Inc., the technology research firm says "8.4 Billion "Things" will be in use in 2017, up 31 percent [...]
Moneyball for Alliances
The key to a winning baseball season is not the amount of money spent on star talent. If that were the case then Billy Beane, the central figure of Michael Lewis’ best selling book “Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game”, would never have led the Oakland Athletics to the playoffs in spite of the fact that his player [...]
Strategic Partnerships – Strategic to Who?
How do you engage when your partner is strategic to you – but you are not strategic to them. My partner thinks of me as a supplier, or a channel, or 'fill-in-the-blank.' How do I become a strategic partner? This is a common refrain from startups and small companies wanting a relationship with a big dog in the industry [...]
Scorecarding Ecosystem Health
Measuring Channel Ecosystem Health? And Why do I Care? I recall the first time I spoke about a “partner ecosystem” in 1999 to my boss, a long time direct sales manager. He looked at me like I was a tree hugger. Today, we frequently talk about our partners collectively as an ecosystem; yet there are many ways to interpret [...]
Do You Have the Right Number of Partners?
Understanding if you have the right number of channel partners can be a tricky question and one related to having the right partners. You may have thousands of partners but they may not be productive for you or they may not have the right skills. But assuming they are the right partners with the rights skills,there is still a possibility of too much of [...]
Partner Onboarding – Make it Fun – Not Work
You’ve recruited partners and now you need to get them ready to sell your products and solutions. Systematic and deliberate onboarding can have long term impact on partner loyalty and productivity. By one company's experience, 50% greater first year revenue was realized by those partners onboarded through a carefully planned partner experience vs those left to own initiative. Make it [...]
What’s the Value Prop for a Transforming Channel?
“Well, they get a good margin” was the response to the question “What is the partner value proposition?” at one large manufacturer. Margin as defined between the difference between buy price and sell price is probably not the right answer. “Do I offer my partner a profitable business proposition?” is a better question. The right answer takes into account the [...]
Recruiting the Right Partners for Maximum Results
Do you Have the Right Channel for your Future? The Buyer's journey has changed in the past few years. Has your channel strategy kept up? Have your partners? How are you transforming your channel to address how buyers buy? How is your channel changing to keep up? Here are some facts about the new world: 90% of technology spending [...]
Surviving the Future
What Savvy Channel Chiefs Already Know How does a channel chief address the seismic shifts happening in the world of digital transformation? How can you enable the channel to make the crossing to new opportunities promised by the digital transformation? Phoenix Consulting Group and Highland Team have assembled thought pieces from our research, our library, and our associates to [...]
The Skills of Highly Successful Partner Managers
Partner managers need many skills to orchestrate collaboration between partnering organizations. Based on the requirements outlined by the Association of Strategic Alliance Professionals[1], the successful partner manager must have developed skills that are not only specific to collaboration but also to broad business and industry knowledge along with an in depth understanding of their own organization. These competencies and skills [...]
Will Digital Transformation Transform the Channel?
TALKIN' SMAC AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Author: Hobart Swan | Published by: CCI Global Channel Management, January 2016 Feature Let’s start off with a definition. The Altimeter Group defines digital transformation as “the realignment of, or new investment in, technology and business models to more effectively engage digital customers at every touch point in the customer experience lifecycle.” Based on her frequent [...]