The need for partner ecosystems to evolve
Published on July 30th, 2024, written by The Partner Guru Team
Throughout history, businesses have recognized the power of collaboration and formed partnerships to enhance their go-to-market (GTM) strategies. Scale, reach, and expertise continue to be some of the main reasons organizations choose to build partnership capabilities. It is no secret that the concept of alliances for GTM purposes has evolved and become an integral part of many successful businesses.
In today’s world, leveraging partnerships for GTM purposes is considered a best practice. Partnerships can take many forms, from product integrations, to joint marketing initiatives, co-branding agreements, customer referrals, professional services, among others.
While the concept of partnerships is not new, it has been revitalized and is in need of some evolution to adapt to our times. Why have partner ecosystems gathered more attention recently? Why do we believe a break from traditional partnerships is due?:
* Cloud computing has given birth to thousands of SaaS applications that are crowding the market, making traditional outbound GTM strategies less effective. In competing for the attention of the same buyer, it only makes sense to avoid the noise and find ways to work with others that have the mindshare of your prospects.
* In addition to GTM saturation, the existence of many platforms and point solutions available in the market adds complexity to the customer’s technology stack. The presence of a trusted advisor that can provide a holistic view of the stack, can help orchestrate and integrate all solutions to work together, is becoming increasingly important.
* Hyperscalers are creating a tectonic shift on how “the channel” traditionally behaved: Technology procurement via cloud marketplaces is becoming a commodity (AWS will soon join the list of Top 10 IT Distributors globally; it's become a material part of thousands of vendors go-to market). This adds pressure to traditional resellers and distributors to increase their customer value.
Unlike resellers and distributors, hyperscalers are powering the infrastructure on which SaaS solutions are built while also being a scalable GTM route for them (think of marketing resources, sizable sales teams, procurement vehicles). This duality of technology backend and GTM channel provider creates a new model of engagement between vendor, technology, and customer that didn't exist before.
As the business landscape continues to evolve, leveraging partnerships for GTM purposes will remain a critical strategy for success. Yet repurposing a partnership legacy model to today's needs is no longer fitting. Tech resellers, system integrators, consulting agencies and tech distributors need to evolve and adapt to the new complexities the partner ecosystem faces.
PartnerGuru is here to help companies build partnership capacity and capabilities in the era of cloud computing and cloud marketplaces. Let’s evolve together.