Blog

By Diane Krakora, CEO

As a company focused on perfecting partnering between organizations, we’ve been reflecting on our recent partnership with Averetek. In a new partnership, sometimes everything falls into place quickly and other times you must be diligent with checklists, meetings and emails to get everything in order. In fact, we believe there are six key steps to launching a lasting partnership. We've made smooth, steady progress in our new venture with Averetek, and here's a self-check in the mirror to see how it's going.

Partner initiatives are replacing big programs.

10 Trends for a 2020 Vision – Uncover #8

If you haven't had a chance to read the full report yet, take a look at how individualized enablement will become a key priority for the future of the channel. The following is an excerpt from our 2016 State of Partnering report: 10 Trends for a 2020 Vision, using survey responses from over 100 vendors, 200 solution providers and years of industry data. Download the complete report here.

Not all partners need all the elements offered in partner programs

We’ve said this a few times: not all partners are the same. And as the market continues to evolve toward cloud solutions, additional different partners will emerge. In just the last ten years we’ve seen the decline of VARs, Catalogs and DMRs and the emergence of MSPs, cloud brokers, telcos and even digital marketing agencies as channels to end-customers. Increasingly, a larger variety of partners will surface, driven by different customer requirements.

We’ve all heard the statistics of the changing buyer’s journey. The traditional funnel-based marketing model is dying, being replaced by a cyclical model that emphasizes continual engagement with the customer well beyond the sale. These changes are no less important in their effect on partner marketing.