Ecosystem Aces

Would you say that you are part of a healthy ecosystem with your strategic partners?   Are you listening to your partners?  Anticipating their needs? Aligning your goals?   Bob Knepp is the Senior Global Alliance Manager - Video Collaboration at Logitech where he is one of two people internally focused on the relationship Microsoft.   We interviewed Bob at Microsoft Inspire for this episode of Alliance Aces to talk about challenges faced in alliances, best practices, and managing difficult relationships.

How do you craft your brand’s story in a way that sells a solution over a piece of hardware?   One way is to develop alliances with partners that truly make you “better together.”   Graham Williams often says that his team is offering solutions rather than just hardware, and this brings their value proposition to the next level.   We caught up with Graham to talk about the sales channel options, the details of combining forces with other companies, and how different partners come together for a joint go-to-market plan.

Seven out of every ten alliances fail.   So how do you become part of the 30% of successful partnerships?   Kamesh Chivukula is the head of Strategic Business Development at Dynatrace where he runs the strategic alliance with Microsoft and manages the cloud platform.  Kamesh has enough experience to know what makes a successful alliance and what makes a subpar one.   We spoke with Kamesh at Microsoft Inspire to hear about his 3 ways to lead to successful alliances: 1) Strategically align with your partner 2) Execute on that strategy 3) Listen to your customers and partners.

Sometimes the best way to gain the trust of an alliance partner is to show that you are willing to trust them first.     Xavier LeBaron is the Senior APAC Strategic Alliance Manager for Microsoft at Adobe, and he is constantly talking about how to develop trust. Xavier joined us at Microsoft Inspire to talk about the evolution of the sales channel, development partner relationships, and more.

Relationships between individuals mirror relationships between alliance partners.   Like in a marriage, if you take the time to listen to your professional partner and communicate with them what your needs are too, your relationship will be in a healthy place.   Andy Horwitz is the Vice President of Business and Corporate Development at Palo Alto Networks where he manages a close relationship with Google.   In this episode of Alliance Aces, we caught up with Andy at GoogleNEXT to talk about Joint Solutions, business development, and best practices for a collaborative business environment.

You’ve heard endless ways to improve your customer experience…   But how do you improve your alliance partner’s experience?   Michael Kenney is the Vice President of Strategy & Corp Development-Cloud at Ingram Micro where he is incredibly focused on his “why.”  Part of why he goes to work everyday is to provide Ingram Micro’s partners with a truly excellent partnership experience.   We caught up with Michael at the Microsoft Inspire Conference to talk about Ingram Micro’s “why”, how to build a phenomenal partner experience, and the future of his company.

“Just getting to a signed agreement is a baby step.”   The real work begins after an alliance is formed and the partners go market together.   Bob Schwartz is the Senior Director of Global Alliances at Veeam Software, and he is focused on execution and getting results across the finish line.  Bob understands the importance of getting deals signed, but he knows that a partnership is ultimately only worth what can be measured in terms of executing results.   Bob has seen Veeam reinvent themselves several times over the years he’s been at the company.  They are almost like a case study themselves; they’re constantly evolving in order to keep command of the marketplace.     At their core, Veeam aims to solve problems of data management.  They currently have around 300,000 customers and add approximately 4,000 per month.  The benefits that Veeam provides goes beyond just the tech industry as well; they have enabled huge power consumption reductions that have an environmental impact.     We caught up with Bob to talk about his team at Veeam, the importance of execution, and integrating sales teams in alliances.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: No technology company goes to market alone. Taylor VanderZanden is the Global Partner Sales Manager at Intel Corporation and part of the strategic partners & solutions team.  She manages an ever-expanding network of Intel’s partners. In terms of her day to day role, Taylor works closely with Intel’s independent software vendors and global system integrators.  She is constantly analyzing Intel’s position form a global logistic standpoint as well as from a partner relationship standpoint.  Taylor is helping partners identify key growth areas in AI and analytics so they are constantly on the cutting edge of current technology.  Part of the fun of Taylor’s job is seeing older partners adapting to new technology and newer players leading the way in innovation. We spoke with Taylor in this episode of Alliance Aces about Intel’s goals, challenges in the alliance space, partner stages, and how Intel grows their partner network.

Professional Partnerships are like any other relationship: They’re hard work. Laura Marx is the VP of Global Alliances and Partner Marketing at Polycom where she maintains an important partnership with Microsoft. We caught up with Laura at the Microsoft Inspire Conference to learn about the use cases of the Microsoft/Polycom partnership, the importance of joint solutions, and challenges in the partner space.

How many times have you heard about the “latest and greatest” tech in your industry? This tech is only proven when real case studies show how it can solve real problems. Brenton O'Callaghan is the Global Head of SAP Leonardo at BlueFin Solutions, and his team is seeing how their newest technology is not just promising solutions in the future.  It’s actually solving real business problems today. Brenton has been with BlueFin for 8 years and much of his job involves taking a look at the “new and shiny stuff”: emerging technology.  Using this tech he demonstrates how SAP can be an innovative platform. Brenton and his team know that in order to attract new customers they need to use updated technology that shows off the capabilities of what new platforms can do.  And most importantly, they need to backup their claims with the efficacy of many different use case examples. This is what excites Brenton’s team internally:  “How do we get clients from A - Z using our newest tech?”  Brenton joined us for this episode of Alliance Aces to talk about new technology and joint solutions.