Ecosystem Aces

Does the word “catalyst” describe your relationship with your strategic partners? What about “motivator” or “spark plug”? Jay Cherrington and Barbara Hallmans from Hewlett Packard Enterprise aim to be catalysts for one of their major partners, Microsoft.   Jay is the Director of the Microsoft Strategic Alliance, and his role is to deliver on the corporate and strategic relationship with Microsoft.  He is focused on executing the long term relationship view for both partners and to integrate solutions between the two organizations. Barbara is the Global Sales Director of the Microsoft Alliance, and she focuses on short term execution.  What are the team’s priorities for this quarter, and how can they make sure they hit their sales numbers? She loves enabling partners, bringing tech experts together, and getting buy in from top management support.  She also advises Jay and his team based on what she has seen in the market. Both Jay and Barbara ensure that everyone on both sides is aware of where things are headed, and how they can best amplify the unified message of both companies. We recently got together with Jay and Barbara at the Microsoft Inspire conference to learn more about the challenges of an alliance role, the concept of being a catalyst, and building trust between partners.

Here’s a surefire way to establish a long lasting partnership: Build your product into the very fabric of an already established and dominant entity. That’s exactly what Scott Owen, the Senior Managing Director of Global Strategic Channels and Alliances at DocuSign, has done with Microsoft. DocuSign is an integral part of Microsoft’s product offering, and as a result DocuSign has established a partnership with one of the most powerful tech brands on the planet. Scott manages the Microsoft partnership from the DocuSign side, and he also owns the resale channel.   Scott’s objective is to leverage this partnership channel to capture new opportunities and customers. Docusign just went public 10 weeks ago, and in their first earnings announcement they disclosed that they grew 35,000 additional corporate customers in the last quarter alone.  There are over 330,000 unique users joining DocuSign every day. A percentage of this success can be attributed to the outstanding partnership and alliance with Microsoft. We recently caught up with Scott at the Microsoft Inspire Conference to hear about joint go-to-market solutions, challenges Scott has faced, and any advice he has for those looking to joining the alliances space as a career.

Two companies going to market together can be a powerful thing. And there are more benefits to joint solutions than might initially meet the eye. Anil Kumar Mishra is the Associate Vice President of Strategic Alliances & Marketing at CSS Corp, and he knows just how important alliances and partnerships are to his business.   CSS helps clients with their digital transformation initiatives and provides IT and support maintenance.  They want to ensure they are providing great customer experiences. CSS has been in the technology and alliances space for many years working with a variety of different vendors. Anil has 14 years of industry experience where he started in the B2B marketing world before shifting his career more towards strategic alliances and partnerships.  He is a firm believer that one plus one equals more than two when companies come together; He believes it becomes 11. That’s just how powerful the synergy can be that is created when partnerships are formed.    We spoke with Anil in this episode of Alliance Aces about the power of joint solutions, how to accelerate the client decision making process, and the strategic advantages of alliances.

A spirit of customer service is at the heart of any partnership role. When partners feel like they’re part of the team, they’re willing to go the extra mile with you. Kristen Duda is the VP of Strategic Alliances at Intelex Technologies and she is striving to build a partner centric culture at her company. Intelex is a SaaS company for environmental health, safety, and quality management. Their goal is to help change businesses for good through improving business performance and compliance. Intelex started in 1992, and currently has over 1,000,000 users. They’ve see rapid growth over the past few years, so Kristen is focused on building out formal partners at a strategic level. Kristen’s role is a complicated one; she must build out partnerships while changing her internal culture to one that values these new alliances. We sat down with Kristen to talk about bringing customer experience applications to partnerships, her strategies for quick wins within her role, and the future of her business.

Alliances are chess matches. They are dynamic, multi-faceted, and change rapidly. An SAP-alliance partner like Fujitsu Global understands this. Who better to give advice on alliances than their SAP Sr. Alliance Director for EMEIA, Andreas Hoehnen? Andreas speaks four languages, he’s an avid cyclist, he simply loves challenges. He’s helped develop SAP alliances both from within SAP and from inside SAP partner organizations, such as Wipro, Landis + Gyr, and now, Fujitsu. We spoke with Andreas at the SAPPHIRE NOW conference in Orlando to hear his thoughts on how alliances are built and maintained. His insight was invaluable.

Alliances are a complex consortium. There isn’t just one, but two or more companies coming together to create joint solutions for customers. While this can be challenging, we are bringing you a refreshing thought: There are some Alliance Aces who not only thrive in this challenging world, but believe it’s fun. Recently we interviewed Dev Bardhan, who’s the Global Leader in Digital Studio for SAP at IBM. For 16 years he’s been working with SAP and IBM in their go-to-market strategies for various joint solutions, including transformations in automotive, pharmacy clients, and others, some totalling billions of dollars. If anyone knows the challenges of joint solutions and alliances, it’s Dev. He came on our Alliance Aces Podcast to share his thoughts on joint partnerships and innovation -- you don’t want to miss what he has to say.

Partnerships are the lifeblood of any technology organization. It’s no exaggeration to say that tech companies without alliances probably won’t make it. Puneet Suppal is the Associate Vice President of Product Strategy at Infosys, and he values the importance of good partnerships as much as any alliance professional. Infosys is a deep believer that AI will augment humanity, freeing up human bandwidth to focus on more strategically important decisions while automating lesser tasks. We spoke with Puneet at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference to hear more about Infosys, and how their alliances and partnerships have been integral to their success.

Alliance Executives can have a lot on their plate. But one thing they absolutely need to focus on is staying relevant with their partners. Tanja Scheller has been an SAP Alliance Executive at IBM for over seven years.  She manages the relationship between IBM and SAP in the Germany/Austria/Switzerland (DACH) region. Tanja focuses on joint sales missions for these two teams, and she also listens to customer feedback so IBM and SAP can work together on joint customer service projects as well. With regular new technology announcements to roll out on top of it all, Tanja has plenty to work on.  We caught up with Tanja at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference in Orlando to hear about how she has four essential ways she uses this constant stream of new technology to stay relevant with her partners and in the industry as a whole.

A partnership between two companies is only truly great if it is mutually beneficial. In order for this to happen, both sides need to be honest and transparent with each other. Bastian Schuetz is the Strategic Partner Manager for Deutsche Telekom.  He manages all of his company’s activities for SAP, including working in the IoT, Blockchain, and Machine Learning spaces. In bringing together experts on both sides into the same room, Bastian must always prioritize honesty. He doesn’t want to do a deal that doesn’t make sense for both partners. His role is to set up the structure for how both partners will operate, and to execute the shared vision for success with sales and marketing. Bastian also focuses on strengthening relationships with executives and jointly winning deals to boost morale. In this episode of Alliance Aces, we spoke with Bastian at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference about the most challenging part of his role, the synergies and overlap in responsibilities of partners, and the advice he has for those getting started in an alliance or partnership role.

Don Jones, Senior Vice President, Alliance and ecosystems at HCL Technologies, talked with Chip Rodgers, VP Marketing and Alliances at WorkSpan on #AllianceAces podcast.