Partner Program Support
"If you do not seek out allies and helpers, then you will be isolated and weak." Sun Tzu, "The Art of War"
Partner selection, optimisation and management
Existing partnerships are streamlined for optimum performance and full management and support is provided to teams involved to ensure organisational competence.
According to the research company Alliance Best Practice, organisations go through three phases to develop partnerships, and a corporate partnering culture:
1. The Opportunistic phase occurs when an organisation simply spots an opportunity and exploits it almost randomly, often without structure, function or systematic approach.
2. The Systematic phase is when the organisations need a structured and collaborative way of working to deliver joint business results.
3. The Endemic phase is reached when partnering becomes the organisation's competence and other players recognise this ability.
At Apace we know how to connect people and create strategic alliances to reach the endemic phase giving you the competitive advantage. Existing partnerships and channels are streamlined for optimum performance and full management and support is provided to all teams involved to ensure organisational competence.
Metrics, tools and systems consultation
Measuring the performance of an alliance accurately can be difficult but is essential to a successful partnering program. Mutual benefits and certain factors need to be measured to build trust and transparency, as well as ensuring the expected return on investments. With the appropriate systems in place and embedded into your daily performance tools and partner program, any imbalances will be identified and potential course correction to take place.
Stage 1
- Alliances used to secure business deals
- No alliance strategy and no co-ordination in the organisation
Stage 2
- Efforts begun to systematise alliances: templates, processes, governance, steering groups, etc.
Stage 3
- Collaboration has become an organisational competence
- Partnering is seen as a competitive advantage
Developing and optimising key documents and business processes
- Developing and optimising key documents and business processes
- Tying it all together with flawless implementation
- Assessing all affected processes, providing impact analysis, recommending changes and implementing
- Converting the chosen strategy into action within the boundaries of your p&l.
- Business and partnering plans - Framework of your partnering program, partner landscape, joint business plans with strategic alliances, and financial models.
- Solution development plans - Joint partnering development, value proposition to the customers, target markets, definition of joint offerings and who is doing what,
expected outcome, stakeholder mapping.
- Partner Marketing plans - Channel development, go-to-market models, establish goals, track/measure progress systems, joint resources and funding.
- Other process and governance expertise - Sales Governance and Process, Sales Compensation, Improving use of CRM, Account Planning.
