8 WAYS TO DELIVER MORE POWERFUL CHANNELS AND ALLIANCES IN A CLOUD-FIRST WORLD

Todays IT ecosystem is a complex web of partnerships, alliances and channel relationships between a wide range of participants, acting in concert to deliver the business outcomes sought by their mutual customers.

This is increasingly characterised by the growth of cloud infrastructure and adoption of public cloud, with the size of the cloud infrastructure market growing 130.7% from a value of US$107.1 billion at the end of 2019 to US$247.1 billion at the end of 2022. *

Tied to this surge in cloud adoption has been an even greater growth in the wider ecosystem of partners and platforms surrounding these cloud environments. The multiplier revenues created by these cloud deployments are spread across a number of different ecosystem partners, with managed service providers, telcos, systems integrators and value-added resellers at the heart of this market transformation. These in turn are supported by a proliferation of software applications and platforms, either of their own or sourced from third party providers.

Not only have these relationships driven a significant increase in the range and type of services delivered as a result of the digital transformation growth of the early 2020s, this breadth of services means that they have become the trusted advisors for many businesses looking to benefit from the shift to cloud and the software applications explosion.

But they don’t do it alone.

Software integrations can help you lead the way to better partnerships

Its clear that partnerships and alliances play a critical role in delivering modern information technology solutions by fostering collaboration, innovation, and market expansion. They bring together the expertise, resources, and capabilities of different organizations to create more comprehensive and effective solutions for customers.

As these organizations come to depend more and more on the use of targeted software applications and platforms as the ‘operating system’ of their business there is a corresponding focus on making tighter integration possible between partner-oriented business models.

Distributors want to provide frictionless commerce and support services to VARs. Telcos want to offer transparent and timely billing across complex multi-product offers. Software providers want to ensure the best possible experience to their customers. It’s a software-driven world and you need to not just exist in it but thrive in it.

A software integration strategy plays a crucial role in developing indirect sales channels and alliances by fostering mutually beneficial relationships, expanding market reach, and enhancing the value proposition of the products involved.

Here is how;

Building partnerships: Integrations enable you to form strategic partnerships with complementary businesses, creating a network of alliances that benefit both parties. These partnerships can lead to cross-promotions, joint marketing efforts, and co-selling, ultimately expanding the customer base for all involved.
Expanding market reach: When your offers are integrated with popular or widely used platforms, they gain exposure to a broader audience. This expanded market reach can result in increased sales opportunities and the potential to enter new markets or industry verticals.
Enhancing product value proposition: By integrating with complementary tools and platforms, your products and platforms become more valuable to end-users, as they can address a wider range of needs and use cases. This enhanced value proposition can make your solution more appealing to indirect sales channels, such as resellers, distributors, or agents, who want to offer comprehensive solutions to their customers.
Simplifying customer decision-making: Customers prefer solutions that are compatible with their existing technology stack. By adopting a robust integration strategy, you can simplify the decision-making process for customers and make it more likely for indirect sales channels to recommend your products.
Strengthening brand reputation: Integrating with well-known, reputable platforms or tools can lend credibility to your product or service and improve its perceived quality. This enhanced brand reputation can attract more partners, as they are more likely to associate themselves with strong brands.
Leveraging partner expertise: Forming alliances through software integrations can help you tap into the expertise and resources of your partners, such as sales and marketing know-how or technical support. This can strengthen the overall sales process and help scale your business more effectively.
Streamlined support and training: Integrations can simplify the support and training processes for indirect sales channels, as they may already be familiar with the integrated tools or platforms. This can make it easier for you and your partners to assist customers and provide effective training, ultimately improving the end-user experience.
Encouraging long-term relationships: Software integrations foster long-term relationships between technology providers and their partners, as they work together to improve their products, address customer needs, and explore new opportunities for collaboration.

By adopting a software integration strategy, you can strengthen your network of partnerships and alliances, increasing sales opportunities, improving product and platform value and satisfaction, and expanding market presence.