A ‘one-size fits all’ when making technology partner decisions is no longer the norm. If you’re not embracing a collaborative ecosystem of technology partners, you may be short-changed with the services from just one vendor. The fact of the matter is that no one organisation can be specialists in all domains as technology continues to rapidly change, especially with AI.
However, there’s often resistance to engaging multiple partners due to the overhead in administration and potential conflict between them. Furthermore, navigating the diverse partner landscape and proving beyond the sales pitches of being a trusted advisor can be daunting.
Understanding this challenge has been a catalyst for the emergence of technology partner alliances. Enterprises leveraging technology partner alliances can scale at twice the rate of their peers (1) and experience up to 3.4 times higher ROI and achieve a 57% faster time-to-value than those with less formal processes (2).
So, what are these alliances?
Emergence of technology partner alliances
Traditional partnerships can be described as linear, transactional, focusing primarily on reselling or distribution of products/services through wider channels of partners. The primary interaction was the exchange of leads. For clients, working with different partners can feel disjointed with arm’s length engagement between them. Simply put, managing a group of partners can feel like more work than just insourcing the whole thing.
Technology partner alliances on the other hand focus on building collaborative ecosystems that drive agility and cross-sector innovation. The goal is to operate as one, joining complementary specialist services from different partners to deliver outcomes for customers. And not based on transactional relationships.
About 75% of world trade currently flows through indirect channels, partnerships, and alliances, underscoring their rising importance in the global economy (3).
An alliance in our own back yard of New Zealand
Innovation rarely happens in isolation. Partnerships are increasingly fueling the most impactful breakthroughs through strategic, unexpected and even unconventional collaborations. This has been the hallmark of the Mahi Tahi Collective, a collaboration of eight diverse partners with a mission to transform New Zealand’s productivity.
To rapidly address New Zealand’s productivity challenges requires a multi-faceted approach. The partners in the Mahi Tahi Collective bring together specialist skills and products including cloud transformation, AI strategy, cybersecurity, process automation, data & analytics, and digital enablement to name a few.
Understand your challenges first
As an alliance of partners, ensuring our customers understand their productivity challenges is critical to leveraging our capabilities. My role in the alliance is to ensure businesses have a clear sight of their problem(s). This can be operational inefficiencies, risk and compliance issues, or lack of governance. Through using different frameworks, I can ensure all stakeholders are aligned on the problem, in measurable terms, then apply one or many of the solutions from within our partner alliance.
If you are not actively looking outside your walls for innovation allies, you are already behind. The businesses that will thrive in these uncertain times will be the ones that utilise the vibrant ecosystem of specialist partners. Learn more by viewing the Mahi Tahi Collective website here.
Zen Consulting helps organisations realise value in digital transformations. We support you in understanding your “why” in technology investments so you can deliver successfully the “how” and “what”. To find more information contact us or email us directly hello@zenconsulting.co.nz.
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