Ecosystem Aces

No two organizations are exactly the same… And it’s often what sets them apart rather than what they have in common that makes for a great partnership. Charles Whitten is an Alliance Manager at Citrix where he sees the main challenge of his role as aligning sales, marketing, and operations across multiple organizations.  Charles sees what a struggle that can all be and just how different some orga...

Are you just another service to your alliance partner?   Or do you provide real, tangible, strategic value in ways they can’t reproduce themselves?   Arnaldo Amaro is the LATAM-SPLA Territory Manager at Dynatrace where he is working to push companies towards managing their user experience on their platforms in better and more efficient ways.     Many times companies experience functionality and us...

How many challenges at your job over the past week have been due to a lack of transparent communication? Akash Satapathy is an Alliance Manager at Tech Mahindra where he manages relationships with Micro Focus and HP.  It is essential that Akash communicates clearly and transparently with everyone on his own team as well as the partners he manages as well.  This has allowed him to deepen connection...

“How can we be better together? How can one plus one equal three?”   These are questions that Chris Mancebo, the Senior Manager of Global Strategic Alliances and Cloud Service Providers at Veritas Technologies, is constantly asking himself.   Chris joined us at Microsoft Inspire for this episode of Alliance Aces where we spoke about lessons learned, defining roles in partnerships, and the ever-imp...

Involving your engineering team in your strategic partnership isn’t just important.   In many cases it is absolutely critical to success.   Gautam Bharti  has an amazing product background that allows him to see things from a perspective that many others in his position at other companies just aren’t able to see.   We spoke with GB at Microsoft Inspire about how he ended up at Trend Micro, his pro...

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 All...

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, t...

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 Micros...

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...

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 w...

“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...

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 integra...

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 par...

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. Br...

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....

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 par...

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 provid...

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 go...

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...

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 a...

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 bandwi...

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...

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...

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