Ecosystem Aces

How do you combine a business of 130,000 people with another of 230,000 people? The complexity of this task is enormous. Joerose Tharakan is in Strategic Partnership Business Development at Microsoft, and she represents Microsoft’s largest partnerships. Joerose and her team cover both GSIs and high value advisories.   Microsoft has a large ecosystem of alliances (around 100,000), but she’s focused...

It takes a long time to build, but trust between partners can be lost in an instant. It’s an emotional process. RJ Bibby is the SAP Global Alliance Executive at NetApp, and he likes to say he creates partnerships with purpose.  RJ knows the value of trust in partnerships, and it has led to the success he sees today. We caught up with RJ at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference in Orlando to learn more about...

Alliances can wield powerful results. But what do you do when you have dozens or even thousands of potential alliances? How do you find those partners that are truly committed? How do you develop those partners into results-driven alliances that benefit the entire ecosystem? We asked these questions to Jennifer Kerr, VP of Global Channels & Alliances at OpenText for over a decade. Two to 3 of thos...

Strong partnerships don’t magically form overnight. “It takes work to effectively manage a partnership.” So says Chris Selland,the Vice President of Strategic Alliances & Corporate Development at Unifi. Chris has been in his role for about 18 months, and he oversees three specific types of alliances: Technology partners, Professional Service partners, and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) part...

Bob Breitel, Director of the Global SAP Alliance for IBM, met with Chip Rodgers, VP of Marketing of WorkSpan, at SAPPHIRE NOW to talk about creating global alliances.

In the modern business environment, end users across the spectrum need rapid business solutions tailored to their industry. Expertise, functionality, maintenance and often times customization, are all necessary components of these solutions. Creating such a wide variety of dynamic applications is nearly impossible for any one company. Alliances, then, become vital. Take a technically sound platfor...

Having multiple alliance partners within an ecosystem supplies additional resources, intellectual property, access to technology, more ideas. Alliances can also create additional challenges -- no longer are you working with one set of developers, one sales team -- everything is multiplied. We spoke with Bluefin Solutions’ Global SAP Alliance Director, Robert Walmsley, at the SAP Global Partner Sum...

Ecosystems should deliver dynamic solutions that enhance customer experience. Joint solutions should make problem-solving easier, not harder, for customers. It all starts, and ends, with customers in mind. This is the philosophy of Manoj Bhatia, the Worldwide Sales and Business Development Manager for Partner Sales at Cisco. With degrees in electrical Electrical Engineering, as well as an MBA from...

Products, solutions, and go-to-market strategies have endless possibilities within alliances and ecosystems. As an alliance professional, how do you determine the appropriate solutions to develop and then take those solutions to market? Those are real questions needing expert answers. So we asked a pro. Phil Sailer, a leading enterprise alliance strategist, joined us on our recent Alliance Aces po...

Complex alliance partnerships can seem insurmountable sometimes. Hundreds of products, thousands of customers, and dozens of team members from two companies coming together to provide customer solutions. How does an alliance professional juggle and succeed with such a large forest of issues? Roland Wartenberg joined us on our podcast to discuss success in alliance partnerships. Roland’s resume inc...

Wouldn’t it be amazing if a true alliance leader just handed you their manual for success? Thankfully, someone did. Madhav Ranganathan, Director of GSI at Hitachi Vantara is a strategic alliance professional, who did just that. With 20 years of experience from managing alliances and business development for Intel, VMware, OpTier, and others,  Madhav delivered groundbreaking advice on our podcast f...

Customers and clients want solutions. They want solutions they can obtain quickly and deploy quickly. They need solutions that add agility and increase their competitiveness in their respective markets. A single company simply cannot deliver a product that meets all these criteria. That’s why partnerships, strategic alliances, are driving the future, and that’s why Subs joined us on our latest pod...

Partnerships can drive 30 percent of enterprise revenue. Yet, so many partnerships fail, leaving trillions of dollars left untapped. While CEOs and other executives believe in the value of alliances, they often the lack the confidence partnering will provide a true ROI. So, partnering executives find themselves relegated to the cheap seats, away from the C-Suite table, and trillions of dollars are...

In global partner marketing, success is predicated on reliance on the field marketers at the local level. Ask Steve Asche. He knows. As VP for Digital and Partner Marketing at SAP, Steve worked with over 160 campaigns across the world last year alone. His team drove pipeline results for both his company, and a main enterprise partner, Intel. How does Steve coordinate such a large number of campaig...

Alliance Aces is a podcast about how to win.  Specifically, it’s about how to win at building partnerships and ecosystems. In our new show, you’ll hear from professionals in the industry who are doing just that—building successful strategic alliances that are driving revenue and taking customer solutions to the market.  Maybe you’re a professional breaking ground on a joint solution with your comp...