Partner Collaboration

Value Chain Collaboration in action

The Customer

Global IT vendor.

The Challenge

The client is one of the most partnered companies in the world and has a sophisticated channel approach that has been highly successful in the past. However, its business model is changing as it is being asked to deliver much more complex solutions to its customers. Its current relationships and go-to-market programmes with partners were not sufficiently supportive of this new business direction.

The Solution

The approach was to segment the partner community into different groups and, following in-depth analysis of the client and its partners’ market ambitions and competences, create different programmes for each segment. For the priority segment, formal year long programmes were created. To help cement these relationships, the priority partners we required to invest in a go-to-market programmes with the client other complementary partners, coordinated by STL.

STL Advantage

STL applied its collaborative approach to joint business development. It created a programme structure that partners could invest into. It acted as a broker and coordinator between the client, the market and the partners to ensure that compelling joint solutions were created and delivered and that all parties were satisfied.

The Result

Significant investment was raised from partners for the joint go-to-market programme. The client as a result gained greater commitment from its partners who created exclusive solutions with the client, and who openly shared information, contacts and sales leads. As a result the client could cover a much larger part of the market (to the exclusion of competitors), and radically different (and strategically important) breakthrough projects were delivered in record time. It was ‘innovation through collaboration’ in action.