Alliance Aces

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 Google.   In this episode of Alliance Aces, we caught up with Andy at GoogleNEXT to talk about Joint Solutions, business development, and best practices for a collaborative business environment.  

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 with Michael at the Microsoft Inspire Conference to talk about Ingram Micro’s “why”, how to build a phenomenal partner experience, and the future of his company.

“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 worth what can be measured in terms of executing results.   Bob has seen Veeam reinvent themselves several times over the years he’s been at the company.  They are almost like a case study themselves; they’re constantly evolving in order to keep command of the marketplace.     At their core, Veeam aims to solve problems of data management.  They currently have around 300,000 customers and add approximately 4,000 per month.  The benefits that Veeam provides goes beyond just the tech industry as well; they have enabled huge power consumption reductions that have an environmental impact.     We caught up with Bob to ta

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 integrators.  She is constantly analyzing Intel’s position form a global logistic standpoint as well as from a partner relationship standpoint.  Taylor is helping partners identify key growth areas in AI and analytics so they are constantly on the cutting edge of current technology.  Part of the fun of Taylor’s job is seeing older partners adapting to new technology and newer players leading the way in innovation. We spoke with Taylor in this episode of Alliance Aces about Intel’s goals, challenges in the alliance space, partner stages, and how Intel grows their partner network.

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 partner space.

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. Brenton has been with BlueFin for 8 years and much of his job involves taking a look at the “new and shiny stuff”: emerging technology.  Using this tech he demonstrates how SAP can be an innovative platform. Brenton and his team know that in order to attract new customers they need to use updated technology that shows off the capabilities of what new platforms can do.  And most importantly, they need to backup their claims with the efficacy of many different use case examples. This is what excites Brenton’s team internally:  “How do we get clients from A - Z using our newest tech?”  Brenton joined us for this episode o

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.  He is focused on executing the long term relationship view for both partners and to integrate solutions between the two organizations. Barbara is the Global Sales Director of the Microsoft Alliance, and she focuses on short term execution.  What are the team’s priorities for this quarter, and how can they make sure they hit their sales numbers? She loves enabling partners, bringing tech experts together, and getting buy in from top management support.  She also advises Jay and his team based on what she has seen in the market. Both Jay and Barbara ensure that everyone on both sides is aware of where things are head

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 partnership with one of the most powerful tech brands on the planet. Scott manages the Microsoft partnership from the DocuSign side, and he also owns the resale channel.   Scott’s objective is to leverage this partnership channel to capture new opportunities and customers. Docusign just went public 10 weeks ago, and in their first earnings announcement they disclosed that they grew 35,000 additional corporate customers in the last quarter alone.  There are over 330,000 unique users joining DocuSign every day. A percentage of this success can be attributed to the outstanding partnership and alliance with Microsoft. We re

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 provides IT and support maintenance.  They want to ensure they are providing great customer experiences. CSS has been in the technology and alliances space for many years working with a variety of different vendors. Anil has 14 years of industry experience where he started in the B2B marketing world before shifting his career more towards strategic alliances and partnerships.  He is a firm believer that one plus one equals more than two when companies come together; He believes it becomes 11. That’s just how powerful the synergy can be that is created when partnerships are formed.    We spoke with Anil in this episode

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 goal is to help change businesses for good through improving business performance and compliance. Intelex started in 1992, and currently has over 1,000,000 users. They’ve see rapid growth over the past few years, so Kristen is focused on building out formal partners at a strategic level. Kristen’s role is a complicated one; she must build out partnerships while changing her internal culture to one that values these new alliances. We sat down with Kristen to talk about bringing customer experience applications to partnerships, her strategies for quick wins within her role, and the future of her business.

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 SAP partner organizations, such as Wipro, Landis + Gyr, and now, Fujitsu. We spoke with Andreas at the SAPPHIRE NOW conference in Orlando to hear his thoughts on how alliances are built and maintained. His insight was invaluable.

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 at IBM. For 16 years he’s been working with SAP and IBM in their go-to-market strategies for various joint solutions, including transformations in automotive, pharmacy clients, and others, some totalling billions of dollars. If anyone knows the challenges of joint solutions and alliances, it’s Dev. He came on our Alliance Aces Podcast to share his thoughts on joint partnerships and innovation -- you don’t want to miss what he has to say.

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 bandwidth to focus on more strategically important decisions while automating lesser tasks. We spoke with Puneet at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference to hear more about Infosys, and how their alliances and partnerships have been integral to their success.

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 customer feedback so IBM and SAP can work together on joint customer service projects as well. With regular new technology announcements to roll out on top of it all, Tanja has plenty to work on.  We caught up with Tanja at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference in Orlando to hear about how she has four essential ways she uses this constant stream of new technology to stay relevant with her partners and in the industry as a whole.

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 on both sides into the same room, Bastian must always prioritize honesty. He doesn’t want to do a deal that doesn’t make sense for both partners. His role is to set up the structure for how both partners will operate, and to execute the shared vision for success with sales and marketing. Bastian also focuses on strengthening relationships with executives and jointly winning deals to boost morale. In this episode of Alliance Aces, we spoke with Bastian at the SAPPHIRE NOW Conference about the most challenging part of his role, the synergies and overlap in responsibilities of partners, and the advice he has for those

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

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 on 14 GSIs in particular. She has seen Microsoft and Cognizant (one of the GSIs she manages) come together as two enormous organizations.  We caught up with Joerose at the SAPPHIRE NOW conference to talk about the complexity of aligning two companies and what best practices she’s learned along the way.

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 connecting with strategic partners and what his team is up to at NetApp.

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 those years she spent developing the company’s “2.0” GPP plan. How well has her 2.0 program performed? Well, just look at her title now. We caught up with Jennifer at the SAPPHIRE NOW event in Orlando to ask her how she did it. She gave us her insightful tips on building a quality network that drives win-win results for the whole ecosystem. Her secrets are powerful.