Alliance Aces

Every partnership demands a unique approach because every partnership is different… And if you want an alliance to succeed, you need to understand what makes your partnership unique. But you can’t do that unless you know what you’re trying to achieve in the first place. That’s how Parul Chheda, Vice President Strategic Alliances at CoreStack, approaches alliances with hyperscalers — a unique kind of partner with unique needs. Join us as we discuss:Why hyperscalers are an ideal partner for CoreStack and their customersThe unique demands that come with working with hyperscalersThe smart way to approach automation  Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief

A fruitful partnership, just like any relationship, is a two-way street. Both parties need to benefit from it. That’s why heavily investing in the success of your partners is the best way to ensure a profitable, mutually-beneficial and long-term partnership. Kieran Krohn, Principal Channel Account Manager at Hubspot, lives by this philosophy and it has served him well in his career. With a wealth of knowledge on the topic of partnering, he shares his many insights with us today. In this episode, we discuss:Hubspot's partner ecosystemThe importance of goal setting and investing in partner successUnderstanding your partner’s sales processHow Hubspot approaches co-selling  Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to

The three stages of creating a robust partner ecosystem are start-up, scale-up, and scale-out. A start-up is going after joint accounts, scale-up is opening the door a bit more, and scale-out is really expanding. Which stage are you in? In this episode, we speak with Satish Shenoy, Regional Vice President, Strategic Technology Alliances & Partnerships at Blue Prism, about building a technology partner ecosystem that creates true innovation. In this episode, we discuss:Criteria for creating good sales-in opportunitiesCreative steps for co-selling3 stages for building a partner ecosystem to be proud ofIncentives, measurement, and higher ROI  Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #97 Why Quality Always Beats Quantity in Software Ecosystems with Tom Roberts, Senior Vice President at the Global Partner Organization over at SAP#106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief Technology Officer, US Partner Ecosystem at Microsoft

Helping people safely and securely access the connected world through the internet is no small feat, but one of the highest importance. To achieve this, it takes the right kind of leadership and the right partners. Ben Goodman, Senior Vice President, Global Business and Corporate Development at ForgeRock, discusses the challenges of aligning partners, scaling, tracking the pipeline, and what’s next for the company. In this episode, we discuss:The current projects at ForgeRock and what’s on the horizonManaging and aligning 130 partnersScaling with intention  Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief Technology Officer, US Partner Ecosystem at Microsoft #9

Handling a partner ecosystem is a complex undertaking on the best of days.  Handling a partner ecosystem as your organization is experiencing hyper-growth adds even more complexity. But the rewards for overcoming the challenges posed by this complexity are well worth the effort. Just ask today’s guest, Ally Murtlow, National Channel Director at Dialpad, a company whose channel team has increased over 400% since the beginning of 2020.  In this episode, we discuss:The interplay between rapid growth and alliance ecosystemsWhy everyone in Dialpad’s channel team has to be demo-certifiedHow hiring strategically has fueled Dialpad’s tremendous growth  Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Mi

In any partnership, both parties need to trust and understand each other — and they both need to have a stake in the outcome. But in an alliance ecosystem, there are often key stakeholders that get neglected, whose buy-in is critical to success. And a partnership will never sail without getting every stakeholder on board. Andrew Massad, Vice President, Alliances & Corporate Development at Leanplum   In this episode, we discuss:Why partnerships require every stakeholder’s involvementWhy it’s not what your partners can do for you, but what you can do for themHow to take a data-driven approach to choose partners Here are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you: #121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief

When it comes to alliances, it used to be the case that many were waiting on the technology to catch up.Now, we’re waiting for people to catch up to the technology — which means leadership needs to craft partner-centric cultures that align with these advancements.But it’s worth the effort — because a core competency in partnering is a core competency in anything.So says Mark Birgman, Author, Sp eaker & CEO at PARTNERNOMICS , who joins the show today to share the many insights he gained from a long career in partnering that spans heading Sprint’s program to his current role helping others with a sound methodology for creating their own. In this episode, we discuss:The challenges, complexities, and, ultimately, rewards in the partner spaceThe need for top-down vision to shape a partner-oriented cultureThe plans you need in place before ever signing a partnership dealHere are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer

There are lots of different ways to inject new life into a company.One of the best is implementing a partner program.The right partners can make a 50-year-old company feel like a startup.At least, that’s what happened for today’s guest, Lisa Conway, VP of Sales Operations and Strategic alliances at Telos, where her partner program and a recent IPO has reinvigorated the company after a half-century in business.In this episode, we discuss:How and why Telos have integrated with AWS and AzureWhy package solutions are in-demandHow Telos are using partners to find new product use casesHere are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief Technology Officer, US Partner Eco

Every business is transforming. Every company is becoming a tech company. 75% of CEOs say their businesses will be unrecognizable in 5 years.In this landscape, you can’t do it all yourself. You know you can’t survive without partnerships.But without trust, you don’t have a partnership — you have a transaction.This is one of the key insights today’s guest, Vince Menzione, Founder at Ultimate Partnerships, stresses to all of the clients who go to him for his partnering expertise. He joins the show to explain why trust is ultimately the foundation for any business thriving in this new world.In this episode, we discuss:The growing recognition of the necessity of partnershipsWhy the rise of marketplaces is a boon for alliancesMicrosoft’s approach to partneringWhy trust is the most important component of any successful partnershipHere are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Par

Sometimes, the best strategic alliances come from inherent partners — those who are already a key part of your business strategy.But just because these partners are the easiest to identify doesn’t mean you have to stop there.Just ask my latest guest, Bogdan Petrescu, Director of Strategic Alliances at Nylas, a company with a business model that ensures plenty of organic partnerships. Bogdan isn’t content to stop there, though — he draws upon many diverse partners to drive pipeline, scalability and, ultimately, revenue.In this episode, we discuss:The role of strategic alliances at Nylas How partners can drive scalability Why pipeline revenue are the main measurement Brandon concentrates onHere are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #10

After building successful partner programs at Cisco, Citrix, and Huawei, today Greg is creating Reliant’s ecosystem strategy to co-build, co-innovate, and co-sell optimal edge computing solutions.In this episode, Greg Fox, Director of Business Development & Strategic Alliances at Reliant, joins Ecosystem Aces and discusses how he builds a best-of-breed partner program.Greg shares:How Reliant creates their ecosystem strategyHow Reliant finds the right partnersHis advice and best practices for partner leadersHere are some additional episodes featuring other ecosystem leaders that might interest you:#121 Aligning Ecosystem Strategy with Your Customer as the North Star with Lara Caimi, Chief Partner Officer, ServiceNow #122 There’s No Easy Button For Partnering with Nicole Napiltonia, VP Of Alliances and OEM Sales, at Barracuda #106 The Secrets to Managing Alliances Like Microsoft with David Totten, Chief Technology Officer, US Partner Ecosystem at Microsoft #97 Why Quality Always Beats Quantity in Software E

Once, you could get by with a single product, but that’s no longer the case. We no longer live in a world where we can simply sell products — it’s all about the solution. Which means partners are more important than ever.That insight is one of the keys to Ash Vijayakanthan’s success as Vice President at Trifacta, where he’s leading strategic partnerships with big names like Google, Infosys, Accenture, and Deloitte.In this episode, we discuss:-How living in a world of solutions impacts partner ecosystems-How Ash is improving the ecosystem through simplification-The metrics Trifacta focus on to measure successTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:Email: chip@workspan.comTwitter: @chiprodgersLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgers

The business environment is changing rapidly — how can companies not only survive but thrive through this epic shift?An expert in strategic alliances and data-driven marketing, Jack Norris is a Senior Vice President at Alteryx and this episode’s fascinating guest. Norris strongly advocates embracing a digital transformation and building lucrative partnerships through data science. In this episode, Norris introduces these illuminating concepts:- How Alteryx leverages its platform to help partners develop IP- How Alteryx works with partners to deliver an optimal and holistic experience for digital transformations- How Alteryx benefits from having partners that are also customersTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgers

How do you take a near non-existent partner program and grow it to driving over 45% of total revenue for the company? Today’s guest Wayne Monk, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Channel Sales at ASG, managed to do just that by staying focused on adding value to the business and the partner capabilities that differentiate them.In this episode, we discuss:- How to make your partner program a value-add to your business- Why partner differentiation is the key to growing your ecosystem- How to identify the innovation that can transform your ecosystemTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgers

When it comes to managing alliances, there’s no easy button. Instead, it takes discipline on the execution… And skin in the game for both sides.So says my guest, Nicole Napiltonia, VP of Alliances and OEM Sales at Barracuda, who joins me in today’s episode to discuss how Barracuda are managing partners across the Big Three cloud providers: AWS, Google and Microsoft Azure.We discuss:- How Barracuda is leveraging their early entry into the cloud- The increasing complexity of managing partners- Barracuda’s emphasis on Cosell To contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgers

We often talk about putting the customer at the center of everything we do — it’s an ironclad rule if you want success. And it’s just as important to your alliance ecosystem.Just ask Lara Caimi who, as Chief Customer and Partner Officer at ServiceNow, is thriving in a career at the intersection of customer and partner experiences.In today’s episode, we discuss:- How customer, employee and partner experiences interact- The importance of co-selling and co-delivering- Why diversity and inclusion matter for your alliance ecosystemTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgersListening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Ecosystem Aces in your favorite podcast player.

If you want to successfully manage strategic partnerships, you need to become an expert in every role needed to bring a joint solution to market that your partners can actually sell.In this episode, I sit down with Erik Heinrich to learn how he brings his wealth of experience across different roles in his career to his current position as Director Business Development, RUCKUS Networks at CommScope, where he manages strategic partnerships with Facebook, Intel, and other global partners. What we talked about:- Why solving your customers’ problems is the key to any alliance- Why managing partnerships requires you to wear many hats- Partnering means bringing joint solutions to market that will sellTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgersListening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Ecosystem Aces in your favorite po

Most people trust that the food they buy from stores and restaurants will be safe. Yet, foodborne illnesses occur more often than you might think.Advancements in technology can drastically reduce contamination risks.But only when supported by a robust ecosystem. In this episode, I’m joined by two guests who are building that ecosystem: Susan Flake, Director of RFID Business Development, and Colin Goodwin, ISV Business Development Manager at Zebra Technologies, a company working to support frontline workers across multiple industries. We discuss:- Zebra’s mission and how they tackle food safety challenges- Why partners are necessary to solve these issues- How Zebra has built out its partner To contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgersListening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Ecosystem Aces in your favorite podcas

Being at the forefront of new technologies and driving digital transformation often requires an ecosystem to fill in the gaps in your capabilities in order to give your customers the very best solutions for their needs. That’s how Ray Octaviano, Vice President and Head of Business Development for North American Mobile Operators at IDEMIA, is tackling the company’s push to seamlessly digitally transform the SIM cards and identification in your pocket right now. What we talked about:The digital transformation underway with SIM cards and identificationHow IDEMIA is building an ecosystem based on customer success and partner capabilitiesWhy rapidly advancing technology requires agility and nimblenessTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:Email: chip@workspan.comTwitter: @chiprodgersLinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgersListening on a desktop & can’t see the links? Just search for Ecosystem Aces in your favorite podcas

The pandemic has changed so much about our daily lives, so it should be no surprise that partnerships have been impacted, too. There are many challenges to overcome, but there are also opportunities for alliances.In this episode, I’m joined by Glenton Davis, Global Senior Business Development & Strategy Manager, Business Applications at Microsoft, to learn more about what those opportunities are.We discuss:- The opportunities and challenges for partnerships presented by COVID- Why “bottom up” thinking is increasingly important- Why scenarios are as important as understanding your verticalTo contact the host, Chip Rodgers, with topic ideas, suggest a guest, or join the conversation about alliances, he can be reached by:- Email: chip@workspan.com- Twitter: @chiprodgers- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chiprodgers