ChannelLife New Zealand - Industry insider news for technology resellers
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Thu, 1st Oct 2009
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Smart organisations have been collaborating for centuries. Eleventh century Japanese feudal warlords formed alliances, the Romans formed political unions called triumvirates and the Venetian merchant families formed long-term mercantile relationships with other trading families. But collaboration is changing.

Collaborative relationships, whether with vendors, resellers, joint sales ventures, alliances or influencers, are becoming more strategic and transformational than in the past. Web 2.0 tools like wikis, blogs and cloud computing are making sharing and contributing the norm. And best practices are emerging to facilitate successful alliances.

Access to new markets and customers is rated one of the top benefits of collaboration today, according to BusinessWeek Research Services. Businesses plan to expand their reliance on an ecosystem of partners by more than a third, by 2011. In fact, collaborative alliances are rapidly overtaking acquisitions as a primary growth strategy.

The small things

These days, SMBs are also beginning to see collaboration as a pathway to growth. According to Peter Pekar,  co-author of Smart Alliances, the return on investment of such partnerships is at least 50% higher than the average for a  company's business.

Furthermore, you will reap the following payoffs:

Gain the critical customer or vendor relationships and reach that you need.

Supplement any direct sales, in a down- or upturn.

Reduce fixed overheads and the day-to-day costs of prospecting efforts.

Big opportunity

Cost reduction used to be the top reason for entering into a collaborative partnership. But most of the so-called  low-hanging fruit has already been plucked these days. The big opportunity now in collaboration is aid in finding new customers and access to new vendor products, ideas and skills, which in turn lead to new markets.

Recall how MYOB marketed itself via networks of accountants? Other companies are embarking on joint sales ventures with complementary firms, or aligning themselves with consultants and advisors. If you've saturated your local market, emerging marketssuch as BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and other developing countries beckon –  perfect for collaborative sales ventures.

Novel networks

Consider the effort you'd put into finding new distribution partners or vendors. Instead you could create new networks that combine sales, marketing, technical development or other functions, in novel ways. For example, EMC has expanded its view of its outsourcing partners and credits its collaborations for helping to boost services from 10%  of revenue to 16%.

Even Procter - Gamble, previously known for doing things in-house, states the “world has changed”. Its success in new markets now comes from a new skill at uncovering potential partners.

From art to science

Now collaboration has to become part of your internal systems, and the conversation needs to be held at senior management levels. Ensure collaboration becomes part of your strategic bedrock. For best success, construct a  strategy that benefits all partners. Collaborating may also require unexpected diplomacy. Even small stylistic differences can become deal-breakers. This is where an independent outsourced channel agency can help.

Now is the time

Collaboration doesn't happen by chance, but, under pressure to grow new sources of revenues, CEOs worldwide are making it atop priority.

Embark on, or redefine, a strategy of collaborative partnering. Drop-kick loose couplings with partners, vendors and customers in favour of purposeful, strategic and creative ways of work, that draw on all parties' resources and grow top-line revenues for all.

The message? Like Dell, it's never too soon to collaborate the right way, whatever your size. Transform your business network into a surprisingly co-operative place. It'll pay enormous dividends, in the months and years to come.

Remember: you can't do it alone. Unite and conquer Smart organisations have been collaborating for centuries.  Eleventh century Japanese feudal warlords formed alliances, the Romans formed political unions called triumvirates and the Venetian merchant families formed long-term mercantile relationships with other trading families. But collaboration is changing.