For Vendor Strategy Professionals

B2B Channel Incentive Programs In The Technology Industry

A Benchmark Of 11 Technology Vendors' Programs And Operations

by Peter O'Neill, Tim Harmon, October 13, 2009

One of the most important business processes for technology industry (TI) vendors is to manage an indirect sales channel, which some vendors see as only an augmentation to their direct sales efforts. Forrester interviewed 11 leading TI vendors about their . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

The Seven Deadly Sins Of B2B Channel Enablement

Channel Partners Sound Off

by Tim Harmon, July 17, 2009

Current economic conditions are laying bare what's not working for channel partners, exposing issues ranging from channel conflict, to the "channel usability" of technologies, to community disenfranchisement. As companies try to move more volume through . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

The Changing Yin And Yang Of Tech Vendors And Channel Partners

Business Model Changes Call For Realigning The Demand Chain

by Tim Harmon, July 10, 2009

For years, channel partners have based their businesses around specific offerings sold into specific geographies or verticals. Today, channel partners are making dramatic adjustments to business models to cope with new levels of complexity, software-as-a-service/platform-as-a-service . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Vendors: Make Mobile App ROI Your Sell Epicenter

ROI Analysis Must Prove The Business Process Benefits Of Mobile Solutions

by Michele Pelino, May 22, 2009

The economic downturn increases pressure on enterprises to control costs and to provide return on investment (ROI) analysis to justify the benefits of investing in mobile technologies, applications, and solutions. While many companies are decreasing their . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Forrester's Partner-Type Taxonomy: Lingua Franca For A New Era

Simplifying The Partner Dance Card So Everybody Is On The Same Page

by Peter O'Neill, April 22, 2009

Compared with other industries, outsiders perceive information technology (IT) to be relatively young — influenced in its youthfulness more by technology than business trends and driven by technology experts with only occasional business-savvy. The partnerships . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Medium-Size And Small ISVs Can Expand Via Partnerships

How Medium-Size And Small ISVs Use Partnerships To Enter New Markets

by Peter O'Neill, December 16, 2008

Small and medium-size software vendors will face challenges in 2009 as the economic climate deteriorates. For many, the best possible leverage for their limited funds will be making effective partnering choices. The right partners can help ISVs reach . . .

For B2B Market Research Professionals

CSC's ResearchNetwork Provides A Road Map To Becoming A Strategic Partner

by TJ Keitt, Brad Bortner, October 8, 2008

Becoming a strategic player within the company is a problem that plagues many business-to-business (B2B) market researchers. Computer Sciences Corporation's (CSC's) ResearchNetwork is a group that has successfully made the transition from tactical entity . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Introducing Forrester's Vendor Partner Program Benchmark Assessment Tool

A Tool That Helps Optimize Channel Performance

by Michael Speyer, August 25, 2008

Market dynamics like cloud-delivered computing services, buyer demand for partners with industry and process specialization, and business decision-makers driving technology decisions are forcing channel execs to revamp their partner programs. To prepare . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Internationalization: The Vendor Escape Hatch FromThe Economic Downturn

Best Practices And A Strategy Framework For Expanding Internationally

by Peter O'Neill, Stefan Ried, Ph.D., August 5, 2008

Many software vendors are facing difficult economic times and are evaluating the potential for growth beyond their traditional home markets. Expansion into new regions, especially emerging markets, sounds like a promising direction. Others know from the . . .

For Security & Risk Professionals

Best Practices: Managing The Responsibility And Associated Risks Of Global Business Partners

by Chris McClean, July 15, 2008

Managing risk and compliance and assuring a commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) is hard enough internally. As global corporations extend their partner network, professionals in these functions struggle to define and enforce requirements . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Corporate India Plugs Into Innovation Networks

Open-Minded Indian Firms Broker And Transform Inventions Sourced Worldwide

by Navi Radjou, July 9, 2008

Unlike Western companies stuck in vertically integrated R&D and go-to-market models, Indian firms realize that you don't need to invent in order to innovate in today's interconnected knowledge economy. To win in the 21st century global marketplace, . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

To Share Or Not To Share IP: That Is The Question

Leveraging Intellectual Property: A Review Of Large Vendor Options

by Stefan Ried, Ph.D., July 8, 2008

The tech industry has shifted to an ecosystem-based form of competition, featuring the emergence of extensive, interfirm structures like value networks and open source development communities. Competitive success, management energy, and financial rewards . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

How Tech Vendors Can Help Indian Firms Innovate

Vendors Must Learn To Co-Create Value With Innovation-Hungry IT Users

by Navi Radjou, July 3, 2008

With an economy growing at 7.5%, Indian companies are eager to transform their products, services, processes, and even business models. This document outlines Indian firms' multidimensional innovation needs and illustrates how tech vendors can effectively . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Choosing An ISV Partner Program

Forrester's Assessment Of The Partner Program Offerings From IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, And Salesforce.com

by Merv Adrian, June 18, 2008

Independent software vendor (ISV) partner programs are a great resource for creating compelling offerings, taking them to market, and deploying them, sometimes in cooperation with other partners. The three largest software vendors — IBM, Microsoft, and . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Vendor Partner Positioning Benchmark, Q2 2008

A Review Of Partner Positioning Best Practices With A Self-Assessment Tool

by Peter O'Neill, June 12, 2008

Forrester used its vendor partner positioning review (VPPR) methodology to evaluate the positioning of eight leading IT product vendors across 17 criteria and to determine where they currently fall on the continuum between information technology (IT) . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Cisco Systems Adds Services To Its Partner Dance Card

How To Turn Product Partners Into Collaborative Services Partners

by Peter O'Neill, May 9, 2008

Product vendors must deal with two major challenges across the technology industry: developing from a pure product orientation toward a solutions- or services-based market approach, and building a new market position as a business technology (BT) provider . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The Tech CEO's Guide To Implementing Customer-Focused Innovation Networks

by Navi Radjou, May 8, 2008

To win in the emerging partner-rich, user-empowered global IT ecosystem, Forrester believes that tech providers must form customer-focused Innovation Networks (CFINs) in which they co-create innovation value with their corporate clients. But implementing . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

The Vendor Partner Positioning Review Self-Assessment Tool  (182 KB XLS)

by Peter O'Neill, April 24, 2008

The Vendor Partner Positioning Self-Assessment Tool

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Introducing Forrester's Vendor Partner Positioning Review

An Assessment Tool That Helps Develop Compelling Partner Positioning

by Peter O'Neill, April 17, 2008

Technology vendors describe themselves in different ways across multiple channels, but their real position — and value — is defined by the perceptions of decision-makers across customers' and prospects' IT and business organizations. Vendors generate . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Introducing Forrester's Partner Program Assessment

A Tool That Helps ISVs Pick Their Partners And Maximize Sales

by Merv Adrian, April 16, 2008

A maturing, consolidating software market and near-term economic uncertainties have made effective partnering more critical than ever before. For both platform vendors and independent software vendors (ISVs), well-fitted partner programs can drive new . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

Helping Your VARs And SIs To Do Marketing

How To Improve The Marketing Awareness And Effectiveness Of Your Channel

by Michael Speyer, April 11, 2008

Lead generation for tech vendors is an expensive, inefficient process. Tech marketers who want their value-added reseller (VAR) and systems integrator (SI) partners to shoulder some of this burden will find that these partners rarely understand the value . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

The Partnership Tool Kit  (192 KB XLS)

by Ellen Carney, December 20, 2007

This toolkit provides both tech marketers new to partnering as well as maturing alliance managers with a variety of tools to help manage their partner ecosystems throughout the partnership lifecycle. The toolkit includes forms and templates for need definition; . . .

For Technology Product Management & Marketing Professionals

More Focus, Not More Money, Will Improve Industry Partner Performance

by Ellen Carney, December 3, 2007

Technology companies spent big in 2006 on their industry partnering strategies. Marketing execs expect to invest even more in 2007, but few are offering more than tepid responses when asked how effective going to industry markets with or through partners . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

Avoiding Failure In Technology Partnerships

Twenty-One Questions Every Technology Partnership Should Answer

by R "Ray" Wang, Merv Adrian, August 22, 2007

As business technology providers move to expand their solutions-centric ecosystems, strategists must intensely focus on partnerships across the value chain. The sad truth is that few technology partnerships are as successful as their participants wish. . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

ISVs: Choose The Right Dance Partner

Key Considerations When Selecting And Joining A Software Ecosystem

by Peter O'Neill, August 7, 2007

The center of gravity in the IT industry has moved from hardware to software over the past 25 years. The result? Strategists at the major vendors have established software-based ecosystems to enhance their offerings with partner solutions and thus address . . .