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Partner Ecosystems Earned Their Strategic Seat At The Table — Now What?
Partner Ecosystem Strategy Is Business Strategy For years, B2B partner ecosystem leaders have worked to prove that partner ecosystems deserve strategic attention. Our latest survey data suggests that this battle has largely been won. According to The State Of B2B Partner Ecosystems, 2026, 70% of partner ecosystem and channel marketing decision-makers say that orchestrating or […]
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Has Your Partner Demand Strategy Kept Up With Your Evolving Partner Ecosystem?
B2B partner ecosystems are becoming larger, more diverse, and more complex, yet some organizations continue to apply an outdated, single partner demand strategy across fundamentally different partner business models. The consequences are clear: Investments are misaligned, resources are spread inefficiently, partner engagement suffers, and demand performance falls short of expectations — the opposite of driving […]
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From CRM To The Agentic Enterprise: Salesforce’s Biggest Dreamforce 2026 Reveals
At Dreamforce 2026, Salesforce presented its most complete vision yet for the “agentic enterprise.” It shifted the core focus away from individual apps (such as those focused on sales, services, or marketing) and unified them through a single architecture built around data, logic and AI agents. This vision includes: (1) AIforce, Salesforce’s UX layer that […]
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Beyond MDFs: Partner Incentives Enter A New Era Of Strategic Investment
For many B2B organizations, partner incentives have historically centered on market development funds (MDFs) and co-op funding. Although funding programs remain essential, new data from Forrester’s Partner Ecosystem Marketing Survey, 2026 suggests that partner incentive strategies are becoming broader, more strategic, and increasingly tied to business outcomes. Partner ecosystem leaders are expanding beyond traditional funding […]
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AI Has Changed B2B Buying: Partner Demand Programs Must Follow
Most partner demand strategies were built for a buying environment that no longer exists. Buyers increasingly use AI to discover solutions, evaluate options, and inform decisions. Buying groups now dominate B2B purchases, involving, on average, about a dozen internal stakeholders and approaching 10 external influencers. Expectations for digital experiences continue to rise, and partner ecosystem […]
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Modernizing B2B Partner Programs For The Next Era Of Partner Ecosystem Growth
Today’s B2B partner ecosystems include multiple partner types, diverse business models, and a broad range of value contributions. As partner ecosystems continue to evolve, organizations face an important question: Can yesterday’s partner program support tomorrow’s partner ecosystem? Our latest research suggests that many B2B organizations believe the answer is no. Many Partner Programs Were Built […]
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Partner Ecosystem Growth’s New Challenge: Understanding How Partners Create Value
For years, B2B organizations have expanded their partner ecosystems by adding new partner types, routes to market, and strategic relationships. The result has been greater market reach, new growth opportunities, and increasingly complex partner ecosystems. A growing challenge for suppliers is establishing a clear, consistent, and effective definition of the partners within their partner ecosystem. […]
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Marketplace Platforms Aren’t One Market Anymore: Announcing Forrester’s Two Landscapes For 2026
Marketplace platforms no longer represent a single-category decision for enterprise buyers. The market is bifurcating into two operating models (or enterprise motions) that define how value is created, delivered, and measured: digital services (“bits”) and physical goods (“atoms”). To reflect this shift, we published two reports that align to a distinct buyer and consideration set: […]
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Partner Marketing Automation Platform Investment On The Rise
In Forrester’s Partner Ecosystem Marketing Survey, 2026, 75% of partner ecosystem marketing decision-makers reported their overall technology investments will increase in the next 12 months. Among organizations already investing in a partner marketing automation platform (PMAP), 65% plan to increase their investment. Even more telling, nearly 60% of organizations not currently using partner marketing automation […]
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Multiply B2B Growth: Why Your Ideal Customer Profile Alone Isn’t Enough
If ICPs alone were enough, pipelines wouldn’t stall and growth wouldn’t slow. Learn what's missing and what to do about it.
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Vendasta Shows Why Platforms Become Operating Systems For AI Agents
Vendasta faced a challenge familiar to many technology companies: alleviating client engagement pain points while limiting the impacts of efficiency and tool disconnects. Learn about Vendasta’s transformation in this preview of a new case study.
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Partner Ecosystem Excellence Requires A Strong Foundation
As partner ecosystems grow in complexity and strategic importance, leaders must invest in the foundational work that enables scale and agility. Learn about three cornerstones of partner ecosystem success.
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Trust: The Hard Currency Of B2B Partner Ecosystem Success
For business buyers, trust often determines purchase intent. For partner ecosystems, establishing trust fuels partner loyalty. Learn what it takes to build and sustain trust in these relationships.
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The Long-Term Impact Of The $100,000 H-1B Fee? Higher IT Service Prices And More Offshore
Find out how the Trump administration's executive order imposing a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications impacts IT service providers and leaders at US companies.
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Partner Attribution Is Broken — Here’s Why B2B Executives Must Lead The Fix
Partner attribution is broken in most B2B organizations, creating executive blind spots that undervalue the strategic impact of partnerships across the ecosystem. My latest report, “Plotting The Path For Partner Attribution,” highlights the urgent need for precise measurement to unlock partner-driven innovation, growth, and competitive advantage.
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Continued Growth In Scale And Complexity: The State Of Partner Ecosystems In 2025
Get three key takeaways from Forrester’s recent Partner Ecosystem Marketing Survey in this preview of a new report.
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Unlock The Marketplace Potential: A Strategic Guide For Tech Leaders
Marketplace platforms are not “one size fits all.” Tech leaders must align platform capabilities with their ecosystem strategy to unlock growth, efficiency, and innovation. Learn the top three challenges that tech leaders face when navigating marketplace development platforms in this preview of a new report.
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Igniting Partner Advocacy: A Strategic Imperative For B2B Marketers
In today’s fast-evolving B2B landscape, partner ecosystems have emerged as a cornerstone of sustainable growth. Learn the benefits partner advocacy offers to suppliers, their partners, and customers.
Blog
Real Talk With Ecosystem Partners: GTM Evolution
Early in my career, I received wise but tough coaching from a manager regarding struggles with a new colleague on a strategic project: Pull them aside and have a real, candid conversation with the pursuit of clarity and understanding for the sake of the shared vision and mutual success. The “real talk” that my colleague […]
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Subscription Hardware Puts The Channel At Risk
Subscription-based hardware is the emerging model that every hardware vendor is promising to customers, partners, and investors. It’s a significant shift from the classic capex model in which firms spend money for outright hardware purchases. There are several scenarios such as new technology, short-term projects, test-before-you-buy, and infrastructure bundled with managed services, etc., where subscription-based […]
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