Partner-to-Partner Networks: Using social media to find your perfect first date

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In my recent posts, I have written a lot about the need to “invest in growth” in order to ride the economic upturn and avoid being left behind in its wake.  It is true, however, that acquisition of new customers to drive organic growth can be difficult and expensive; growth by acquisition even more so considering the current lack of appetite for risk in the capital markets. 

But there is, it seems, a third way to extend your reach and open up new market opportunities for your offering.  Many of our HP Software partners are realizing that not everyone else in the marketplace is a pure competitor, and that there are considerable synergies to be found when teaming with other bodies in the ecosystem.  Such is the breadth of the HP Software portfolio that very few companies can really claim to cover it all (quite rightly, you choose to focus on the solutions which fit your core competency).   So when a customer wants to extend the scope of a project, how do you provide expertise outside of your core competency zone?  Crucially, how do you achieve that without risking the customer relationship through either poor delivery or by allowing competitors into your accounts?  The answer, according to many partners, is by bringing in a trusted complementary partner organization to help fill the gaps.

There are many facets to this type of partnership.  In its simplest form, this might be an ad-hoc, informal arrangement to collaborate on a specific customer opportunity in order to broaden the range of expertise available to the customer, either on a referral basis or a “prime/sub contractor” basis.  Many partners finding success with such “toe-in-the-water” engagement have chosen to formalize their collaboration in the marketplace with a memorandum of understanding, which effectively outlines the teaming agreement and how they will jointly address the market.  Taken to its ultimate conclusion, some partners are also realizing that this is a low-risk and manageable way to get close to a potential suitor for marriage – a first date, if you like - ultimately leading to shared equity, merger or acquisition once they know that the synergy is there and the cultures are a good fit. 

So – you’re looking for a potential first date?  Where do you start?  Well, as I sit here at my desk, I am being bombarded by a constant stream of status updates, blog posts and “Tweets” from the various digital devices around my office (unsurprisingly, none of them are asking me out to dinner this weekend).  How about leveraging the power of global, instant conversations to find better ways to collaborate?  

You may have seen the announcements about HP “Communities” – a platform for various shared-interest groups to get closer to HP Software, and to each other, in order to accelerate ideas-sharing and proliferation of knowledge.  What better place to start getting to know that company who can complement your own value proposition, help you extend your reach into another customer segment, another market, or another country.  It even struck me that I might introduce a specific community for those of you looking to explore new partner-to-partner relationships in pursuit of a low-risk, high-return growth strategy.  Are there any lonely hearts out there?  Would you find a partner-to-partner networking community a useful addition to the HP Software social media platform?  The software partner dedicated community is launching on May 4th. Let me know your thoughts!   -    Adam Featherston