As Partner Account Manager at Telligent, the topic of the
Partner Program is obligatory, but not at all boring. Over the past few years,
more and more businesses are realizing the advantage of partners—not in the
legal sense, but as a relationship of mutual cooperation and responsibility to
achieve a common goal*. And it works
on all levels.
The old mentality was that other businesses are your competitors.
That you should know who they are but keep a safe distance; you don’t want them
stealing your business. But that doesn’t make sense in today’s highly segmented
market. Savvy customers are looking for specific expertise, and businesses are
catching on that other businesses with different areas of expertise—Partners—can
provide an extra service to their
customers. An architect specializing in
log cabins may refer a client who would like a cottage to another architect who
happens to be passionate about cottages. The first architect is still credited
with providing a perfect solution by making the connection—especially if he
retains the construction contract-- and the second architect is likely to
return the favor.
Telligent is a Partner and Telligent has Partners. Telligent
is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner (again, not in the legal sense) and benefits
Microsoft by developing in Microsoft’s .NET environment, requiring the use of
Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server. Similarly, Telligent
Partners recommend and develop on the Community Server platform; not only
does Telligent enjoy higher use of the product, but Telligent provides the
platform and drives demand for custom service providers. One might think this
is a conflict of interest since Telligent has its own Professional Services,
but Telligent focuses on very involved, highly customized Community Server solutions;
if a client has a simple, quick-turn requirement, it benefits everyone for a
Telligent Partner to step in.
Again, it’s the element of specialization that allows like
companies to mutually benefit from a customer. And don’t forget—the customer is truly getting
the most benefit by receiving the whole
product solution through these specialized partnerships. It’s rewarding to
facilitate this full circle exchange.
That’s just a smidgen about partners in business today. If you’re
interested in Telligent’s Partner Program, please contact me: nkeith at Telligent
…