Alliance Best Practice Ltd

How to use the Alliance Best Practice website to improve your alliance and partnership relationships

Are you an alliance manager looking to use best practices to enhance your collaborative relationships? If you want to stay up-to-date with emerging best practices in alliances, follow our Page.

Partner Ecosystems - Maturity = Money One of the most consistent findings from our work at Alliance Best Practice is simple: the more mature a company’s partner ecosystem, the more value it creates. Over the past 2 years I have conducted more than 45 in-depth ecosystem and alliance benchmark assessments with partnership leaders in the high tech industry. A clear pattern has emerged. Organisations with high partner ecosystem maturity consistently outperform those where partnering is still developing or treated as a tactical activity. What makes the difference? Mature ecosystems tend to share several characteristics: • Partnering is treated as a corporate capability, not just a function managed by one team. • Executive sponsorship is visible and sustained, ensuring partnerships align with strategic priorities. • Joint value propositions are clearly defined, focusing on outcomes for customers rather than individual company offerings. • Governance, metrics, and operating models are structured, allowing alliances to scale. • Partners collaborate as part of an ecosystem, not just through bilateral relationships. The result is tangible: ✔ Greater revenue growth through joint solutions ✔ Faster innovation through shared capabilities ✔ Expanded market reach ✔ Stronger customer value propositions ✔ Higher resilience in changing market conditions By contrast, organisations with lower ecosystem maturity often struggle with fragmented partner strategies, unclear ownership, and alliances that depend heavily on individual relationships rather than structured collaboration. The 45+ benchmark assessments in the Alliance Best Practice database consistently demonstrate the same conclusion: Ecosystem maturity is not just an organisational characteristic — it is a direct driver of business value. For leadership teams looking to accelerate growth through partnerships, the question is no longer whether to build an ecosystem, but how mature and scalable that ecosystem can become. I’m always interested in comparing notes with other alliance and ecosystem leaders on how they are measuring and building partner maturity. If you would like to assess your ecosystem maturity you can do so here: https://lnkd.in/e-N8RY6h #alliances #partnerships #ecosystems #partnerstrategy #alliancemanagement #partnershipleaders

The "AI-First" Pivot: From Pilots to Agentic Reality The enterprise AI honeymoon period is over. As we move into Q2 2026, the conversation has shifted from "What is possible?" to "How do we scale responsibly?" Inspired by Accenture’s aggressive pivot to an AI-first consulting model, the industry is witnessing a fundamental change in how GSIs and Global Advisory firms must operate. On 7 April, the Alliance Leadership Forum (ALF) convenes at Cisco’s UK headquarters to address the "Behind the Curtain" realities of this transition. We are moving beyond simple Conversational AI to explore the deployment of Responsible Agentic AI within the world’s most complex organizations. At this session, we will be stress-testing the following: - Industry-Specific Deployment: How do we move autonomous agents into core, highly-regulated sectors like Finance and Healthcare without compromising data integrity or compliance? - The Automation of Consulting: Can the traditional advisory model truly be automated through Agentic AI, and what does this mean for the future of billable-hour margins? - The Governance Gap: What specific infrastructure and guardrails are required to ensure "responsible" AI isn't just a tagline, but a verifiable reality at scale? Operating under Chatham House Rules, this is a "safe harbour" for VP-level leaders to share the unvarnished truth about vendor requirements and market frictions. We aren't here for the pitch; we are here for the blueprint. Are you ready to co-architect the 2026 GTM landscape? Join us to gain the proprietary intelligence needed to lead your firm’s AI evolution. Full details and registration for our Cisco UK session: https://lnkd.in/eSciweuX

Alliance Best Practice Ltd is conducting a piece of research to identify how well supported Alliance or Partnership Heads are in their respective organizations. Anyone filling in the survey wil receive a copy of the final research report and its implications. Any questions? Contact us directly at info@alliancebestpractice.com

How to Improve Your Alliances Using the Alliance Best Practice Website An increasing number of people are joining the Alliance Best Practice Community through the ABP Website. As a consequence, many of them need help navigating the rich store of resources open to them. Comments like the following are common: "Mike, I joined as an ABP member on your website but there are just so many resources available I don't know where to start?! Can you help?" This webinar is for them. It will show you: - Where to start your Alliance Best Practice journey - How to analyze an existing alliance or alliances and discover 'value leakages' - How to identify resources to deal with problem areas - How to get additional help if you get 'stuck' I look forward to seeing you on the webinar! Mike Nevin Managing Director Alliance Best Practice Ltd

The next Alliance Leadership Forum Meeting is now open for registration!

Looking to secure and scale senior executive support for your strategic alliances? Our comprehensive new report offers actionable tools and frameworks that leading organizations use to enhance partnership performance. Discover how to implement success today! https://wix.to/d49Mix8 #Leadership #StrategicAlliances

Join us for the next Alliance Leadership Forum Event Hosted by Atos The Alliance Leadership Forum is not a sales environment nor is it a networking group. It’s a trusted space where Heads and VPs of Alliances collaborate, compare strategies, and share experiences with others who face similar challenges and opportunities. Members value the ability to benchmark their own alliance performance against their peers in a safe and anonymous environment, learn from global best practices, and contribute to shaping the next generation of alliance management thinking.   The next meeting on the 27th November will be hosted by Atos in their London Offices, and the agenda is as follows: 16.00 – Meeting starts with introductions 16.15 – Review of recent ALF research presented by Mike Nevin. Research papers available for distribution are: - Best Practices in Internal Alignment (How do you explain the value of Alliances to your own organisation) - Best Practices in Alliance Co-Selling (How to sell successfully with partners to increase win rate) - Best Practices in Building an Alliance Centre of Excellence (What do the best of the best partnering companies do to create a substantial profit from their Alliance Centres of Excellence). - Best Practices in Developing Senior Executive Support (How to generate Senior Executive Support in your own Organisation and that of your partners for your alliance/s) 16.45 – Presentation by Greg Sarafin, ex Global Head of Alliances and Ecosystem at EY. Greg was outstandingly successful in his time at EY and will be explaining to us how he: - Generated senior executive support in his own organisation - Created breakthrough and disruptive alliances in selected industries - Elevated EY’s presence with key strategic partners (e.g. ServiceNow, Dell, Microsoft and AWS) - What he has moved onto after leaving EY 17.30 – Questions for Greg 17.45 – Agreement to next research topics 18.00 – General Networking 20.00 – Meeting Closes