Effective Strategic Partner Management

1. Effective Strategic Partner Management Thomas F. Incorvia

2. Successful ProjectsHave a Plan • The Plan is Written, Has a Timeline, is Based In Reality and is Measurable • The Plan is Communicated to players, including an executive announcement legitimizing a plan manager • Players align on the plan • Players agree to accountably Respond to Actionable Communications from the plan manager and other players • Lost Causesare identified and reassigned early in the game • The Plan is Rigorously Managedby the plan manager • No-Spin, metric-based Plan Progress is reported broadly and ongoingly to players • Players are Compensatedfor meeting plan goals • Breakdowns are Handled: a structure is established to handle breakdowns in the plan and re-align • Committed Leaders remain in place (both executive and plan managers) (*) Note: if changing markets, clients, acquisitions, etc. render the plan ineffective, change the plan(do not continue based solely on momentum)

3. The Plan is Measurable • Sales Plan Example: fiscal 2003 sales in the Western Region will result in $8 million in revenue at 70% gross margin. Seven customers will be new, 4 of which will be in the hardware vendor vertical. Raw sales pipeline will be maintained minimally at $24 million with weighted pipeline (based on win probability) maintained at $16 million; average deal size will be $75K or greater; sales cycle for wins will average 4 months or less. • Marketing Example: in fiscal 2003, Sales will be queried on a monthly basis regarding Marketing’s success in shortening the sales cycle, increasing margin and revenue, etc.; actions taken by Marketing to address Sales’ concerns will be rated positively by Sales; industry trade journals will publish 6 positive articles on our product; industry analysts, one of which will be Gartner, will publish 4 positive articles on our product; 2 whitepapers will be produced highlighting the benefits of our product; 1 press release per month will highlight a product development or partnership; at launch of version 6 of our product, all relevant literature will be refreshed, sales training complete, key analysts and trade journals notified, and a press release produced.

4. President/CEO-level announcement of plan Acknowledges executive-level support of plan Names and legitimizes the partner management team States requirements to support the partner management team Appropriate Mention Included in Business Plan to Board of Directors Partner Management Team Presents Plan to: President / CEO Direct Reports Sales Kickoffs Marketing Kickoffs Development Kickoffs Support Kickoffs Key Local Sales Offices Partner (sanitized plan) The Plan is Communicated Regular, Actionable Progress Reports Keep Players at All Levels Informed and Engaged (See “The Plan is Managed” – Next Page)

5. The Plan is Managed • Individual in-person or voice-to-voice reviews of key executive-approved metrics will be held with key players weekly. Typically, interviewees will be VP, director and manager-level individuals. Preferably, all reviews will be completed within the same business day. This provides a snapshot of the entire partner business, and also gives visibility to multiple accesses to a particular problem, client, partner, etc., and potential un-addressed or over-addressed (duplication of effort) areas. • Progress reports will efficiently provide relevant, disparate, actionable information, not available or consolidated elsewhere, and present it in a fashion that provides net-new executive decision-making opportunities • The staff time spent establishing, tracking and reporting on metrics must be offset by the value provided to the executive team, company and share holders in terms of new opportunities for decision making, and leveragability of consolidated information for the Board, funding agencies, customers, new hire programs, etc.

6. Players are Compensated • Establish Sales Compensation Plan Commensurate with the Importance of the Partner Strategy • Compensate Alliance Management Team for attainment of plan goals • Provide Programs (Bonus) for Actions that Support the Plan • Bonus for success stories that meet established criteria • Bonus for design wins that meet established criteria • Bonus for other significant efforts that are required for partner success, but are not currently in the comp plan

7. Breakdowns are Handled • Red Flagging Criteria: Red Flagging is reserved for issues that require executive visibility. Red Flagged items potentially put revenue, margin, staff retention, or other goals at risk. Examples:a key funding milestone will not be completed in time for a partner funding opportunity; a key product feature or marketing program will not be ready for product launch; the alliance or channel manager at a strategic partner company is apparently incompetent • Handling Red Flags: “Red Flagged” issues will be handled via same-week meetings or teleconferences among key players. The meetings or teleconferences will address the issues and generate and track solutions. Once an issue has been Red Flagged, it isreported on weekly until resolution or agreed upon, or strategy or circumstances change, resulting in an agreed upon lowering of the importance of the item

8. A Committed Leader is in Place • Will quickly discover and understand the substantial issues, and develop the partner plan in conjunction with key executives and thought leaders at the local and partner company • Will act on the plan with focus and drive while keeping players, executives and the board informed and aligned as appropriate • Will utilize previous experience with this and a similar partners to expedite all aspects of the plan • Will adapt previous successes to new environments (utilizing previous experience, but viewing issues “newly”) • Will effectively hire, develop, deploy and manage required geographically distributed and cross-functional teams • Will continually lobby at high levels internally and with partners to forward the plan • Will have (or rapidly acquire) essential technical background in partner and company solutions