Why is 2024 the year of partnerships? - Part 1

Revolutionary changes are on the horizon for partnerships. In 2024, businesses will see the huge impact these changes will have on how we do business.

Gone are the days of long sales cycles and expensive CPCs; strategic partnerships bring cost-effective, high-value returns with comparatively low effort. 

Those who have already made the switch to ecosystem-first GTM have seen clear results:

• 65% increased efficiency and reduced cost
• 56% improved new customer acquisition
• 47% accelerated product-to-market

‍

We truly believe partnerships will dominate 2024, and you’ll find out more about why in our upcoming report! 

But you don’t just have to take our word for it. We’ve asked top names and faces in the partnership industry for their thoughts on partnerships in 2024 and what businesses can do to prepare. 

There’s an incredible buzz around the potential of partnerships in 2024. And it’s easy to understand why, after such an uphill struggle for most businesses in 2023. So what is it specifically that has got marketers and sales teams excited for partnerships?

‍

‍

I'm incredibly excited for 2024! Companies that dive into automation and AI to supercharge their partner teams will experience a great year. While direct selling remains strong (let's put that rumor to rest), the real magic happens when partner teams seamlessly align their sales counterparts with partners. 

I, therefore, believe that real-time internal enablement will become a major focus of 2024 and unlock significant co-sell revenue.

‍

Rob Rebholz
CEO And Founder at SuperGlue

‍

‍

Customers and partners are looking to do business with trusted advisors and recommended businesses or technologies. 2024 is the year we all expand upon these trusted relationships and do better business together. Let's make each other better together!

Heather Margolis
‍SVP Marketing at 360insights

‍

‍

This is the year where especially European SaaS companies have to level up their partnerships. Don’t focus on awards or the next shiny new object, stop growing your partner landscape without focus, stop telling yourself that every client is your ICP just to onboard new partners.

Instead of scattering your attention, focus on delivering outcomes for your clients together with your existing partners. This is the time to step up and show your clients why you actually teamed up with your partners!

Markus Brunner
‍Partner Manager at Supermetrics

‍

‍

2024 kicks off the Partnerships Renaissance. A renewed focus on efficient growth will bring partnerships front and center for many businesses. Partner leaders who focus on becoming rigorous data-driven operators, building predictable customer-led partnerships, and creating exceptional partner experiences will see outsized success.

Greg Portnoy
‍CEO and Founder

‍

There’s a real sense that the ‘time is now’ to act on making the most of partnerships. Businesses are taking big leaps with their partnerships, and looking to reap huge rewards.

‍

‍

The table is set for partnerships to lead the future of GTM in 2024. Inbound and outbound need help. Nearbound – reaching buyers with and through the partners that surround them - is crucial for success. It's up to partner pros to seize the opportunity.

‍

Isaac Morehouse
CMO at Reveal

‍

‍

We're going all-in with our technology partners in 2024. We're pushing new data sources, co-selling with and promoting our technology partners. Up until now, we've really just focused on the integration and the solution it solves. 2024 is about the money.

Rachel Collie
‍Director of Technology Partnerships & App Marketplace at Unanet

‍

‍

The greatest opportunity in 24 that I see is harnessing the massive $300b opportunity co-selling with the cloud solution providers or hyperscalers like Microsoft, AWS, and Google. Partners of all types need guidance, best practices, and learnings – navigating the complexities of this operating model and ecosystem.

Vince Menzione
‍CEO at Ultimate Partner

‍

‍

Buyers are experiencing an environment where there is an overwhelming abundance of information and declining amount of trust. 2024 will be a year where organizations focused on AND partnered with "who" their prospective customers trust will increasingly outperform those who maintain the status quo or "go it alone" GTM approach.

Spencer Linsley
‍Director of Sales and Strategic Partnerships at Awardco

‍

But, what problems have businesses specifically faced that have brought them to the conclusion that partnerships are where the power now lies?

‍

With macroeconomic uncertainty, companies are looking for more efficient ways to go to market. Additionally, with the high volume of content and cold outreach, vendors are struggling to break through the noise and connect directly with buyers. Partner-led growth can overcome both these challenges. Organizations who leverage their partners' networks of trusted relationships to grow their business will thrive in 2024.

‍

Kelly Sarabyn
Platform Ecosystem Advocate at HubSpot

‍

‍

As we enter 2024, there is obvious global instability. Whether that’s economic, geo-political, or the continued threat of data breaches, and the knock-on impact of financial and reputational consequences to any organisation impacted.

These market influencing considerations will, of course, drive organizations to be more considerate and measured, not just in their approach to overall spend, but the efficiency of that spend. In other words, how much bang can I really get for my buck here?

This is an incredibly positive driver for partnerships and ecosystems: an era that not just welcomes but embraces collaboration to deliver efficiency and frugality to reduce perceived risk in uncertain times. 

The partner network is at its best when leveraging its uniquely holistic view of a customer environment, making strong financial and time-efficient recommendations to combine, integrate, and deliver multiple technologies to work in unison thereby reducing overhead and bandwidth to achieve better operational results whilst at the same time eliminating the fear of poor investment decisions.

John Andrews
‍VP Global Channel at Keeper Security

‍

‍

I think we have moved past partnerships being a ‘nice to have’, to a ‘need to have’. If you look at what we have seen in the broader SaaS market over the last few years, businesses are failing to grow at the rate they predicted and I think this is mainly due to a lot of the tactics that people are trying just don’t work as well as they used to. The future of GTM is relationship-based, and partnership-based.

Ben Wright
‍Founder and CEO at PartnerFuel

‍

Many companies are pivoting their GTM strategy. But what’s their reasoning? This is something all of us wonder about before we commit to pushing partnerships in 2024. 

‍

‍

2024 will be the year of partnerships and channel sales for three reasons. First, the usual B2B acquisition costs (inbound & outbound) are less attractive than ever. Partnerships are now essential to scale any business, especially in the SaaS industry. Second, opening new markets will be done through partners to reduce investment costs and maximize the ecosystem strategy from day one. Third, artificial intelligence will only reinforce the need for long-term human relationships to maximize business impact. Partnerships will thrive in 2024!

‍

Alexandre Leboeuf
Sodexo Innovation & Partnerships / Co-founder Partnershift

‍

‍

With GSIs and Digital Agencies seeing declining performance, they are increasingly turning to their tech partners to recoup lost service revenues and broaden their offerings, 2024 is a pivotal year to reset our dialogues with these partners. By understanding their evolving environment, we can collaboratively unlock new revenue growth opportunities.

Furthermore, as broad AI adoption rekindles technology investments in enterprises, it's an opportune moment to leverage integrations for enhancing product roadmaps and consider acquiring strategic offerings from our partners, addressing our customers' need for innovation AND value.

On the whole, recognizing that partnerships are increasingly central in businesses, especially as companies like Apple, Microsoft, Meta, and Google lead in market performance, this year should focus on simplifying our partnership goals and investing in the teams and their leadership. It's about creating a clear strategy that adds incremental revenue, making a compelling business case for partnerships' role in growth, and career advancement.

Asher Matthew
‍Co-Founder at Partnership Leaders

‍

‍

I've been in the partnerships space for a long time and I've been witness to a steady increase in partnership-souced business over the past few years. However, what I'm seeing now, with the perfect storm of direct acquisition costs, AI technology, new partner tech, and a post-COVID world where relationships become much more relevant, is an accelerated move to advocated business.

We're gearing ourselves up here at Allbound, both from a product and a go-to-market perspective, to unlock the real potential in relationships and multi-party value in this new ecosystem-centric world. 2024 has been a long time coming....but it's most definitely here now!

Paul Szemerenyi
‍CEO at Allbound

‍

‍

We are at a turning point in the industry. 2023 was exceptionally challenging for the tech industry, but it also illuminated that the venture capital-fueled direct sales and marketing GTM motion of the last decade overshadowed how tremendously essential partnerships truly are for companies of all sizes.

As we enter 2024 we see a growing segment of our member base in Partnership Leaders stomping on the accelerator to hire partnership talent and scale their programs as traditional outbound motions fail to deliver.

A commonality with these companies is that their partner programs put customer-centricity at the core of what types of partnerships they are building and how they think about rewarding these partners. As a partner team, how deeply do you truly understand the customer challenges with your product, and how quickly can you build a program that brings in good fit technology and service partners to deliver against those needs? Apply first principle thinking to how you operate.

Chris Samila
‍Co-Founder + Chief Partnership Officer at Partnership Leaders

‍

‍

This is the year where the partnership aperture, long promised to fully open and change the course of our industry, finally opens up to drive us forward to a new normal. The partnership equation has been driven for far too long by the resale/sales motion – a very antiquated way to look at business that was created when we were selling widgets.  

Now that we are selling outcomes delivered by technology what was for many a necessary evil but in many ways a second-class citizen will become the star of the show. We will see the external partnership becoming more important than the internal work. 

It will be necessary to work well with a wide variety of partners to drive innovation, creativity, services, and deliver on the promise of technology. What is driving this? The Managed Services needs of the end customer transforming to drive outcomes – a carefully orchestrated play requiring multiple partnerships to work together to create progress and profitability. Vendors will be well advised to check their ego at the door and take a hard look at their current partner strategy and how it will need to evolve in this new market dynamic.

Janet Schijns
‍CEO at JS Group

‍

Be on the lookout for part 2 next week!