The ASAP Guide to Information Technology Partnering

This supplement to the ASAP Handbook of Alliance Management was created to give technology professionals the specialized frameworks and insights they need to partner successfully in this industry. 

Technology rarely reaches the market through one company acting alone. Vendors, platforms, distributors, resellers, service providers, and other partners increasingly work together in networks that can shift quickly as technologies, business models, and customer needs change. 

The ASAP Guide to Information Technology Partnering applies alliance management principles to the fast-paced tech environment. It explores how technology companies can orchestrate partnerships, channels, and broader ecosystems while balancing collaboration, competition, sales goals, and shared value. 

What you'll explore

  • The persistence of and threats to the traditional IT vendor-distributor-reseller channel
  • The rise and spread of IT ecosystems
  • The role of alliance managers as ecosystem orchestrators and facilitators
  • Collaboration and competition in IT partnering
  • Revenue-generating go-to-market guidelines, new selling motions, and the relationship between alliance management and sales
  • Alliances as an essential enterprise function in today’s high-tech world

The guide also includes frameworks, checklists, key questions, worksheets, and additional resources for applying alliance management principles in tech partnerships. 

Functions of an ecosystem

In a one-to-one alliance, two organizations have to align around a shared goal. A multipartner alliance or ecosystem introduces increasing complexity as each new partner brings its own goals, culture, and operations to the project.  

That makes ecosystem management an ongoing job: connecting the right partners, creating the conditions for collaboration, and helping the network grow and adapt without losing sight of what it is there to accomplish. 

In the supplement, we describe the functions of the IT ecosystem as orchestrating, growing, expanding, and refreshing. 

Click here to see an overview of the supplement.

Who is it for? 

Whether you’re moving into alliance management in technology or already managing channels, strategic partners, or complex ecosystems, the ASAP Guide to Information Technology Partnering provides industry-specific context to complement the principles and frameworks in the ASAP Handbook of Alliance Management. 

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