October 2000

Bowing To The Partners 

BY CHRIS DONNER

After all, the various "partners" might very well be competitors of one another. If they all have access to the same resources and benefits, then partnership isn't offering them any differentiation; it's a level playing field.

But is it fair to simply call someone a "customer" when a company works with them hand-in-glove to insure the best market and resulting sales for their products? If a company goes out of its way to educate and promote its customers, and even customizes its products for particular customers' needs, then in fact that company is treating its customers more like partners. Even if every customer is considered a partner, there still is differentiation, as the sales, marketing, and product development plans are customized depending on the customer/partner's intended market.

To further confuse things, the word "partner" means different things depending on what segment of the industry you are working in. An ASP who handles your e-mail and LAN management is a kind of partner, but this is much different from the developers and integrators you work with to customize your product and get it to market.

This month I decided to query a few players in the communications space and see how they understood the term "partner" and what a partnership meant to them in terms of benefits, commitment, and competition. Also, I wondered about the growth of the ASP model and its potential for impact on existing partnerships. After all, if your partners make their money in selling to vertical enterprise markets (such as insurance companies, hotel chains, office complexes, and so on), the outsourcing of communications systems through the ASP model might begin to cut into your partners' business model. What then?

I interviewed three companies operating in different areas of the communications market: RightNow Technologies, a provider of Web-based customer service solutions for the Internet and intranet environments offering tools to support Web site operations; Telogy Networks, a Texas Instruments company developing integrated silicon and software solutions leveraging TI's DSPs and Telogy Software products for voice, fax, and data over IP; and Sonus Networks, a provider of voice infrastructure products for the new public network, enabling service providers to deploy an integrated network capable of carrying both voice and data traffic, and to deliver a range of innovative, new services.

Their responses make up the bulk of this month's section, in the piece entitled "Partnering: It's Not Just A Do-Si-Do."

What are the benefits of being a partner? Do you provide things like education, co-marketing arrangements, lead generation, or other services for its partners?

We provide sales, implementation, and services training. We conduct a variety of comarketing activities with partners. Currently we are sponsoring Webinars, seminars, golf tournaments, joint mailings, etc. Our partners work closely with our 80 person sales organization to help close business, so leads are passed between the two organizations. 
-- Cindy Taylor, VP of alliances, RightNow Technologies

We provide all that you mention above. We begin the partnership with an extensive technology evaluation conducted by our engineering department. Our sales force is tightly coupled with our partners, so that we can jointly follow-up on strong leads with OEMs. We collaborate on many different marketing activities. These have been a great source of leads for both companies. We have co-authored articles, issued joint press releases, participated in joint trade show promotions, conducted joint interviews with the press, and even launched partner-specific Web "microsites." (See http://www.rtos4voip.com for an example.) 
-- Lynn Miller, director corporate marketing, Telogy Networks

Sonus's Open Services Partner Alliance (OSPA) allows carriers, ASPs, third-party independent service developers, and telephony system software providers to rapidly develop and deliver competitive customer services and applications based on the Sonus's Open Services Architecture. The OSPA gives carriers the flexibility to both develop and integrate "best-of-breed" applications, creating new revenue streams.

Sonus provides many sales activities and co-marketing opportunities for its partners:

• Customer introductions -- we introduce partners to our customers as appropriate.
• Lead sharing -- we share business leads with our partners and vice versa.
• Technology discussion -- ongoing between companies.
• Co-marketing -- includes partnership announcements through Sonus press releases, exposure on Sonus's Web site, joint proposal responses, and tradeshow booth participation.
• Partner lab -- in our own lab our partners' applications are installed and integrated with Sonus products.
• Training -- as appropriate.

-- Gary Rogers, VP worldwide sales and marketing, Sonus Networks

Do partnering arrangements usually involve of customization of standard products to suit a partner's specific needs -- e.g., to make an application particularly appealing to a specific vertical market? If so, how easily is this done and what kind of resources are made available to the partner to help determine the best approach?

Our product, RightNow Web, is customizable and can be integrated into other platforms or applications. The look and feel are modified through administrator tools. We also expose APIs and support external event notifiers for integrations. We support our partners doing this work through our own professional services organization. 
-- Cindy Taylor, VP of alliances, RightNow Technologies

Yes, the partnering arrangements have typically involved some level of customization. This is because the greatest benefit we offer our customers is a pre-integrated solution. So, for example, in the case of RADVision, Telogy Networks provides pre-integrated support of their H.323 protocol stack in our VoIP software solution.

This [customization] is a fairly major undertaking -- we wouldn't say it is "easy," which is why we choose to pre-integrate with key partners. It really does save our customers both time and money. There is an extensive commitment involved from both partners.
-- Lynn Miller, director corporate marketing, Telogy Networks

The Alliance is currently comprised of 37 companies that rapidly develop and deliver competitive services and applications based on Sonus's Open Services Architecture. As such, our solutions are standards-based with open interfaces to our partners' platforms.
-- Gary Rogers, VP worldwide sales and marketing, Sonus Networks

How does your own sales force interact with your partners? Are they competing with each other at a certain level, or rather do they complement each other in their sales strategies?

There is complete channel harmony. The RNT sales force is paid the same for partner-assisted deals as they are for their own deals. 
-- Cindy Taylor, VP of alliances, RightNow Technologies

We do not compete with each other because we offer complementary products that, when integrated, provide a total solution to our customers. It is a partnership, not a rivalry, and our sales force supports this approach. 
-- Lynn Miller, director corporate marketing, Telogy Networks

Sonus's partners offer solutions that are complementary to Sonus products. Together, Sonus and its partners can offer complete turnkey systems. 
-- Gary Rogers, VP worldwide sales and marketing, Sonus Networks

The telecom industry is abuzz with the ASP model. How will broad acceptance of this model impact potential sales and opportunities for communications manufacturers and their partners?

Our products are ideally suited for the ASP market and we are aggressively signing up ASPs to make RNW available on a fee-for-use basis. This will assist businesses in obtaining access to products where they do not have the budget for up-front outlays.
-- Cindy Taylor, RightNow Technologies

We don't see the ASP model impacting our business niche directly, as TI provides an embedded solution to the system providers and OEMs. However, the ASPs may speed the acceptance of converged voice and data services along with a portfolio of other services which could benefit TI in terms of deployment of our technology and the opportunity to new features. 
-- Dennis Gatens, product management director, Telogy Networks

Sonus already has several ASP partners and welcomes the broad acceptance of the ASP model. 
-- Gary Rogers, Sonus Networks 

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