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A list of consistent and recurring best practices in Global System Integrator Alliances.

A briefing sheet describing the purpose, activities and deliverables of Stage 3 of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

An example of a Stage 3 Joint Go To Market Plan produced as an output from Stage 3 of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

An example template report showing the output from Stage 2 of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

A factsheet describing the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology Training.

An ABP research paper on the value of establishing collaboration as a corporate competence.

A single slide overview of the VST Alliance Optimization Process.

A briefing sheet describing the Alliance Leaders Forum (ALF)

An overview of the VST Alliance Sales Training and how to use it to increase revenue.

A briefing document describing the value of creating Ecosystem Value Maps

A briefing sheet describing how to elevate low level partnerships to high level strategic alliance relationships

A briefing sheet describing the value of establishing collaboration as a corporate competency

A powerpoint slide deck to accompany the VST Stage 3 video training course.

A briefing sheet describing an ABP partner assessment offering

Corporate-led sustainability alliances can be a secret weapon in the drive to create system-level change. We discovered ten factors that separate high impact CSAs from the rest.

A document highlighting how to use VST to choose partners.

A briefing document describing the ABP User Group for NetSuite

A tool for practitioners to use to assess the maturity of their alliance relationships.

A briefing sheet describing how to conduct a partner healthcheck

A briefing sheet describing the ABP recommended approach to alliance relationship building

A briefing sheet describing the Alliance Excellence Model from ABP

An example of the output from Stage 3 of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology

This research paper uses eight criteria to identify high growth companies in the Uk in 2020. Key amongst these is Partnerships.

Understanding the Future of Trust requires a recognition of its present state. Trust has always been at the core of interpersonal relationships, but only recently has business started to recognize the impact that Trust has on organizational outcomes. In essence, we’ve entered the Trust Age: a time where (mis)information is omnipresent, individual perceptions reign supreme, and digital security and data privacy are constantly threatened. In short, today, a myriad of stakeholders are holding organizations accountable for being trustworthy and, thus, Trust must evolve from merely a chance outcome to a strategic priority.

A briefing sheet detailing the ABP alliance benchmarking process, principles, features and benefits

An explanation of the Alliance Maturity Model.

Organizations traditionally cultivate trust over time, earning it from different stakeholders as a byproduct of their consistency and transparency. But, in repositioning themselves to adapt to a shifting economic environment, companies may discover the need to embed trust as part of their core foundation, which means fostering, deepening, and monitoring it as they would any other driver of enterprise value.

The latest list of VST Case Studies.

Research from alliance best practice over the last 20 years has revealed: - Organisations that used a recognised process or methodology in their alliance sales achieved greater degrees of success than those that did not. - Organisations that used a recognised ‘best practice’ methodology achieved even greater degrees of success. - ‘Best practice’ was defined as a methodology built from multiple practitioners using approaches and activities which had been proven to work in practice. - The VST Alliance Sales Methodology is available as part of ABP Premium Membership and costs £500.00 per person per year. - Full training on the use of the methodology is included in membership

A briefing sheet describing Alliance Best Practice Ltd - Who are we? - What do we do? - Who do we do it for?

The old plan-build-run models of services with time-and-materials pricing are poorly aligned with the needs of a future-fit enterprise, where transformation is continuous and multidimensional and carries the uncertainty of the unknown. CIOs need a better model. There’s a new service paradigm taking shape that puts value at the center of the relationship and uses outcomes-based commercial models to create alignment. We call it a co-innovation partnership. A co-innovation partnership works when each party takes on a new set of responsibilities with shared benefits.

The responsibilities of boards of directors continue to evolve and increase, particularly given the events of the past year. In addition to perennial topics such as strategy, succession, financial reporting, compliance, and culture, boards are experiencing broader demands on their oversight from expanding stakeholder and shareholder considerations; continuing challenges of the ongoing global pandemic and its aftermath; and addressing the changing role of the corporation in society at large on matters such as racial justice and climate. The growth in the number and complexity of board responsibilities is taking place in an environment of growing skepticism towards our various institutions.

Adhering to four key principles can help companies increase the odds that their collaborations will create more value over their life cycles.

A description of how the VST Alliance Optimisation Methodology Increases Alliance Sales.

A single slide summary showing the VST Value Proposition 1 - Measure 2 - Manage 3 - Monetize 4 - Maximize.

A document describing how to use the Alliance Best Practice Library.

The original David and Goliath reserach report first conducted by Accenture.

How does the composition of a collection of individuals affect its outcome in competition with other collections of individuals? Assuming that individuals can be different, we develop a model to interpolate between individual-level interactions and collective-level consequences. Rooted in theoretical mathematics, the model is not constrained to any specific context. Potential applications include research, education, sports, politics, ecology, agriculture, algorithms and finance. Our first main contribution is a game theoretic model that interpolates between the internal composition of an ensemble of individuals and the repercussions for the ensemble as a whole in competition with others. The second main contribution is the rigorous identification of all equilibrium points and strategies. These equilibria suggest a mechanistic underpinning for biological and physical systems to tend towards increasing diversity due to the strength it imparts to the system in competition with others.

Every business relationship needs some agreements to be written down, so that both parties know what to expect and cooperate smoothly with the aim of fulfilling previously established goals. As the Future Processing’s Head of Business Development, I have had an opportunity to take part in a great amount of business negotiations. This checklist is the result of my experience - Dawid Przespolewski

A briefing sheet describing the Accenture Preferred Provider Program

A template for an alliance charter.

A briefing sheet describing the ABP alliance benchmarking process

An example of a VST Alliance Optimization briefing note used to initiate a strategic alliance relationship.

A blank template of the VST Alliance Sales Training Certificate given to VST Course attendees.

This executive edition of our full e-book “Partnering Performance” will give you an overview of the key subjects in the book and share some top level knowledge on the topics most important to today’s channel executive: • How to structure frameworks to support cloud and hybrid channels • How to effectively ramp and onboard partners • How to resource your program effectively and efficiently to best serve your partners • How to go-to-market with your partners

An ABP briefing sheet describing the value of the VST Alliance Optimisation Methodology.

A set of practical materials supporting VST Stage 1.

An example output template report of the VST Alliance Sales Optimisation Process.

An example of a VST Alliance Optimization Methodology Stage 1 Benchmark Report - Mike Nevin

Stories abound of companies losing trust with their stakeholders. Some involve privacy breaches, misinformation, or disinformation; others chronicle companies that simply failed to live up to their promises. The stakes, in each case, are high: A recent Deloitte analysis found examples of three large global companies, each with a market cap of more than $10 billion, that lost 20% to 56% of their value—a total $70 billion loss—when they lost their stakeholders’ trust.

A briefing sheet describing the Alliance Best Practice Best Practice Partnering Club

A PDF slide deck describing the logic of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology

This is the first in a series of articles on how governments and businesses in developed and developing countries can collaborate to solve some of the toughest challenges facing society.

A pdf version of a Powerpoint Pack Briefing Senior Executives on the benefits of the VST Alliance Sales Methodology

An example of the MOUP Stage 2 Report Produced from the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology

A video training course focusing on Stage 1 of the VST Alliance Optimisation Process.

Alliances and particularly strategic alliances typically exist at more than one level of management in the participating companies. ABP would argue that there are three key types of stakeholder in a strategic alliance. This short article describes them.

This document is a sanitised version of an actual VST Stage 1 Benchmarking Report of te relationship between Cisco and Dimension Data.

Each year, Gartner conducts the world’s most influential CIO survey to track how CIOs and other senior IT leaders around the globe are balancing their strategic business, technical and management priorities. With these findings we generate the annual Gartner CIO Agenda Report, which presents survey results and case studies, plus expert analysis and insight - enabling CIOs to compare priorities and actions with global peers, and glimpse what the future may hold.

A template document identifying the role, responsibilities and activities of a VST Alliance Optimisation sponsor.

The art of successfully managing a supply chain for optimum value continues to be one of the most talked about, yet elusive, goals in the world of manufacturing. When it comes to supply chain, manufacturers are too often dazzled by "flavorof-the-month" management philosophies and dismayed by the sheer number of supply chain technology solutions out there. The goal of this article is to cut through the confusion, define value chain and explain its impact on growth oriented companies.

A summary of the book Teaching Organizations to cooperate by Edwin Kaats and Wilfred Opheij

A briefing sheet describing the ABP process of conducting alliance health checks in the Pharma industry

The orchestrators of today’s largest technology-enabled business ecosystems are uniquely positioned to help bring about collective environmental action. Human societies have an outstanding ability to solve complex collective action problems, and for the past 400 years they have done so primarily through the mechanism of the nation-state. However, states have found it especially challenging to tackle collective action problems that are global in scale. The answer may lie in cross sector cross company business ecosystems.

Learn how to build a high impact partner program that will deliver speed to value for your customers, and tangible ROI to your business.

A comprehensive review of the research on strategic alliances in the last decade.

A briefing sheet describing the best practices when partnering with Global System Integrators

A description of the VST Alliance Sales Methodology Training Workshop.

A briefing sheet describing the alliance sales training course from ABP

An example VST Benchmark Proposal showing a sanitized version of an actual proposal for IBM.

A briefing sheet describing the benefits of Alliance Best Practice Membership

A slide deck showing how alliances are accelerated using the VST Alliance Optimization Process.

A briefing sheet describing the purpose, activities and deliverables of Stage 2 of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

A briefing sheet explaining the process of running a VST Alliance Optimisation Pilot Exercise.

A briefing sheet describing the Global System Integrator Collective Group. A group od heads of alliances at GSI and Global Advisory Firms

Present day supply chains are global by becoming longer but also more fragile. Supply chains are always faced with constant cost pressures as customers often demand higher service levels without an increase in price. Firms often lack visibility of what is happening within their supply chains. Global supply chains require sophisticated abilities to monitor, report, adjust to, and analyse the flow of events that occur. In order to be able to manage such events, collaboration with partners and suppliers of products and services is needed to transform from a “plan and execute” to a “sense and respond” way of operating.

The basic supply and demand foundations of the consumer products and retail (CPR) sector has been massively shaken by the pandemic. Take digital acceleration. Online sales are expected to increase at their fastest rate in 12 years, accounting for 20% of all retail purchases in 2020. Grocery stores, pharmacies, and other essential retail outlets ran out of stock as the crisis first hit, with consumers stocking up on staples, from toilet paper to hand sanitizers.

A briefing sheet describing how to grow your business with alliances.

An example partner agreement which can be used as a template.

A quiz for alliance practitioners to assess knowledge of alliance best practices.

A description of a process to allow companies to grow their businesses through partnerships.

A briefing sheet which describes how to conduct a VST alliance optimization pilot exercise

A description of an Alliance Best Practice Workshop for AirPlus Ltd

Channel professionals want to talk about expanding their partner programs and building broad ecosystems, but the truth is that many of their basic program and channel management processes are still painfully manual and error prone. Before accelerating their channel program, they need to apply basic automation technologies to get their front- and back-end systems to a future-ready state.

Enterprises and brands have traditionally focused on growth through sales and marketing optimization. While historically successful, enterprises are increasing their focus on growth through partnerships to meet and exceed future growth goals. As partnerships become increasingly crucial to revenue growth, organizations must develop an operational strategy and leverage the correct channel tools and organizational best practices to ensure partnership success.

A briefing sheet describing the VST Alliance Sales Training Course and its applicability to non alliance specific salespeople

A set of practical materials supporting VST Stage 6.

A list of companies that are using or have used the VST Alliance Sales Optimization Methodology.

A description of an ecosystem design and modelling tool from Tr3dent.

A set of practical materials supporting VST Stage 5.

A briefing sheet describing the constituent factors in Best Practice Partnering

A set of Definitions of the Key Stakeholders in a VST Exercise.

A series of slides as part of an ABP Workshop looking at alliance segmentation.

An example report from Stage 2 of the VST Alliance Optimisation Process

A description of the ABP research and the discovery of the 52 Common Success Factors in Strategic Alliance Relationships

A comprehensive manual describing the phases, stages, actions and deliverables of the VST Alliance Sales Methodology.

This white paper provides a framework for senior executives to transform their supply chain from a tactical cost centre to a strategic asset, that then creates a competitive position which is hard to duplicate.

An introduction to Alliance Best Practice Ltd. Who we are. What we do. How we do it. and Who we do it for!

A briefing sheet describing the ABP Coaching Course for non alliance specific salespeople

A visual 2 slide summary of the VST Alliance Sales Methodology.

Platform businesses reshape industries by dramatically improving the economics of integration and service delivery. You can participate in a platform economy by exposing capabilities via APIs and adopting partners' platforms. But to lead, digital business leaders must build services that customers and suppliers embed into their operations. We interviewed 33 platform businesses, including Dropbox, General Electric, PayPal, and SupplyOn, to find out how. The answer? Start with a real customer problem, not ecosystem envy.

A tool to allow alliance and partnership practitioners to judge the strength of a partnership relationship.

A list of each of the identified 52 best practices in the alliance best practice library with a full explanation of their uses.

This study explores the antecedents of alliance failure between incumbents and startups by shedding light on the ex ante conditions that initiated the alliances, the in situ conditions that caused the alliance failures, and the ex post conditions of the outcomes. We conducted a qualitative, multiple case-study analysis of four failed alliances in a northern European context based on interviews with executives from the incumbents, startups, and incubators involved. Our findings indicate that the promise of resource complementarity between incumbents and startups does not warrant the success of strategic alliances. Finally, we explore the implications of our findings and propose how incumbents and startups can collaborate better in future alliances.

A briefing sheet which describes the best practices to consider when conducting partner assessments

The most up to date VST Alliance Optimization Manual (Latest Version is Version 13).

An example of a VST Stage 2 Report.

As partnerships grow more complex, putting the right foundations in place from the start becomes even more crucial to lucrative and lasting collaboration

A video training Course Focusing on Stage 2 of the VST Alliance Optimization Process.

An explanation of the concept of Ecosystem value maps and their most common uses.

A document describing how the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology helps practitioners choose the right alliance partners.

Organizations traditionally cultivate trust over time, earning it from different stakeholders as a byproduct of their consistency and transparency. But, in repositioning themselves to adapt to a shifting economic environment, companies may discover the need to embed trust as part of their core foundation, which means fostering, deepening, and monitoring it as they would any other driver of enterprise value.

An example Alliance Excellence Benchmark Report. Part of the Alliance Excellence Series.

A video training course focusing on Stage 6 of the VST Alliance Optimization Process.

An example alliance benchmark report. Part of the Alliance Benchmark series.

An explanation of the Quarterly VST Networking User Group Meetings.

Drawing on the insights gleaned from three years of ecosystem research, we offer a step-by-step framework for developing an incumbent company’s ecosystem strategy.

A set of practical materials supporting VST Stage 4.

A briefing sheet describing the ABP Partner Recruitment Service Offering

A VST Stage 1 template tool to identify key stakeholders and scope.

How GE Digital, Kone and Salesforce evolve the business with strategic partnerships.

A briefing sheet describing how to build an alliance best practice program business case

More companies are forging strategic alliances as they seek competitive advantage. Here’s what they must do to build and manage them successfully.

The seminal paper on ecosystem development from the 'godfather' of ecosystem thinking. Successful businesses are those that evolve rapidly and effectively. Yet innovative businesses can’t evolve in a vacuum. They must attract resources of all sorts, drawing in capital, partners, suppliers, and customers to create cooperative networks. Much has been written about such networks, under the rubric of strategic alliances, virtual organizations, and the like. But these frameworks provide little systematic assistance for managers who seek to understand the underlying strategic logic of change. Even fewer of these theories help executives anticipate the managerial challenges of nurturing the complex business communities that bring innovations to market.

A description of the VST Users Club and the membership benefits and features.

A briefing sheet describing the VST Alliance Optimization User Group

A list of the 52 identified best practices in alliances contained in the alliance best practice database.

A briefing sheet describing the value of sponsoring the annual Women in Alliances Conference

An example VST Alliance Optimization Methodology briefing not for an existing alliance. Most often used in alliance refresh exercises.

A training document describing how to run a VST Alliance Optimization Exercise.

An example of a report produced as part of Stage 3 of the VST Alliance Optimisation Process

A briefing sheet describing the Partnership Leaders Forum

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are quantifiable business metrics that track and measure an organisation’s progress toward its strategic objectives. More than just numbers, KPIs tell a story about how well a company is performing. Understanding KPIs as they relate to your industry, company and even separate departments within a company is essential for any growing business.

A series of questions designed to judge the readiness of organisations to partner effectively.

An overview of the VST Alliance Optimization six stage training course.

A briefing sheet describing the features and benefits of the Alliance Best Practice Business case Builder Tool

Many C-suite executives, including CFOs, recognize the need to build or rebuild trust in their organizations. However, they often struggle to understand exactly how trust can be defined, managed, and measured. Indeed, trust is commonly considered an abstract or even nebulous concept, and some organizations don’t prioritize trust or treat it with the same focus and urgency as they do other business priorities. But the potential benefits for those companies that are considered trustworthy can be significant. Recent research suggests that these companies can outperform the S&P 500 by levels as high as 30% to 50%.

Supply chain leaders exhibit adaptability and resiliency, especially during times of disruption. The Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 highlights companies possessing these and other differentiating capabilities, and provides people, process and technology insights that CSCOs can use to compete.

A description of an accelerated VST Alliance Optimization Process which can be completed in 90 days. Most useful for new post holders.

A briefing pack for senior executives describing the purpose, activities and deliverables of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

A briefing sheet describing the aims, ambitions and purpose of the Women in Alliances Group

A growing number of companies across geographies and sectors are making ecosystem business models a strategic imperative to drive stakeholder value. Those companies that exhibit leading practices in their management and execution of ecosystem business models outperform those that do not. Companies effectively managing ecosystem business models report benefits to innovation and operational efficiencies both within their organization and the market.

After a !rst wave of trials, incumbents are shaking up value chains to attract new ecosystem customers - and tap potentially huge pools of value.

A description of the Key Stakeholder Roles in a VST Exercise.

An example of a briefing note used by clients to explain to partners the adoption of the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology. Most often used in email form.

Increasingly, organizations rely on networks of agile teams to get work done. Volatile global markets, digital disruption, and competition for talent have forced companies to accelerate innovation, adapt rapidly to sudden shifts in market conditions, and stay closer than ever to local customers. In response, companies are forming looser, more fluid networks of empowered teams that communicate and coordinate activities in dynamic ways. Research conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity finds that 40% of high-performance organizations―those that excel in revenue growth, profitability, and market share over a 5-year time horizon―are shifting from traditional functions to more cross-functional project/team-based work to a “high or very high degree.”

A briefing Pack for Senior Executives explaining the features, benefits and outcomes of a VST Alliance Optimization Exercise.

To Be Effective in an Increasingly Ecosystems World, It’s Vital to Understand the Different Types of Ecosystems and How They’re Governed and Managed. This article from Professor Ard-Pieter de man will help.

A document describing the Alliance Best Practice Library and how to find files.

A list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) regarding the VST Alliance Optimization Methodology.

A description of a recent VST Networking event in Silicon Valley.

We are all in uncharted waters today: a pandemic and economic upheaval, coupled with rapid technology change, rising customer expectations and more. The impact of these developments has rippled throughout the world of commerce, including business relationships. One notable relationship change is that between large technology providers and the strategic partners they work with. It’s an important topic, because many (if not most) products and services that customers purchase involve partnerships of one kind or another. This paper explores the changing expectations of technology providers and partners, and offers practical guidance on how both parties can work together more effectively.

A briefing sheet describing the ABP research into best practices in partner ecosystems

A briefing sheet describing how to implement an alliance best practice programme

A summary of VST case studies in the High Tech industry showing degree of commercial improvement.

An introduction to the structure, methods and tools necessary for designing, building, implementing and executing an alliance strategy to effectively take your solutions to market with and through partners.

An explanation of Alliance Best Practice Corporate Membership

A single slide summary of the VST Alliance Sales Methodology.

An example of a VST Dashboard as used by Accenture.

An ABP briefing sheet describing the concept of alliance excellence and its value as a model.

A briefing sheet describing the value of sponsoring a VST Alliance Optimization event.

In the Deloitte Global Boardroom Program’s latest Frontier survey, both board members and executives agree trust is important and think it’s their responsibility. But few include stakeholder trust-building in their corporate governance strategy. What’s stopping them?

A video training course focusing on Stage 3 of the VST Alliance Optimization Process.

A two slide summary of the VST Alliance Sales System.