Perfect alignment between technology partnerships and business goals
Henry Ford once said; "Getting together is a start. Staying together is progress. Working together is a success. This is the same vision we have at Izertis with our network of technological alliances. We know that we have the best team and that we have a differential portfolio in the sector, covering the 'end to end' of our clients' needs, but we also believe that we must be supported and accompanied by the best manufacturers and suppliers in order to achieve success. This is the master key.
The Izertis Alliances Office has developed a strategy that allows us to support the rest of the company by aligning and acting as intermediaries between the business and operations areas.
Izertis has a rich portfolio of services ranging from the implementation of end-user web portals to the databases where our clients' business information is stored. In between, it responds to the needs that may exist for monitoring security, adapting business processes to regulatory compliance, hosting IT infrastructure in hybrid clouds or carrying out hardware and software developments, providing them with a groundbreaking corporate image and a successful sales strategy.
Bring value
Carrying out all these processes involves relying on manufacturers to guarantee our success as global integrators, and on our customers, confirming that they have the best solutions. The criteria for the selection of strategic alliances are various:
-Business model: It is essential that the technology is aligned with the business model of Izertis and our customers and therefore a large part of our partner ecosystem is based on SaaS solutions (Softwareas a Service). It is a clear market trend and a model that allows companies to pay for what they use. They tend to stand out for their ability to integrate with other tools, scalability and support.
They have automatic updates and data backup guaranteed by contract, as well as extensive security measures due to the different regulatory controls they must pass depending on the geographic area from which they provide the SaaS service.
In this area we could highlight our alliance with manufacturers such as Salesforce where we deploy their different solutions in our clients, whether they are business or marketing, in SaaS format, integrating it in turn with the end client's ecosystem and processes.
-Reputation and experience: The manufacturers Izertis looks for are always leaders in their sector. It is not only a question of choosing the best, but also, taking into account our analytical capabilities, of choosing the one that best suits each client's case. As a matter of corporate policy, the company selects partnerships from countries with data-friendly regulations and the highest levels of cybersecurity compliance.
Izertis selects those manufacturers who believe in the ability of the integrator to add value
Also excluded are those companies that do not present a transparent financial level, a solid brand image (trying to avoid alliances that move between investment funds where the big losers are always the final clients) and that have a strong staff structure at all levels. Sales, execution and after-sales service.
It is worth highlighting our partnerships with the main hyperscalars; Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Google or infrastructure companies such as Dell Emc or Veeam. These are some examples of major technology manufacturers, leaders in all areas of their segment, with which Izertis is developing its positioning strategy in the Cloud area.
-Joint value: Izertis selects those manufacturers that believe in the integrator's ability to add value. We shy away from alliances where only a resale service is provided, always believing in a joint positioning of the channel, where manufacturer, wholesaler in some cases and integrator partner make a picture that guarantees both the success of the customer and the operation.
Thanks to the participation of the channel (the channel being understood as the flow of companies that make up the channel): manufacturer-wholesaler-partner) benefits are achieved for all parties including technical expertise, financial models, and improved customer service at pre-sales and after-sales level.
At this point it is important to highlight our differential positioning with the manufacturer Liferay, which we present to our customers as part of our development capabilities and with which we have even produced packaged products and solutions, as is the case with the Izertia suite. In addition, bringing all our experience in artificial intelligence, we optimise the solution to establish dynamic content strategies in the web portals we design.
The strategy
Once our partnership network is established, the key is to find that mutual commitment, the path that allows all parties to benefit from this union. For this reason, at Izertis we have established a working framework that facilitates both the comfort of the relationship and its duration over time.
-Business plan: business roadmap is established where both parties are aware of the sales cycle that governs this technology sector and where, without being overly ambitious, milestones and timescales are set that are comfortable for both parties. This is where our entire sales force works together to align the needs of our customers, the latest industry trends and the joint positioning of both brands.
One of the keys to our success is our people and the training of the teams responsible for each partnership
This business plan is always accompanied by a marketing plan. Establishing a series of initiatives that jointly position us (alliance and partner) within the market as differentiators is always part of success. Actions such as summits, sectorial events, sponsorships and publications in specialised media are formats in which we move periodically and which allow us to make an extensive network of both professional and technical contacts.
-Training: One of the keys to our success is our people, which is why equal importance is given to the training of the teams responsible for each alliance at all levels. From the business side, where they are trained to know how to adapt the best solution for each client, to our solution architecture teams where, in the pre-sales phase, they are integrated into our clients' teams in order to introduce a new solution into the client's IT ecosystem in a fully integrated way.
Finally, there is our project development layer. Due to the offer capacity of our services, we have career plans adaptable to our clients, which can be remotely from the Izertis offices or in turnkey format with 8x5 or 24x7 support after the completion of the implementation. For all these profiles, there are training plans for each alliance whose origin is established on the basis of the official plans or tailor-made courses are developed and distributed through internal platforms.
-Partner Owner: This strategy could not be carried out if there were not a representative figure for each of our alliances within Izertis. In an Alliances Office, which houses between 10 and 15 major global strategic alliances for Izertis, it is key to be able to have a representative and supporter of each of these brands within the company, who helps the different levels of Izertis to fulfil the plans and objectives established jointly.
They are normally people with great experience in the IT world, with extensive knowledge of the brand they sponsor and recognised within the specialised sector of each of the alliances, both at a technical level (normal origin of the partner owner's knowledge), as well as in the field of business and positioning in the end client (natural evolution of this type of profile within the technology sector).
Awards, publications, public advocacy and certifications accompany you to make your presence at an opportunity related to your partnership a success at any stage. Sales, pre-sales, deployment or support. Furthermore, its positioning and collaboration in the aforementioned channel allows for a differential positioning that provides direct advantages in terms of price, time and quality to the end customer.
Izertis is aware of the importance of aligning a good manufacturer strategy that can help achieve business objectives. And, in this sense, we offer our clients an Alliances Office, which together with the different partner owners who lead the most significant brands that help us to fulfil our strict growth plans, will collaborate in the achievement of our clients' successes.
This office guarantees the careful selection of these alliances based on criteria of reputation, experience, security, presence and capacity to provide differential value, establishing collaboration plans in different areas that cover the entire IT channel.
And if we talk about people, internally Izertis always seeks to stand out for a demanding level of commitment through staff training and the search for the best conditions to make the operation as advantageous and comfortable as possible for our customers.