A few years ago, the concept of an IT partner ecosystem was virtually non-existent. Organizations worked with vendors, suppliers and service providers, sold products or services to customers, and did their best to outsell the competition. Partnerships were mostly developed to exploit market synergies or take advantage of capabilities outside their own areas of specialization.
Today, things are different. Customers have many complex needs that are difficult for any one provider to fully meet, therefore products and services need to work together in a way they didn’t previously. This explains why, according to IDC research, 35% of large enterprises will have created formal ecosystem partnerships with technology providers by 2022.
Why is this? Partner ecosystems are built around communities of participants that want to achieve similar goals. To do so, they share ideas and information, and try to provide seamless interoperations between their technology and services, through integrations, data links and APIs. Each member of the ecosystem adds value through their own customer base, their individual technology strengths, or their specific skillsets and experience. Get it right, and all participants can thrive.
Microsoft and Adobe have experience in this kind of partner ecosystem, both in partnerships with existing resellers, software vendors, systems integrators, and device partners, as well as in the strong partnership the two companies have forged around Microsoft Azure and Adobe Experience Platform. In the case of Microsoft, its partner ecosystem of 400,000 organizations, influences more than 95% of its commercial revenue. Microsoft partners gain access to not only Microsoft technology, but a commercial marketplace of around 4 million monthly active users across 140 plus countries. Adobe has years of experience working with hardware and software vendors, publishers and designers and the world’s biggest names in marketing and media.
Partner ecosystems are built around communities of participants that want to achieve similar goals.
Together, Microsoft and Adobe draw on each other’s strengths in business intelligence, the Azure cloud platform, AI, analytics, marketing and design. Both share a vision of empowering businesses to better understand and reach their customers and build richer customer experiences.
You can see this at work in the way the Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud platform integrates with Adobe marketing solutions to deliver these customer experiences. It’s also visible in the customer journey flow between Adobe Analytics, Power BI, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Adobe Campaign and Adobe Sign, allowing marketers to track the customer through every touchpoint and craft personalized experiences that speak directly to their needs and interests. By building on complementary product lines and capabilities, the two are stronger working together than they would be working apart.
Not every alliance works this effectively. It takes time and vision to develop a deep partnership, collaborate strategically and mesh capabilities together in one ecosystem. But the goal for certain, is that the partnership begets the success of both parties and the communities and economies they serve. As Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, stated at Microsoft Inspire 2021 as he addressed its 400,000 Microsoft partner ecosystem, “when it comes to our partners, we believe in two truths. First, we’re only successful if you are successful, that means creating new opportunity for you across every sector and every country. Second, we collectively are successful when the world around us is successful, that means every community and country. You are helping small businesses become more productive; multinationals more competitive, non-profits more impactful, governments more efficient, improving healthcare and educational outcomes, creating new employment opportunities, and much, much more.”
To find out more about the strengths of Adobe and Microsoft’s partnership and find out what impact such a partnership could have on your own business, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/microsoft-adobe-enterprise-partnership