The digital world is just as full of opportunities as threats. Perhaps you are stuck in the belief that you are surrounded almost exclusively by your competitors. Competitors you have to race against. But the truth is that there are many more potential business partners around you. And it is precisely by entering into an alliance with them that you will be able to truly accelerate.

Partnership can be the spark that triggers an explosion of progress. First of all, however, it is necessary to identify the needs and meet people who have the skills and competencies you lack.

In the fourth industrial revolution, solutions not so much in the form of physical devices but as cyber solutions have entered the markets. The market struggle has therefore moved from the real world to the digital world, from showrooms to platforms, marketplace and applications. 

It is in this world that a new partnership is realized, in which competitive advantage and global sales flourish. It is governed by its own rights and, above all, by its SPEED. That is why the development strategies of enterprises have a scale not measured in a few years, but a dozen or even several months. 

Partnership point of view by Kevin Ichhpurani

Partnerships are even more important today because with digital transformation, companies are entering into completely new markets.

Just taking the Ford Motor Company as an example, as they get into autonomous vehicles, they now need to think about how they penetrate the market. They’ve done that by forging an alliance with Lift, where together, when they have their autonomous vehicles, they can go and enter the ride-sharing market.

What you’re seeing is that companies in the digital transformation journey need not only to find partners that can truly work with them to create a one plus one equals three effect in terms of product development, but also provide entry to completely new market adjacencies. It’s critical to have alliance partners that can help you access the markets where you have no distribution or no core competency.