Ecosystem Metrics
Alliance activities are typically indirect as related to the sale of products and services. Sales people, pre-sales support and product engineers have direct responsibility for obtaining and satisfying customers. So how can alliance staff claim a direct revenue impact? The answer often is, they can’t. Identifying metrics that illustrate an alliance’s value can be frustratingly difficult.
Difficult, but not impossible. There are ways to measure the impact of alliance activities, if indirectly. Some of the metrics we have seen include:
Leads/At Bats/Opportunities Shared
Joint Bids (total number and $ value)
Joint Marketing Programs/Events & Leads Obtained
Changes in Average Deal Size (or individual customer spend)
Top Line Revenue Growth in Absence of Other Factors
These are all metrics impacted by Alliance activities. New Joint Marketing Programs are often directly the result of increased Alliance activity in combination with Marketing. Shared opportunities and Joint Bids can also be directly linked to Alliances, as the initial information often comes through Alliance team members.
Regardless of the metrics you select, make sure you establish a baseline Alliance Health Scorecard. Collect measurements on your selected metrics and, if possible, any metrics you think you might use in the future. Also, establish qualitative metrics that reflect the health of the relationship. Share the scorecard with your partner and get joint buy-in on each rating (Executive Alignment, number of Targeted Joint Accounts, number of opportunities, etc.). Then meet and update the scorecard at least semi-annually.