In normal times and uncertain times, a company that plans ahead will always be more prepared for whatever the future holds. Whether that means they are prepped for projected growth or primed to mitigate and recover from a heavy blow, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, preparation remains a major key to success. The savviest companies build a structure that allows for an agile response to all situations.

Partner ecosystems empower companies to pivot towards solutions that position them to achieve success no matter the conditions around them. This preparedness does not only need to end at qualified opportunities within the ecosystem. It can create a foundation that supports seizing later opportunities when they are presented.

Why Are P2P Ecosystems Becoming So Popular?

In business, scalability is key. A single solution provided (SSP) may not possess either the ability or the resources to stretch to meet client demands. The time and effort required to locate the best partner for specific project needs can create a bottleneck for project completion.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) ecosystems offer solution providers the ability to create a network of partners to fill necessary roles. These solutions set aside competition in favor of collaboration that is beneficial for all involved. This smooths the end-to-end journey for client projects and can even create opportunities for projects of greater scope.

Achieving a Robust P2P Ecosystem

You have enough to accomplish on your road to greater success without assembling a network of partners to draw upon. P2P Global places a collaboration marketplace within easy reach. Connect to top-tier IT service providers and build partnerships that will allow you to expand the complexity and quality of your projects both now and in the future.

While P2P Global was created to help you build a partner ecosystem and facilitate collaboration between IT firms, our members have found innovative ways to utilize these tools. A practical, forward-looking use case exists for P2P ecosystems as a hothouse for “pre-qualified opportunities” and increased future project potential.

P2P Global’s software allows for more than filling skill gaps: It also promotes business development.

Challenges P2P Global Aims to Solve

Most IT firms encounter issues that force them to expend time and resources better used to drive forward movement and upward growth. P2P Global seeks to provide solutions that enable companies to do what they do best and ramp up business development efforts. The challenges for which P2P Global provides solutions include:

1. Planning for the future has never been more important. Using the P2P platform allows your firm to line up resources and build an ecosystem for potential future engagements. A healthy partner ecosystem allows for clean, confident pivots towards solutions instead of reactive scrambling to fill an urgent skill gap.
2. Many opportunities present themselves before they are fully qualified, and timing can be uncertain. Savvy firms want to be prepared to solve for skill gaps, and, more importantly, to develop partnerships before they have an immediate need. The P2P Global platform can help prepare for the qualification of these opportunities. 
3. Our members want to engage and collaborate before an opportunity is fully qualified. They want to get to know their partners, grow comfortable with them, build trust and solid relationships before projects solidify.
4. Members typically build out their ecosystems of partners to satisfy multiple clients. This creates repeatable solutions.
5. Business development is an important part of growth strategies. In many cases, this also requires collaboration between partners. It could also mean creating a strategic partnership that sets a company up for future acquisitions or mergers.

When discussing the issues IT firms are looking to solve when building partner ecosystems, we spoke with an expert in the peer-to-peer channel arena: Diane Krakora, founder of PartnerPath. PartnerPath is a consulting firm that works with technology companies to design, implement and operate partnering models and frameworks. Diane noted the challenges firms face and the opportunities available to them should they choose to utilize the P2P Global software.

“One of the key challenges when creating partnerships is being flexible enough to support a wide variety of channel partner business models. The complexity of understanding which types of partners to work with and how to align business models and skill sets can leave you wondering, ‘Who can help me, and how do we come together?’ I see a big opportunity for P2P Global members to connect with firms who then work together for skill sets and market knowledge, but also to come together and develop a solution to share business development opportunities.”

“Furthermore, biz dev can mean not only going after new clients, but it could also be about fostering mergers and creating a win-win situation where both companies grow together. We often see solution provider collaboration – whether it be for tech, software, or bench strength –  is a precursor for mergers, and the Coronavirus pandemic may accelerate these relationships.”

The Power of P2P

As Mico Yuk, CEO of BI Brainz and P2P Global member, has noted, “When your firm has a very specific expertise, you want to be able to focus on what you do best while still providing the most value to your clients. Most firms, even boutique companies with a narrow focus, are often presented with opportunities outside of their scope. The secret to growth and success is the ability to seize these opportunities.”

Vince DeRose, CEO of PEAK Resources and another P2P Global Member, also offered insight into the ways his firm utilizes The P2P Global platform to prepare for the future: “We started to use the P2P platform to solve for skill gaps in a set of projects – very opportunistically. Based on our success and ease of use, we are now starting to use the platform to address continued needs. Some of these skills are skills we simply don’t currently have so we need to partner with someone now in order to have a go-to-market strategy for the future — because we will likely be presented with this opportunity later.”

If you already possess a robust partner ecosystem filled with skills outside your capabilities, you are poised to readily accept these opportunities when they present themselves. Setting up a P2P partnership framework prepares you for future projects.

Get the Most Out of Your P2P Global Connections

As you can see, several P2P Global members have made strong cases for pre-qualifying opportunities and building an ecosystem for future projects. For current members, and those considering membership with the P2P Global marketplace interested in how to make the most of your connections, the following best practices are a good place to start:

1. Name a company focal point. It’s important to have one focal point who is an expert on the P2P Global platform. This resource can assist other members in leveraging the key features of P2P Global, create new opportunities, link with company favorites, and organize and orchestrate responses.
2. Provide a detailed description of the need. The better the information provided in the description of your opportunity, the better the skill alignment the P2P Global platform will return. It is helpful to always include a detailed description of the project, necessary deliverables, timeframe of the project, and any other opportunity-specific information.
3. Utilize “Skill Category, Vendor, and Technical Certifications” section. P2P Global has prepopulated a number of vendor relationships, skills categories, and ISV competencies to aid the matchmaking process. The Top IT vendors across a number of disciplines like DevOps, Security, and Business Application are all included to help further refine curation of candidates. Members can also add new or custom vendors, skills and certifications when posting an opportunity.  
4. Add screening questions. P2P Global has prepopulated the opportunity management section of the platform with a wide variety of our most popular screening questions. We recommend choosing at least one to two to help you evaluate the responses you will get from our highly qualified and vetted member firms. Whether you want a sample of previous work or verification that similar projects have been successful, screening questions will help you gain valuable insights. You can even create custom qualifying questions.
5. Utilize “Favorites” for reliable and quick results. As your ecosystem of partners expands, lean on them to help with new opportunities. When you post a new opportunity, you can flag and preselect your “Favorites” to ensure that they receive the request and are given an opportunity to respond along with the curated results from the platform. 

For our members new and old, how you manage your connections and the information you provide when posting new opportunities will have a big impact on the results you receive from our proprietary search and matching algorithms. 

P2P Global Prepares You For Future Success

The key to staying competitive in an extremely competitive market is planning ahead and remaining agile. The key to being successful is partnering. The P2P Global platform positions your company for success. Learn more and join the P2P Global partner network at P2PGlobal.info.