It is essential that both parties are on an equal footing and consider their respective best interests.

In the third article in a series exploring IT partnerships, Jarosław Granat, Customer Engagement Manager at Future Processing, discusses the need to consider a co-creation strategy

A partnership is a value-added relationship that develops over time based on trust and requires equal effort from both parties. The collective “we” can play a vital role in strengthening a partnership and overcoming challenges. Partners who support each other in celebrating success, learning from mistakes, and planning strategy can generate better results. On the other hand, partners who do not share an equal stake and try to establish superiority over other companies can lead the partnership to a “master-slave” relationship. This can not only have a negative effect on the results of the project, but also on the overall success of the partnership.

In the post-pandemic era where businesses want to make the most of advanced digital technologies, the importance of strategic IT partnerships will only increase. IT managers need to understand that in this rapidly changing digital world, mastering each other is essential. The digital needs of many businesses today demand expertise ranging from AI and machine learning to cloud and data analytics – IT companies partnering with others to meet this digital need growing customers can achieve exponential growth. To do this, it is essential that companies understand how to nurture a healthy partnership.

Related: Find part one of the series on how to maximize the value of IT vendor collaborations here, and part two providing top tips for entering an IT partnership for the first time here.

Breaking the command and control model

One partner’s dominance can lead to catastrophic results. It is imperative to ensure that both partners are on the same page and respect each other’s values, objectives and expertise. Partners should avoid a chain of command and be prepared to work collaboratively on all projects. Although IT partners may have distinct expertise, it should be remembered that they have a shared responsibility and involvement in the business.

By avoiding a solution-selling approach for personal business gain, IT leaders can adopt a problem-solving approach that can drive exponential growth in customer satisfaction and strengthen core IT partnerships. One of the best ways to break the command-and-control model is to embed collaborative and hands-on approaches throughout the corporate hierarchy, from the junior level to the senior leadership team. When the whole corporate culture shifts from “do it” to “can we do it?” — this is when a business partnership can become capable of eliminating this command and control model.

Building an inclusive culture

Engaging in an IT partnership is like embracing a new business paradigm. While IT leaders are hungry for innovation, it must be recognized that fostering inclusiveness can enable rapid innovation growth. To build inclusiveness, companies can include employees from partner teams in project discussions and implement strategies that involve mutually beneficial engagement. This can not only establish a positive inclusive culture, but also generate a variety of opinions that can lead to better decision-making.

An imperative factor to note is that the process of building an inclusive culture is not a one-time thing; rather, it is an ongoing practice that must be integrated into the culture of the workplace. Open and transparent communication with a people-to-people approach can allow IT partners to understand each other’s points of view on any project and enable them to put their ideas before others. This exchange of thoughts, opinions, and suggestions can promote inclusivity in the workplace, which can further strengthen the IT partnership.

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Set Appropriate Goals

By breaking the command and control model and creating an inclusive IT culture, partners can work towards eliminating “master-slave” relationships. However, it is necessary to set realistic and appropriate business goals that serve mutual interests rather than tilting in favor of only one of them. The ultimate goal should be to educate the customer and transform their operations through a co-creation strategy.

The business objective should not be based on selling solutions to the customer on the basis of financial gain, but rather should be based on the needs of the customer. Financial gains can ultimately be achieved by providing customers with the required solution. However, by establishing these appropriate goals, both IT partners can mutually benefit from these goals. In other words, it is important that both parties have the same goals in place that serve equal benefit – this can not only promote teamwork, but also transparency throughout the business partnership. Ultimately, creating goals that benefit both parties and the business as a whole is the foundation of any successful partnership.