Adobe, Oracle and Salesforce – The Big Three

By: Jim Misuraca

As a follow-up to Chris’ blog post on 5 Tools for Better Alliance Partnerships where Chris positioned it from the ISV perspective, I’m going to provide the perspective of the large enterprise software company. While there are several enterprise software companies that many ISVs partner with – SAP, IBM, Tealium, Marketo, Domo, Pega, etc. -- three stand out as the primary targets for most ISVs looking to increase awareness of their solution and grow revenue – Adobe, Oracle, and Salesforce (a.k.a the Big Three).  In full disclosure, I worked for Oracle Marketing Cloud for almost five years building their ISV partner ecosystem. In addition, I currently work for Decibel – a digital experience intelligence platform that is a Premier partner in the Adobe Exchange Program.  

If you’re one of the ~6,800 ISVs in Scott Brinker’s latest MarTech graphic, chances are you’re in a defined market with defined competitors. The more competitors in your space, the tougher it is to stand out as an ISV to the Big Three.  

I’ve been asked by hundreds of ISVs over the years:

• What does it take for an ISV to work with Adobe/Oracle/Salesforce successfully?
• What can I do to stand out vs. the other ISVs?
• How do I go to market with Adobe/Oracle/Salesforce?

I’m going to provide you with some best practices as well as some examples of what I’ve seen not work with the Big Three.  The Big Three all have vastly different technology (ISV) partner programs. It’s fascinating to me that the programs can be so different, yet all of them are very successful. 

Membership Does NOT (Usually) Have Its Privileges

Don’t assume because you belong to Big Three ISV Partner Program that it entitles you to anything. Companies the size of Adobe/Oracle/Salesforce don’t have to work with any ISV if they don’t want to…..it won’t make or break them in any way.  Many ISVs seem to think they’re entitled to X or to Y because they paid for a membership. Membership only gets you in the door (in software speak, it gets you a logo on their site). That’s about it. The rest is up to you and what you make of the program.

Know Where You Fit In

Over the years, dozens of ISV Alliances people have come to me with an “I need access to your Sales team” or “Let’s build a go-to-market plan” etc. without thinking about where they fit in the ecosystem. It amazes me how many folks don’t even know where they fit. They look at joining a partner program as a ‘check the box’ exercise. What pain point do you solve? In which verticals do you play? What are some common use cases? What value does your “better together” solution bring? Why would customers WANT an integration with your solution and the Big Three? Do you have any joint customers who may be willing to ask the Big Three for the integration? How does your price point compare to the solution with which you’re integrated?  If you don’t know these answers cold, it could be an uphill battle working with the Big Three. On the flip side, having these answers arms your Alliances contact at the Big Three to evangelize on your behalf.

Never Say No

There will be many opportunities thrown at you by the Big Three (events, webinars, QBRs, lunch-n-learns, etc.) to get in front of the Alliances, Product, Marketing, Sales, and Solutions Engineering teams. Take advantage of all of them. You never know when you’re going to get another chance.  In my Oracle days, I had a few ISVs I could count on to sponsor a sales QBR or fill out a panel at a moment’s notice. “Can you be in Dubai in 2 weeks for XYZ event?” Being flexible and nimble when working with the Big Three will always put you in a good light and enable you to stand out vs. other ISVs.

The Big Three Are Not Lead Sources

Adobe Summit, Oracle MCX, and SFDC Connections are events, not a lead gen strategy. You pay separately (and usually a lot of $) to sponsor these events. User events like these should be one piece of a much larger demand gen strategy. While it’s true that sponsoring shows like these will provide a significant number of leads post-conference for your BDRs to work, thinking that a Big Three sales rep or CSM will respond to a cold call or email from an ISV in their partner program about a specific account is naïve. (Remember, these reps have anywhere from dozens to hundreds of ISVs in their partner program they’re supposed to “know” on top of their own products they sell.) However, account alignment may sometimes happen -- usually with the help of your Alliances person and in most cases when the ISV can show the Big Three sales rep why it benefits them to align with them on an account. 

Resource Accordingly

There’s no magic number or formula to say what the appropriate amount of resources an ISV needs to partner with one of the Big Three correctly. There are too many variables in play. That said, I’ll leave you with the critical areas to cover:

• Partner Management – Someone must have overall responsibility and ownership of the partnership with (each one of) the Big Three. Think of them as the hub in the hub & spoke model at the ISV. They ensure the partnership is aligned with the Big Three at all levels – Executive, Product, Marketing, Sales, Engineering, etc.
• Tech Enablement – Every ISV needs a tech lead (Product Dev or Engineering, typically) to work with the Big Three Product team on product roadmap updates, product release notes, and API updates. In addition, they should be taking the lead on ensuring your ISV is thought of as a beta/test ISV to get access to the new Big Three technology to work with before general availability. 
• Partner Marketing -- This is a tough one. As an ISV, you have little say (in most cases) how you work with the Big Three. Outside of their big conference, you don’t usually get to pick what additional events you do with them. As I reference above, participate in as much co-marketing with the Big Three as you can. Their brands alone will lend credibility to any small ISV.
• Sales Enablement – Utilize your Alliances contact(s) at the Big Three to help mine their sales organization(s), promote your joint solution, and gain the reps’ assistance in being a 3rd party advocate for the said solution. In many cases, you have reps, managers, and CSMs, but there are also industry business unit (vertical) teams, sales engineers, and solution consultants. This is often the most resource-intensive area, but it pays the most dividends.

In closing, it may only take 1-2 people from an ISV to launch a partnership, but it will take several more to build meaningful relationships and align at all levels in their organizations long-term.  If done properly, they’re a great way to help drive hyper-growth at your ISV.