Three Tips for Healthier Vendor-System Integrator Relationships

Robert Bredlau, e-Spirit
Robert Bredlau, e-Spirit

In today's business world, it's rare to find a vendor who doesn't have relationships with multiple technology and implementation partners. Why? Because much of the technology that is used in the enterprise requires experts who can integrate complicated technology products with other vendors' technology. As such, it's important for system integrators (SIs) to understand what vendors are looking for in their partners as well as what customers are looking for from their technology vendors and system integrators.

What makes me an authority on the subject? Since e-Spirit established an office in the United States in 2012, we have built a partner network from scratch. We've been very careful which partners we select to work with based on the three key questions listed below. When we approach a partner, we look very carefully at not only what expertise they bring, but also their history of projects. We ask ourselves questions like, "Will this partner bring us into the discussion with a potential customer during the sales cycle or afterwards?" or "What is this partner's review process after the engagement is over?"

From a vendor's perspective, in order to build and sustain healthy relationships, system integrators should focus on answering three key questions.

What value does the system integrator bring to the vendor?

When a vendor approaches a partner about a project (or vice versa), one of the first questions asked is, "What can the SI bring into the engagement that the vendor can't provide?" Does the SI have a pool of experts to draw on with experience in specific areas? For e-Spirit, we're a Web CMS vendor, so we want to see that the SI has domain experts who can provide insights and hands-on experience that will benefit the customer and improve the prospects for a successful engagement.

Takeaway: Make sure that the SI has expertise in specific areas and has a proven track record that includes satisfied customers.

How can the system integrator help with the sales process?

In a more traditional model, the vendor drives engagement with the customer for the majority of the sales process. After a clear understanding of the project is underway, the vendor may finally bring in the SI. However, in today's fast-paced world, we're finding that there is a tremendous amount of value for the customer if we bring in the SI early in the process. In this way we find that technical hurdles are addressed early on and there are fewer surprises for the customer. In addition, the SI is in a better position to upsell future services based on what the customer needs now and will need down the road.

Takeaway: Make sure that the SI has a team that is ready to jump in early in the sales process.

Has the system integrator established a history of not competing against vendors?

Sometimes this can be a slippery slope to navigate. Both the vendor and the SI want to secure the job and that can make it an awkward situation. In my experience, I look for one specific attribute when approaching a potential SI: trust. Do I trust the SI? Has the SI shown a history of working together with vendors instead of against them? Does the SI follow through on commitments?

Working together over the course of multiple projects is one way to establish trust. Another is seeing that the SI can showcase a long history of maintaining positive relationships with other vendors. Trust works both ways, and it's vital that vendors and partners do everything they can to avoid channel conflict. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way.

Takeaway: Make sure that you prioritize follow-through, open communication and honesty every step of the way.

For an SI to be successful in partnering with vendors, the SI needs to demonstrate that it is easy to work with, has a proven track record of success, is willing to work closely with the vendor in the sales and engagement review process, and is trustworthy. By investing in these key areas, SIs can set themselves up for success both now and in the future.

About the author
Robert Bredlau is the chief operating officer for e-Spirit Inc. in North America. He can be reached at bredlau@e-spirit.com.