Profitable ISV-To-ISV Partnering — 4 Expert Perspectives
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Experts weigh in on creating ISV to ISV channel partnerships.
At the inaugural ISV IQ Live! Conference held February 24 in Santa Ana, CA, nearly 150 channel executives gathered to address the topics of raising capital, partnering, and marketing. One panel, Profitable Partnering, featured three vendors and one distributor executive discussing channel partnerships.
Participants included Gregg Brunnick, Director of Product Management and Technical Services at Epson America; Walker Thompson, Director of Alliance Management at Vantiv Integrated Payments; Mark Fraker, Vice President of Marketing at BlueStar; and Marc Solomon, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Worldpay. The session was moderated by Business Solutions Magazine President Jim Roddy.
The panelists addressed what ISVs need to know about partnering with other ISVs. Thompson, who was an ISV before joining Vantiv, talked from his experience in establishing ISV-to-ISV partnerships, stating, “There are a couple of things that came out of that which were very advantageous. One was the implementation approach the ISV could bring to the table. Their software development protocols, the way they went to market, it was a smooth transition when we actually installed our software.”
And it simplified the process “not just with the customer experience but the VAR experience, too.” Thompson explained that Vantiv is seeing a growing number of ISV-to-ISV partnerships “and we’re actually trying to bring more products that actually add value to the overall merchant experience, as well as the ISV experience to market.”
For Solomon, any partnership — including those among ISVs — needs to bring value to the table. “It’s got to be a win-win-win,” he said. “Everybody that gets involved, the ISV, direct sellers, etc., everybody that’s involved in the process needs to have a win.”
That underscores what Solomon has seen in successful ISVs. “They really know what they want to do,” he explained. “They really know their marketing plan, they really know that they’re not going to go out and conquer the world today. They know how to start, where they want to go, and they have a business plan. It can be a three-, four-, or five-year business plan, but they know where they are today and where they want to go.”
Brunnick added he hasn’t seen nearly as many ISV-to-ISV partnerships as anticipated, saying, “To Epson, it’s a great opportunity for ISVs to get out there and establish the partnerships they need, to really drive their business going forward. Too often, it seems to us ISVs just try to do it alone. Scaling the amount alone can be pretty difficult at times. We would encourage you to go out there and try to establish those partnerships. It can only help you, going forward.”