As analyst reports continue to both forecast and report on the importance of alliance and partner ecosystems, at the Association of Alliance Professionals Summit held last week in Cape Coral, FL there was consensus that it’s time for a new seat at the table in the C-Suite, as well as the increasing role systems integrators and orchestrators will play to deliver on the promise of profitable growth.

Today’s alliance manager is both facing and responding to a myriad of challenges, including the rapid deployment of AI which got a mention in every session, regardless of the primary topic. There were also experiences with AI shared across the table, including a heart-warming tale of a young girl with a heart condition who was enjoying a day on the lake with her family and was saved when AI predicted a heart attack based on a single symptom the physician on call mis-diagnosed. With the need to scale profitably, reach the C-Suite with the call to ecosystem and innovate with competitors, alliance managers and channel ecosystem leaders need messages of hope.

The community is expanding – convergence of alliances and channels is upon us; pharma and tech are learning a common language, one acronym at a time. The shared purpose to unite our efforts around the customer needs is driving us to partner, to do it well through upskilling, certification, co-opetition, attribution and data, data, data.

The definition of ecosystem I got to share is an interdependent value creation network that reaches beyond its boundaries to include everyone who plays a role in the value creation and delivery of a product or service. Choosing our partners well; whether they be an influencer, the increasingly important systems integrators and satellite platform providers or the hyperscaler has never been more critical. Let’s seize this pivotal moment and apply our collective knowledge, commitment and common bonds to deliver on the promise of profitability in partnering.