It’s easy to talk with people about partners and ecosystems when we’re with colleagues or people who have been around the channel for years or decades, those of us in the “bubble” so to speak. Sure, the idea of ecosystem is still new and even seasoned technologists and SaaS driven CEO’s are still learning not only the language but exploring the concepts and principles, yet there is a huge world out there that still gets that faraway look when the topic is brought up.

Most people immediately recall an ad-hoc referral sharing experience that didn’t yield much. Others seek to define it in linear categories they understand – such as a distributor model, a transaction or even networking. The notion of a revenue multiplier sounds complicated and out of reach.

Fact is, like many things in our world today, partnering has gotten more complex and ecosystem is the next generation of both go to market strategy and intentional collaboration, inside and outside organizations. Customers want business outcomes, they need to trust who they choose to help them get there. Their complex challenges often require a number of vendors working together to deliver.

As we seek to distinguish an ecosystem to those who are unfamiliar, it’s helpful to describe it as cross industry players working together to define, build and execute new market-creating customer outcomes. A successful ecosystem is both deep and wide in its ability to collaborate and has a well-defined framework for potential collaboration. To summarize, the value the ecosystem generates is larger than the combined value each of the players could contribute individually.