In a challenging economic environment, corporates today face pressures to reduce costs and increase profits. Software AG believes that creating prosperous partnerships is key to remaining competitive. With the finalisation of its new 2014 Partner Programme, Software AG aims to turn companies’ business plans into business successes.

Building a strong partner ecosystem has always been a core element of Software AG’s corporate strategy. In 2014, powering up powerful partnerships will be a key focus of both the business and its culture. The focused partner programme, Accelerate Power Up, will create new growth opportunities for both Software AG and the company’s partners.

Evidence of Software AG’s commitment to creating powerful partnerships is setting aggressive goals for the future. The company aims to achieve 40% of its revenues through the partner ecosystem by 2016 and 70% of its software license revenues by 2018. Collaborative partnership will be pertinent to achieving these benchmarks.

Current and future partners can look forward to various benefits of Software AG’s revitalised strategic approach. Partners can offer an extended and relevant product portfolio due to the company’s recent acquisitions. These solution platforms empower partners with a differentiated value offering and new specialisation focus areas.

Partners can start engaging in new discussions with customers or complement their current solutions and in doing so, maximise their returns.

To ensure that partners are enabled and supported, Software AG has created a structured engagement plan. This will provide product and domain knowledge transfer, discounted training and sales assistance and skills growth. A business plan will be also developed with each sales partner to ensure united goals and unified execution.

Driving new markets and customer segmentation with partners will be the foundation of reaching future goals. Partners will receive constant support from a dedicated Software AG advisor to complement and protect their current investments. Software AG partners will also be incentivised to attend sales and technical certifications, to ensure that clients receive high quality service and the best technical solutions for their business.

As part of this strategic shift, Software AG recently appointed Paul McIntyre as partner director. McIntyre says constant communication with partners will be the foundation of these partnerships.

“Partners are key to our success and vice versa. By fostering this mutually beneficial partnership through constant engagement activities such as strategy sessions, marketing drives and sales support, we will have mutually beneficial relationships,” says McIntyre. “At the end of the day, we want our partners to be as confident and passionate about our innovative solutions as we are, and enjoy the financial benefits.”