Channel Visionaries Spotlight: Tiffani Bova, Salesforce
This week in Santa Clara, Calif., Tiffani Bova, the former Gartner distinguished analyst and research fellow who recently joined Salesforce.com, will participate in a roundtable discussion for channel chiefs at the upcoming Channel Visionaries Channel Chief Conference scheduled for June 2-3.
In anticipation of catching up live at the event with Bova, who is followed by more than 20,000 people on Twitter and who has delivered nearly 250 keynote addresses to approximately 300,000 people the world over in the past decade, The VAR Guy reached out in advance. Here’s what Bova had to say.
The VAR Guy: How are things going at Salesforce? What is your new role?
Tiffani Bova: Things are going great. While there is no question that being at a technology provider is different from being an analyst, I still spend most of my time with customers understanding how they are transforming their sales and channel organizations to respond to the changing market dynamics. I have been traveling quite a bit since joining and have attended a number of our World Tour events, including Boston and London. The level of excitement from our customers has been amazing. Each time I speak with a sales executive, I learn something new about what challenges they are facing and in real-time hear how they are solving some of the most complex market shifts they have ever faced.
The VAR Guy: You entered the channel as a newbie and exited as a thought leader. What lessons on partnership stay with you in your new role?
Tiffani Bova: I had no idea when I began my career in the "channel" that I would be given such an amazing opportunity. I remember early on realizing that this entire industry is a team sport; if you want to be successful you have to be willing to ask for and give help when needed. Much of my success was supported by lots of people. I leaned on a tight group, who I affectionately refer to as my “tribe.” If I wanted to bounce ideas off them, look for insights I was unable to capture on my own, or have a healthy debate on different points of view they never let me down. Each time I stood on stage I tried to bring a bit of those voices to my presentations. The channel ecosystem always inspired me to be better, and I hope I inspired them to do the same. After 10 years and hundreds of emails and conversations about how my research has helped further the transformation of channel and sales organizations, my hope now, with my new role, is that collaboration and thought-provoking content will remain a constant theme.
The VAR Guy: You understand the dynamics of partnering as well as anyone. What insights on partner management can you share with Channel Visionaries attendees?
Tiffani Bova: Partner management is not just one thing. It is a combination of many things all working in concert to help promote a healthy and engaging relationship between technology vendors and their respective partner organizations. I am a firm believer that when any provider makes a conscious decision to work alongside third-party partner organizations they have to enter that relationship with an open mind. It can’t be all about what the provider wants—new leads, new deals, new customers, etc.—it has to find a way to balance what the partners want as well. A successful and engaged channel can provide huge competitive advantage. Don’t squander long-term benefits for short-term, tactical decisions. Always understand why you are working with partners, and keep that as the “True North” for all future decisions.
The VAR Guy: You spent years with channel visionaries from the best technology companies. What distinguishes one channel chief from another?
Tiffani Bova: Each channel chief brings their own perspective to the business. However, one thing is for sure: each is committed to the success of the entire partner ecosystem and their mutual customers. There are some channel leaders who are fantastic at optimizing the existing business and programs to improve current performance. There are others who are always pushing to the next level of partnering in order to respond to changing market dynamics. There is not one way to success. Playing to the strengths of their company, their team and their ecosystem is what matters. My favorite conversations are when I am able to speak with a number of channel leaders in a group, where the exchange of ideas is flowing and people put aside the competitive nature of the business and look to solve the bigger issues facing the industry.
The VAR Guy: What are the biggest challenges facing vendor channel chiefs today? And what can they do to overcome them?
Tiffani Bova: Managing the speed of change from customers. There are a number of market dynamics which will forever change the buy-sell relationship between customers and the brands they chose to do business with. The same holds true for indirect channels, and the channel chiefs who support them. Channel leaders are faced with protecting the current business, which is generating the bulk of revenue, and with advancing the transformation many of their companies are undertaking. Doing both at the same time is no easy task. Channel leaders need support from the highest levels in the organization to make necessary (future) investments which may not pay off for 4-6 quarters, but are critical to the long-term success of the business. It is really difficult to make adjustments in a given quarter and have them pay off in that same quarter. While incentives, rebates and SPIFs can help, that is a short-term fix to a potentially larger problem. Managing the existing business while leading a team that thinks out 18-24 months is where high-performing channel chiefs separate themselves from the pack.
The VAR Guy: More than anyone, you saw the need for partners to change their businesses from resale to services and consulting. Did the channel respond accordingly?
Tiffani Bova: Some did, and some didn’t. But it was never about everyone having to make the shift. The market still needs straight resale, fulfillment and support; that will never change. But the number of companies solely focused on that part of the business needed to adjust. There is a higher demand from customers for services that fall outside the traditional value-added reseller, solution provider capabilities such as application development, business process reengineering and cloud based services. To accommodate the lack of capabilities in the existing channel there was a surge of new partners entering the ecosystem. They are not meant to replace existing partners, but rather augment and extend current capabilities.
The VAR Guy: Cloud computing: friend or foe to the partner community?
Tiffani Bova: Depends who you ask. If we only focus on asking the customer, I think we would hear “friend.” If we asked the traditional partner community, who wanted to “own deployment, implementation, support and billing,” then we would hear “foe.” The key message in this is that it isn’t about what the channel or provider wants, it is all about what the customers needs to be competitive in their own business and how they can provide better experiences for their customers.
The VAR Guy: What is the one thing that no one gets when it comes to the channel?
Tiffani Bova: I have always tried to communicate a simple message: “The only person who ‘owns’ the customer is the customer—not a vendor or a partner.” If you believe that statement then you should also agree that we need all kinds of partners—VAR, SI, SP, CSP, ISP, ISV, MSP, and any other xSP you can come up with. It doesn’t matter what we call them. What matters is what are they really good at, where can they add measurable business value to their customer, and how can they differentiate themselves in the market. Serving millions of businesses and tens of millions of consumers will never be accomplished with only one kind of partner. The future ecosystem will need to find a way to partner with each other better. (Yes, I’m talking about the long promised P2P collaboration.) We must embrace a hybrid environment (on-premise and cloud), provide the leadership and guidance that customers need in order to change, and be willing to make hard decisions. There is no question that the current IT channel is up for the challenge. They have faced each market disruption head on, and I know this one will be no different.
