Partnership Leaders Predictions for 2024

As we enter 2024, new beginnings and exciting moments are in for every industry, including the partnership sector. That is why Kiflo decided to approach the best partnership leaders to lend us their knowledge and experience and provide us with their trend predictions that the industry will experience in 2024.

From enhanced usage of AI, affiliate marketing, and nearbound strategy to considering more efficient growth, launch, and creation of partner journey strategies, dive deeper into the article to learn all the essential 2024 trend details and predictions.

Patrick M. Ferdig of The Power of Partnering

According to Patrick M. Ferdig, founder and principal consultant at The Power of Partnering, in 2024, partner managers will continue to be asked to do more with less. Effective use of tools, programs, processes, and playbooks will continue to outpace unstructured approaches to partnering. Third-wave co-sell partnering strategies such as Nearbound, ELG, and Hyperscaler Marketplaces will outpace traditional GTM strategies when clear rules of engagement and metrics are established. Companies that continue to fail to create internal alignment to support partnering strategies will continue to struggle to meet revenue goals. Companies who internally embrace a partnering strategy will be well positioned as spending restraints are loosened in 2024, while trust becomes harder to establish due to AI-sourced noise in the market.

Juhi Saha of Partner1

Per Juhi Saha, CEO at Partner1, in 2024, cloud marketplaces will almost universally be adopted by B2B software companies selling to enterprises and highly regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, and others. Failure to capitalize on this $45 Billion+ cloud marketplace opportunity will result in a significant opportunity cost for companies, allowing their competitors to capture significant market share and customer wallet shares.

Scott Murtaugh of Partnerships OS

In 2024, B2B partnerships will increasingly focus on building audience and community engagement through content-driven strategies, moving beyond technology integrations to drive sales, according to Scott Murtaugh of Partnerships OS. This strategic shift will be marked by a greater emphasis on audio and video content with the rise of B2B influencers, catering to evolving content consumption patterns. AI will be instrumental in this transformation, playing a key role in content generation, automating and analyzing content, and enhancing co-marketing and co-selling efforts through refined programmatic communication.

Jason Hulott of Speedie Consultants Limited

Spedie Consultants Limited's Director of Business Development, Jason Hulott, predicts that 2024 will see an increase in the use of affiliates in the B2B partnership space.  As companies launch programs, they will have the need for both short and long term gains in their programs.  Affiliates can play a role in driving a level of partner revenue activity quickly. The B2B affiliate space is maturing, and companies are now understanding they can’t simply take the B2C affiliate model and drop it into the B2B space. There will also be an increase in the number of B2B-specific creators/influencers.

Linkon Axon of Arys

According to Linkon Axon, founder and CEO of Arys, 2024 will continue to see the rise of AI adoption in cross-sector technologies, and channel and ecosystem programs will be no exception. "I believe we will see a rise in AI tech to assist and optimize such aspects as partner performance tracking, automated matchmaking, risk assessment, scenario planning, predictive analysis, workflow automation, data analysis, and personalized recommendations." Done right, we will be able to leverage the advantages of AI as an enablement tool so we can spend less time on generative tasks and more time building those all-important partner relationships and partner experiences.

Mark Brigman of PARTNERNOMICS

In 2024, we will see the first true partnership ecosystem brought to market through the combination of connected methodologies, connected professional services, and connected technologies. Now, clients will have an end-to-end view from “strategy” to “performance optimization, per Mark Brigman, CEO of PARTNERNOMICS.

Antonio Caridad of Megaport

Megaport's Senior Director, Antonio Caridad, opines that the era of growth at all costs is no more. Savvy and smart leaders are now focused on sustainable and efficient growth. The way to power that growth engine is through partnerships, and data will be more important than ever.

As partnership teams are tasked to fuel growth, they must demonstrate how they can help organizations grow beyond pipeline generation and revenue and can impact in multiple other ways, such as NRR, LTV, or churn. Given all of this, Partner Operations will become a pivotal team/role in 2024. Those in partner ops will be at the front and center of all of this, creating and maintaining efficient processes, providing the best-in-class partner experience, gathering all the data required to measure everything possible, and showing the multi-faceted impact that partnerships can have in their organizations.

Alex Richards of Glassbox

In 2024, the focus is heavily on reshaping incentives and packaging products into service-oriented offerings for partners, predicts Alex Richards of Glassbox. Companies are reimagining how they incentivize collaborations, moving beyond traditional models to create more compelling rewards. This move means they're not just offering products; instead, they're bundling offerings as comprehensive services tailored to their partners' needs. This shift is pivotal in fostering stronger and more lucrative partnerships, where both sides reap greater benefits from their joint endeavors. Realistically, a 10% referral fee isn’t going to move the needle this year - If you value relationships, you need to know what is going to make your partner pick up the phone for you.

Jennifer Snyder of Partner Ecosystem Development

According to Jennifer Snyder, founder of Partner Ecosystem Development, in 2024, we will see an increase in the number of companies evaluating, launching, and expanding their partner programs. The partner community will create additional “internal connections,” sharing knowledge, partnering with other partner leaders, and helping to create harmony and growth for the entire partner ecosystem.

Melissa Oien of PaymentCloud

Melissa Oien, Channel Partnership Manager at PaymentCloud, anticipates a shift to elite collaborations, where companies will prioritize shared values. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) will engage in meaningful partnerships, emphasizing quality and trust over quantity. Clients today seek companies to prioritize their significance and foster personalized connections. This shift marks a departure from sheer quantity, highlighting quality interactions in the consumer-driven market.

Bernard Friedrichs of PartnerXperience (PXP)

According to Bernard Friedrichs of PartnerXperience (PXP), 2024 will bring focus on Capital Efficient Growth. In response to the current economic conditions with higher interest rates and global uncertainty, achieving capital efficiency is crucial. Partnerships can enhance capital efficiency by improving product or service delivery, increasing customer lifetime value, reducing customer acquisition costs, and minimizing risks, providing advantages for sustainable growth. Make an educated decision between build, buy, and partner.

"I believe that businesses will realize that providing a great Partner Experience is a critical factor in making partnerships successful and that it requires a different approach than customer experience," notes Bernard. Business leaders will understand the fundamental differences between transactional relationships (supplier <> buyer) and collaborative relationships (partner <> partner). With this understanding, Partner Managers will be given the right collaborative tools and KPIs (measure Impact over revenue) to deliver a better partner experience throughout the partner life cycle.

Furthermore, with the ongoing technological developments in cloud computing and AI, Software is becoming more accessible and easier to offer. Service partners will be playing are more important partner category.

Conclusion

Driven by all the predictions above, we are sure 2024 will be an incredible year for the Partnership industry. Many changes are on the horizon that will strengthen the sector but bring new resolutions and options to choose from and create the best partnership journey for your customers.