The power of partnerships in the SaaS world

What makes a partnership successful? What makes it unstoppable, and a force to be reckoned with? Well, the recipe for sustainable partnerships starts with a base of trust and is blended with a mix of the 5 C’s - compatibility, collaboration, communication, commitment, and common values.

Be it partnerships at an individualistic level such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Serena Williams and Venus Williams, or at a larger organizational level such as the likes of Google, Microsoft, and Slack, they all exhibit similar traits that set them up for success.

And that's what makes them greater than the sum of their parts.?

This holds true when it comes to partnerships between SaaS organizations too. Partner ecosystems have become crucial to revenue growth in the last few years and are known to drive competitive advantage.?

Here are the results of a survey conducted on our LinkedIn community:

It is very evident that the top drivers of a great partnership are alignment on values and mutual respect. And keeping this poll result in mind, let’s take a deeper look into why businesses need to take the plunge into the world of partnerships.

Partnership Programs: The new powerhouse for SaaS organizations

76% of companies agree that partnerships are key to delivering on their revenue goals and see partnership development as central to their sales and marketing strategy. High rewards are preceded by high investments. Be it in terms of resources or relationship building.

With the continuous expansion and diversification of the SaaS industry, there is a dearth of partnership opportunities for businesses to capitalize on, in order to deliver unique value-added services to customers. In order to do so, it’s important to understand the ‘why’ behind partnerships and how immensely beneficial they can be.

1. A recent study by Forrester showed that companies with best-in-class partnership programs drive 2x faster revenue growth within the partnership channel and at the overall company level.
2. Partnerships are instrumental to having a competitive edge as they create value for both customers and companies alike.
3. A great way to expand to new markets, boost brand reach, and acquire new customers is by leveraging the right partnerships.
4. On the other hand, it is also an efficient means to increase customer retention and loyalty, and boost customer advocacy and customer lifetime value.
5. When businesses build a strong partner network and a well-integrated partner ecosystem, they are more likely to exceed expectations on a variety of business metrics.?

While this may not be a comprehensive list of the innumerable benefits partnerships have to offer, it sure does give you a glimpse of all that you can achieve. Which brings us to the next important aspect of ‘how’ does a partnership program go the extra mile from helpful to successful??

People, process, technology, and breadth (in terms of partnership models and the number of partners) form the 4 foundational pillars upon which partnership strategies are built on. The fastest-growing partnership programs are known to embrace organizational agility, capitalize on a variety of partnership models, leverage technology to optimize partner management, and allocate resources in the form of large, dedicated partnership teams.

The Partnership Ecosystem at Freshworks

At Freshworks, we believe in scaling along with our partners as we strive to deliver the best suite of products for our customers. The Freshworks Partner Program is built upon the foundation of mutual growth and delight. It is designed to accelerate business growth for our partners and deliver delight for our joint customers. It’s a win-win! Just like our products, our partnership programs are flexible to suit all kinds of businesses.

Our partner ecosystem currently includes but is not restricted to 200+ Technology Partners, 500+ Solution Partners, and 600+ Startup Partners.?

Read on as we take you through our different Partnership programs and what sets them apart:

Freshworks Technology Partner Program

Freshworks services and solutions are bolstered by strategic alliances. Freshworks partners with leading technology partners, that enhance business value and accelerate influence across global markets. The Freshworks Technology (ISV) Partner Program provides a comprehensive set of tools and resources to enable tech companies and businesses to integrate their offerings with Freshworks products and create a unique joint solution. As a tech partner, you can build, test and deploy apps on the Freshworks Marketplace as well as jointly go to the market and scale faster.

Designed to promote business growth, our Technology Partner Program comes with benefits such as reselling & co-selling opportunities, funds to improve marketing, access to sales teams, revenue opportunities via lead sharing, and access to the training, support, and resources to set your clients up to succeed. Our tech partners also get access to sell to our 50,000+ customer base and join the partner community that empowers businesses to scale and thrive along with us.

Technology partnerships are a competitive and strategic differentiator for organizations. But what sets apart the Freshworks Technology Partner Program??

1. The Freshworks Partner Ecosystem is built on a simple premise: together, we can accomplish more. When you join the network, you become part of a community with a shared goal to do more for our customers.
2. Build apps that solve critical business problems and promote them on the Freshworks Marketplace which opens up a new channel to generate revenue and rapidly scale your business along with us.
3. Work with dedicated relationship managers and be part of a personalized and comprehensive joint go-to-market campaign for increased visibility and adoption.
4. With powerful platform APIs and documentation to build apps, our tech partners get exposure to 50,000+ customers to sell combined solutions with Freshworks products.

Freshworks Solution Partner Program

Freshworks has championed business innovations that make delight easy, fast, and smart for customers and their employees—and our solution partners help deliver on this promise with their prime industry expertise. The Freshworks Solution Partner Program has been built to reward partners who deliver expertly-crafted and phenomenal customer experiences to businesses.?

Earlier this year, we began the first phase of evolving our Solution Partner Program and introduced some changes to our partner ecosystem. Since then, we have looked into every aspect of our partnership structure and the support we provide to make our global program truly delightful. Here’s what you can expect:

1. Ease of partnering - Freshworks is redefining the ease of partnership by putting onboarding, enablement, pipeline tracking, and certifications under one roof. Becoming a Freshworks Solution Partner is zero cost, but high value. Enablement, certifications, a demo account, and our support - all at no cost.

2. Growth and Revenue - We’ve redesigned our program to give partners everything they need while also unlocking extra rewards and incentives as they move through the program tiers such as increased revenue channels and TAM.

3. Support and collaborate with dedicated experts - Becoming a member of our partner ecosystem and its supporting programs gives our partners access to many valuable benefits. These include technical and business resources, such as Freshworks partner-specific content, developer resources, and training opportunities with business planning resources. Partners also benefit from increased visibility to Freshworks’ field teams and customers.

?Freshworks Startup Partner Program

Freshworks has always been a friend of startups - providing purpose-built solutions for IT, customer support, sales, and marketing teams. Since our products are easy to implement, affordable, built to delight, yet powerful enough to deliver critical business outcomes, it provides immense value to startups looking to grow and scale.?

Freshworks for Startups is a #PayItForward initiative to provide for the growing needs of a startup at every stage of its journey.?Through the Freshworks for Startups program, we work with a global community of 400+ VCs, accelerators, incubators, and startup studios to enable their portfolio companies and customers.?

Here’s how you can supercharge your startup community:

1. Get up to $10,000 in credits across essential products including helpdesk, live chat, CRM, marketing automation, ITSM, HRMS, and much more.
2. Get access to mentorship and resources by industry experts. As part of the partnership, your portfolio startups will get priority access to startup events, VC connect initiatives, industry roundtables.
3. Get white-glove onboarding for your startups, which includes functional training around sales, marketing, and customer support.

Be a part of our thriving Partner Ecosystem?

There’s a famous African proverb that aptly describes the #PowerOfPartnerships -

“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

Partnerships are all about synergy and sharing a symbiotic relationship that enables both parties to thrive and scale together. At Freshworks, our partnership programs are as flexible as our products, to suit all kinds of businesses. Gain a deeper insight into our partner programs, how it is structured, and their benefits in order to find out which program is the right one for you. And if you’re ready to take the plunge into our thriving partner ecosystem, here’s where you can sign up to grow along with us.?