Reflecting on Hyper-Growth with our Partner Eco-system in 2021

After the year we had in 2020, I didn’t think we’d be able to say this again, but 2021 was a year like no other. Despite – and very much driven by – the ongoing pandemic, we and so many of our partners and their customers have shifted their businesses to better connect with customers virtually. We’re proud to have supported so many businesses through their digital transformations in the last year and as they jump into the internet of things, process mining, and remote services for our joint customers! We had a year of hyper-growth with our partner eco-system, I want to say "Thank you" to our partners who are working closely with us to drive our joint business.?I want to share highlights from our business from the last year, that were in part enabled by our partners and are all related to our world growing increasingly digital.

Most recently,?Software AG announced?a strategic partnership with Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing, anchored by a Silver Lake investment of €344 million in Software AG. This is such exciting news as we look to accelerate growth, supported by our cloud-native product set. As our CEO Sanjay Brahmawar put it, “The combination of Silver Lake’s expertise and network and our Helix transformation will help us further capitalize on our rapidly expanding market opportunity.” Which means we, our customers and our partners will all benefit from a strongly backed digital-first strategy in 2022 and beyond. From a partner perspective, this means we expect more investment into our channel business and even fast acceleration for partner growth!

The?re-launch of our global partner program, PartnerConnect?in Q1 2021 was also an exciting success for the business.?As part of our enhanced vision and updated program, CRN rated our program with a 5-star rating, their highest level of given in the industry! Our margins within our program provide strong profitability to our partner. We’ve invested a high-level of resources to provide global partner enablement as a key focus for building and developing partner skills. Partners now have automated self-service through a robust and proven Partner Hub portal, with access to deal registration, training, demos, content and collateral via single sign-on.?In giving our partners this access to the expertise of the team at Software AG, we support each other in the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.?In fact, in?the 10 months since we launched PartnerConnect, we now have over 500 partners with a strong group of partners committed to the highest level of the program! We have also launched our ISV program where we are experiencing hyper-growth with technology partners who are looking to align with Software AG's technology and, in many cases, embed our technology into their solution.

Above all this year,?I’m grateful to my team for their dedication to ensuring our partners have the best possible resources available to them – their commitment to?providing?our partners with?hands-on?support and engagement has been outstanding! And I’m so excited for what’s to come in 2022, from partner and industry events to more enhancements and trainings within PartnerConnect. Until then, I wish you a happy New Year.

Interested in learning more about PartnerConnect? Just reach out to me directly!?For more information, visit?softwareag.com/partners.