As enterprise digital technologies grow more diverse and complex, working with multiple vendors—and integrating their solutions into your enterprise technology stack—is becoming more difficult. Growing companies may lack the technical expertise they need to choose and implement the right digital solutions as well. Enterprises and growing companies alike need interdisciplinary technology partners to help them get the most value in this increasingly complicated landscape.

 

An interdisciplinary technology partner is an organization that helps other companies strategize, select, and implement digital technologies that align with both near-term and long-term business goals. In practice, these companies provide platform integration and optimization support for companies that leverage multiple technology vendors whose products often don’t integrate easily with one another.

 

In this article, we explore the capabilities of successful interdisciplinary technology partners, identifying why they are critical to your long-term success. We will define the specific types of value they offer their clients, and how you can best identify the right partner for your own business goals as well.

 

How Can They Help?

 

The role of enterprise IT is changing from one of technology curation to one of “strategic enablement” through technology so that “the enterprise can recognize, execute on, and maximize the value they contain,” as Forbes describes. Despite this critical role, IT teams lack critical capabilities to deliver this value in light of modern business requirements; supplementing your IT team is where an interdisciplinary technology partner can help.

 

Historically, IT teams would turn to each individual technology vendor for support with their respective products. But this is no longer a viable strategy as IT stacks become more complex. In fact, based on an interview with 13 partners of this kind, it is less expensive to have an interdisciplinary technology partner implement enterprise technologies than consultants from vendors themselves.

 

Indeed, building a successful modern tech stack not only requires multiple specialties; it requires a strategic vision, planning, optimization, and implementation beyond the capabilities of most individual teams. (Success also means encouraging employee adoption and maintaining flexibility in the face of future disruptions.) IT teams mired in enterprise technologies that don’t integrate well with new ones face even greater difficulty.

 

That’s why leading interdisciplinary technology partners are working to bridge gap between vendor capabilities and the business goals of companies who will integrate and utilize those vendors’ technologies. And unlike vendors, their role positions them to deliver long-term optimization and business value as well.

 

5 Things to Look for in Your Interdisciplinary Technology Partner

 

 

 

 

Choosing an interdisciplinary technology partner is a critical decision. You can identify the right candidates and home in on your long-term partner with the right criteria at hand. Here are five things to look for in a partner to complement your IT and related business strategies.

 

1. The partner is willing to get to know your company.

 

Your partner should familiarize their key stakeholders with your near-term and long-term needs so they can help you find the right path towards achieving those goals. This “co-innovation partnership,” as Forrester describes it, is a “better business model” where “the best providers are… more client connected, focusing on client outcomes by using a blend of services and assets assembled into solutions.”

 

To this end, your partner should be willing to create a communication process that aligns with your own and identify your resources gaps with the intent of filling them—both now and as business and IT needs evolve. Your partner should be prepared to tell you what solutions will not work for you based on their understanding of your business as well.

 

2. The partner will help you make early strategic decisions.

 

Partners should invest in you well before you begin buying and integrating technologies, helping you prioritize what is most important so you can drive value as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. The right partner will help you create a roadmap and outline specific goals before moving forward to meet them.

 

Your partner should be “results focused” rather than “vendor focused” as well, starting with your needs before exploring potential IT solutions for a more holistic investment strategy. In this way, your partner will help you balance selecting the right vendors and minimizing your IT costs in terms of both Capex and Opex.

 

3. The partner focuses on technology and process optimization.

 

Leading interdisciplinary technology partners are focused on building a long-term relationship that is equally beneficial. This is most clearly represented in their efforts to optimize ongoing processes within your company and between your teams. The right partner will have clearly defined methodologies for faster, more agile technology implementations. The partner will focus on shortening your time to value with your investments, but they will maintain enough flexibility to help you adapt as your needs evolve.

 

4. The partner will create a gameplan for collaborating with your teams.

 

The right partner will establish clear ground rules for collaboration between their and your own IT teams. They will focus on optimizing your joint efforts by assigning the right specialized team members to specific tasks. Additionally, they will emphasize creating a single point of access to resources for team members involved on both sides of the project. This eliminates the potential impact of poor resource planning, which disrupts projects for 20% of organizations.

 

5. The partner is committed to providing ongoing support.

 

“At the heart of co-innovation partnership is a commitment to work together with common purpose,” says Forrester. The right partner will have specific programs that commit consultants to your partnership indefinitely, ensuring you always have access to partner resources as you continue to utilize your IT solutions. If and when the time comes for new IT transformation, your partner will not have to get up to speed—they will have been aware of your progress up until that point in time already.

 

How Should You Choose?

 

The strongest differentiator between the right and wrong partners rests in how potential partners define their own success. Many partners offer pricing based on mutual success, so that the bulk of their payment is based on your own real business results. Generally, your potential partners should be able to provide clear evidence and assurances of their commitment to your success. They should treat your relationship like an “alliance,” one where they become a virtual stakeholder and an extension of your internal IT team.

 

Conclusion: Trust is Key

 

When it comes to partners, “the mark of success is trust,” says Forrester. “Transparency and value alignment are its manifestations.” Indeed, when you emphasize these aspects—trust, transparency, and value alignment—your partnerships can become a compelling selling point for your own brand as well. In that regard, you should take pride in your partnerships to the same high degree that your partners successfully identify with your brand.

 

Leading Enterprises Choose Uvation as their Trusted Technology Partner

 

Uvation builds close, trusted partnerships with some of the world’s leading enterprise companies as they prioritize their long-term technology and business strategies. Contact one of our interdisciplinary experts to learn more.