The VST© methodology delivers increased alliance sales within 12 months. It is based on three critical components: vision, skills, and trust. Companies that use the VST© methodology typically see a 250-650% increase in alliance sales within 12 months. The methodology involves benchmarking the relationship, creating a memorandum of understanding and vision, developing skills and planning, monitoring progress, and fostering trust between alliance partners. Case studies show that higher scores on the VST© methodology correlate with higher commercial returns from alliances.

1. VST© Briefing Pack for
Senior Executives
Mike Nevin
Managing Director Alliance Best
Practice

2. Page  2
VST© Methodology Briefing Pack Contents
The VST© methodology delivers increased alliance sales within 12 months
Executive Summary
Introduction to alliance best practices
Connection between alliance best practices and VST© methodology
The components of the VST© methodology
Comparison of three case studies using the VST© methodology
1
2
3
4
5
Implications of the case studies and the VST© research
Research recomendations
Next steps
6
7
8

3. Page  3
Executive Summary
 Companies use formal methodologies in direct sales with great
results.
 Indirect sales are becoming increasingly important to high tech
companies (whether hardware, software or services).
 A very important indirect sale route is an alliance or even a strategic
alliance.
 Until now there has not been a formal and standard strategic
alliance sales system that companies could use.
 ABP has now developed such a system by observing and
documenting over 100 high tech strategic alliances.
 The system has been used by: IBM, HP, Oracle, SAP. Microsoft,
Capgemini, Logica, Atos, Tieto, VMware, Pegasystems,
NextiraOne, CA Technologies, and Qliktech.
 The system is based on three critical components: Vision, Skills,
Trust. Hence the name VST© Methodology.
 Users of the system typically see a 250% - 650% increase in
alliance sales within 12 months.
Using a systematic approach to alliance sales produces better results

4. Page  4
What is Alliance Best Practice (ABP)?
ABP is a benchmarking consultancy specialising in strategic alliances
Alliance Best Practice
 Alliance best practices are those
actions that research has shown lead
to optimal alliance results.
 ABP is a research group dedicated
to helping its clients achive greater
value from its collaborative
relationships.
 ABP is dedicated to: discovering,
developing and disseminating best
practices for its clients.
 It does this through the ABP
Database (ABPDBTM).

5. Page  5
Alliance Best Practices Exist
 Best Practice approach is
recognised in General
Management theory -
goes hand in hand with
quality and
benchmarking.
 ABP has examined
27,000 international
collaborative relationships
from around the world.
 We found factors which
appeared consistently in
successful strategic
alliances (CSFs).
Research
 Critical Success Factors
(CSFs) - ‘Those practices,
principles, procedures,
behaviours or factors
which appear in
successful strategic
alliances in a statistically
relevant manner’.
 Tested the concepts with
over 300 companies since
2002 (ongoing).
 Research findings
regularly validated.
Validation
 Identified alliance best
practices and CSFs are
lodged in the ABP
database.
 The ABP database
currently holds over
180,000 observations of
these CSFs in practice.
 Research shows
overwhelmingly that doing
the right things (best
practices) produces the
right results (more value /
revenue).
Implications
ABP has investigated over 27,000 alliances to identify success factors

6. Partner Collaboration Spectrum
 Commodity Price
 Interchangeable
Product
 Highly specified
deliverables
 Buy from and sell
to
 Shared risks &
investment
 Deeply integrated
 Mutually
interdependent
 Breakthrough
market value
 Some customization
 Flexibility/levels of
service
 Special knowledge
 Buy from, sell to and
sell with (GTM
together)
 Customized/
individualized
 Process & data
integration
 Solutions oriented
 Greater cost value
leverage
0 Sell To 25 Sell On 50 Sell Through 75 Sell With 100
Both partners need to define the type of partnership.
Low Score generally indicates low ‘business intimacy’.
Low
Value
High
Value
Low
Collaboration
High
Collaboration
Page  6

7. Page  7
Commercial Technical Strategic Cultural Operational
Co1 Business Value
Proposition (BVP)
Co2 Due Diligence
Co3 Optimum Legal /
Business Structure
Co4 Alliance Audit
Co5 Key metrics
Co6 Alliance reward
system
Co7 Commercial cost
Co8 Commercial
benefit
Co9 Process for
negotiation
Co10 Expected Cost
value ratio
T11 Valuation of assets
T12 Partner company
market position
T13 Host company
market position
T14 Market fit of
proposed solution
T15 Product fit with
partners offerings
T16 Identified mutual
needs in the
relationship
T17 Process for team
problem solving
T18 Shared Control
T19 Partner
accountability
S20 Shared objectives
S21 Relationship
Scope
S22 Tactical and
strategic risk
S23 Risk sharing
S24 Exit strategies
S25 Senior executive
support
S26 B2B Strategic
alignment
S27 Fit with strategic
business path
S28 Other relationships
with same partner
S29 Common strategic
ground rules
S30 Common vision
Cu31 Business to
business trust
Cu32 Collaborative
corporate mindset
Cu33 Collaboration
skills
Cu34 Dedicated
alliance manager
Cu35 Alliance centre of
excellence
Cu36 Decision making
process
Cu37 Other cultural
issues
Cu38 B2B Cultural
Alignment
O39 Alliance process
O40 Speed of progress
O41 Revenue flow
O42 Business plan
O43 Communication
O44 Health check
O45 Alliance charter
O46 Change mgt.
O47 Operational
metrics
O48 Operational
alignment
O49 Exponential
breakthroughs
O50 Internal alignment
O51 Project plan
O52 Issue escalation
Critical Success Factors
There are currently 52 CSFs in 5 categories

8. Page  8
Connection Between ABP and VST© Model
 VISION: - Is there a
common vision of the
strategic intent of this
relationship?
 JOINT BUSINESS PLAN:
- Does a joint business
plan exist?
 ALLIANCE PROCESS: –
Is there an agreed
partnering process?
 MOUP: - Is there a
Memorandum of
Understanding and
Principles in place?
Vision
 COLLABORATION
SKILLS: - Do the
necessary partnering
skills exist?
 COMMUNICATION: -
have the communication
processes been set up?
 INTERNALALIGNMENT:
- Is there a high degree of
internal alignment.
 OPERATIONAL
ALIGNMENT: - Are the
two operational teams
aligned?
Skills
 TRUST: - Is there a high
degree of trust in the
relationship?
 CULTURALALIGNMENT:
- Are the two companies
culturally aligned?
 SENIOR EXECUTIVE
SUPPORT: - Is there a
high degree of senior
executive support?
 OPERATIONAL
METRICS: - Are we
measuring the right things
for success?
Trust
The VST© methodology is a simplified version of the full ABP framework

9. Stages in the VST© Methodology
1. Vision
1. Benchmarking – Is the relationship capable of improvement and would it be worth the
effort?
2. MOUP – Assuming it is improvable and worth the effort what is the Vision of the
relationship as described in a Memorandum of Understanding and Principles?
2. Skills
3. Planning – How will we jointly execute on the agreed vision? What tasks and activities
do we need to undertake and in what order?
4. Skills Training – What additional skills will the teams on both / all sides of the
relationship need and how will they be coached?
3. Trust
5. Growth – How can we grow the relationship quickly and effectively over time?
6. Monitoring – How will we keep track of progress and adjust actions to accommodate
changes?
Page  9
VST© = Vision Skills and Trust and has 6 Stages in 3 phases as follows:

10. Page  10
Commercial Results Closely Follow Best
Practice Scores
There is a clear relationship between VST© scores and increased value
Higher VST© Score = Higher Value
 The chart opposite shows examples
from the database of High Tech
alliances.
 ABP has been collecting data since
2002.
 In that time a clear trend has
emerged ‘proving’ the effectiveness
of the VST© Methodology.
 Annual benchmarking is crucial to
success.
 Resetting the strategic direction
annually is important.
15
19
27
29
36
41
50
28
39
49 48
65
61
71
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
The columns show average VST© scores
The Line shows average commercial return

11. Page  11
The VST© Methodology in Action
 Customer was a large retail
bank in Spain.
 The IBM : Partner relationship
impressed the bank the most.
 IBM GTS implemented the
Partner Networks Cloud-
Ready Data Centre Solution.
 Result was improved
networking capability whilst
reducing cost.
 TCV = €1.9 million
TCV = Total Contract Value
Case 1 - VST© 88
 Customer was a global
financial services company in
Poland. IBM’s global Alliance
Partner was an Optical
Networking company.
 Project was implementation of
a high availability data center
interconnection system.
 "It (this project) couldn't have
been done without support
from the partner, I am really
pleased about the quality of
cooperation with our partner."
 Maciej Wardaszko (Territory Sales
Leader IBM Poland)
 TCV = €2.3 million
Case 2 - VST© 84
 The client was a
Pharmaceuticals
conglomerate in Switzerland
 Both IBM and the Partner had
struggled to make any
progress with the client alone.
 Both were facing ‘meltdown’
and removal from the
account.
 By combining offerings and
working together they
managed to:
 Stay in the account
 Grow account revenue
 Turn the account round
 TCV = €2.8 million
Case 3 - VST© 87
In all three cases a high VST© score = high commercial return

12. Page  12
Sample of VST© Case Studies in High Tech
Average increase in the database is 250% - 650%
Client Partner Target Increase
Capgemini IBM $19m $51.3
Unisys Lenovo $4m $6
Capgemini Microsoft $230m $782
Cognos IBM
$23m $69
Cognos IBM €12m €42
Oracle IBM
€6m €22.8
BT 8 Partners £150m £480
Micro Focus Accenture
£3.5m £17.01
Siemens AG PwC €4m €16.2
APC IBM $3m $7.98
Total 454.5m 1494.29m
Client Partner Target Increase
Chordiant IBM $16m $80m
Capgemini HP €34m €61.2m
Capgemini Oracle $18m $82.8m
Siebel IBM $900m $1044m
Unisys EMC €13m €18.59m
BT Fujitsu £12m £15.24m
SAP 32 Partners €65m €152m
HP StorageTek £26m £41.6m
BT Cisco £5m £30m
Alcatel BT £4m £7.6m
Total 1438m 1975.53m

13. Page  13
Recomendations
 Results showed that
VST© = Better
Relationship and Higher
Commercial Returns
 Recommendation :
Adopt the VST© Model
in multiple countries
with multiple partners.
 ‘In country’ alliance
managers and salesmen
are typically not aware of
VST©.
 Recommendation:
conduct a training
campaign with partners
to demonstrate value of
VST©.
 The VST© approach is not
suitable for all partners.
Just the more advanced.
 Recommendation:
Benchmark partners to
choose potential pilots.
Following a VST© approach gives tangible successful results consistently

14. Further Details
For further details please contact;
Mike Nevin
Managing Partner
Alliance Best Practice Ltd
Web: www.alliancebestpractice.com
Office: +44 (0)1675 442490
Mobile: +44 (0)7766 752350
E Mail: mike.nevin@alliancebestpractice.com