How Acquia is Transforming Our Partner Program in 2021

The past year has been one of epic change, both within Acquia and around the globe. Workforces have gone remote, personalisation has become more important than ever and digital transformation has rapidly accelerated in all industries and regions. In order to grow —  and for many, to survive — businesses are rewriting the rule book and establishing a new vision of success. Acquia is no different, and today we are excited to introduce a new vision of success to our partner community.  

Acquia and our partners have always been at the forefront of the world’s most ambitious digital experiences. With the launch of Acquia Open Digital Experience Platform (DXP) in July 2020, we opened the door to limitless opportunities for companies to optimise their digital approach and build meaningful connections with customers. We’ve said before that the Experience Economy extends beyond just the end customer, and we’re reshaping Acquia’s partner program around the same principles: personalised understanding, mutual trust and consideration and a focus on earning and fostering long-term customer relationships.

Last week, Acquia unveiled the formation of the Acquia Digital Experience (DX) Alliance, bringing partners into our open culture of creators and collaborators. Here's how we're continuing that transformation in 2021 to align our go-to-market more closely with the strengths of our partner ecosystem, execute more strategically and deliver substantial lifetime value in the market. 

Engaging Partners in Every Opportunity

By now, we all know that the digital experience extends far beyond the website. Customer engagement happens across multiple platforms, devices and interfaces. Keeping ahead of the curve requires businesses to be fast, scalable and adaptable. At Acquia, we have anticipated these changing tides and invested in our own growth, adding essential new digital capabilities to our product portfolio, including marketing automation, low-code tools and the most widely used and acclaimed customer data platform (CDP) in the retail industry. Each of these investments reflects the demand that exists for more connected, intuitive experiences for digital teams and respective buyers — business or consumer. 

Going forward, we will actively collaborate alongside partners to deliver holistic digital experiences that span every facet of our shared clients’ business, from demand generation and personalisation to customer success and retention. For partners who have mainly been focused on developer-centric offerings, this means working closely to introduce new marketing capabilities and grow their future value. The combination of Acquia’s Drupal Cloud and Marketing Cloud in the Acquia Open DXP is a best-of-breed solution that will help our partners deliver substantial additional value to existing customers and greatly grow our future opportunities together.

As digital experience continues to evolve, Acquia’s open, flexible architecture grants partners the freedom to extend their offerings beyond what they once thought possible. Traditional Drupal shops, digital agencies and system integrators are all gaining a much broader ability to collaborate with other solution providers and develop strategies that suit both developer and marketer needs. And Acquia’s open source roots means partners won't have to hesitate or backtrack when promising clients a new feature or integration. No matter what technology is on the roadmap — whether bought or built — Acquia partners can confidently encourage clients to think bigger and embrace the next best thing. 

Investing in Client Relationships for a Unified Go-to-Market Strategy

Though we all define digital and customer experience in our own ways, the objective is the same: to build genuine and meaningful relationships between companies and customers. Modern customers desire relevant and personalised communications tailored to their interests. Our new partner enablement strategy focuses on identifying the highest-value clients and presenting them with the most relevant offerings suited to the needs of their business.

Acquia and partner sales teams will work as one to create the best possible opportunities for every account. We’ve already worked closely with many of our top partners to create an account-based mapping strategy that will help us focus on the most important business. In the new plan, regional partner managers will work to identify the partner who is active in an account, and, in alignment with that partner’s expertise, create a joint solution and value-based go-to-market campaign. 

Most importantly, this collaborative engagement will go far beyond just implementation and services. Partner teams will work together with Acquia sales and marketing to craft a unified story and message that communicates lifetime value to the customers. With our revamped program, our partners can expand their relationship with us and take advantage of the full scope of collaborative offerings and shared strategic objectives, including: 

• Robust go-to-market offerings including thought-leadership opportunities and event sponsorships
• Business development strategies, planning, and support
• On-demand content, campaigns, templates, and demand-gen insights
• Technical trainings, certifications, early access programs, and more
   

Acquia will host a dedicated Partner Sales & Marketing Summit to dive deeper into all of the above and share the very latest Acquia product news. The Partner Summit will take place on February 23-24, 2021, and include a 2020 Partner Awards celebration. More information and invitations will be sent in the next few days. 

For more information about becoming an Acquia Partner, visit our partner page. 

Partnering With More Than 600 Industry Leaders 

The reshaped Acquia program takes flight with over 600 partners, including leading digital agencies, systems integrators and Drupal development companies across global markets, including the Americas, EMEA, and Asia. Top-tier Global partners include companies such as Accenture, Capgemini, CI&T, Dentsu Isobar, Digitas/Publicis Sapient, EPAM, IBM iX, MRM McCann, VMLY&R, Wipro, and Wunderman Thompson. 

We’re excited to look ahead to our work in 2021 with these and hundreds of other partners.

"Partnering is a two-way street, and Acquia continues to invest in making its partner program valuable and actionable. Together with Acquia, we've been able to uncover cutting-edge opportunities around digital experience, customer data, and personalization in ways that help us deliver true value to our clients."

 — Dave Mankowski, Chief of Growth, Bounteous

“Acquia’s new partnership program offers a collaborative and integrated strategy that will enable us to better serve our customers. As an Acquia Global Partner, we believe this partner-centric approach will allow us to work more closely with Acquia to accelerate our customers’ digital strategies and deliver next-generation experiences with the Acquia platform.”

— Neal Prescott, VP, Digital Technology at EPAM Systems

“We’ve been a proud Acquia partner for over 10 years, creating world-class digital solutions together. We’re excited about taking this to the next level with the updated new Acquia partner program. It gives us a strategic framework to bring together Acquia Open DXP with our expertise to help our clients reach digital success and growth.” 

— Michael Koefoed Steensborg Drejer, Global CEO, FFW

“MRM is on the Partner Advisory Board at Acquia and we are excited about the construct of the partner programme. This, coupled with the investment in the Marketing Cloud alongside the already strong Drupal Cloud, opens up new possibilities of what can be done with martech at the right price and quality points for our clients. Our engagement to date has shown true partnership, highlighting the power of martech, human-centric marketing agencies, and clients on their data-driven marketing journeys.” 

— Jayna Kothary, Global Chief Technology Officer, MRM//McCann

"The success of our customers‘ projects relies on teamwork, commitment and quality. The new partnership program strengthens this strong, committed, healthy and transparent relationship that SQLI and ACQUIA have built over the past years to serve our clients' digital experience challenges. 

— Mathieu Collet, Business Unit Manager, SQLI

“Acquia's new partner program puts the customer front and center, and that is great for customers, great for partners, and great for Drupal. There is a reason we have been partners since TAG's inception: Acquia continues to deliver tremendous value as a partner-driven organization." 

— Justin Emond, CEO, Third and Grove

“Acquia's ‘Partner-First’ approach breaks down traditional barriers, accelerating both innovation and scalability to ensure the optimal delivery of value to our customers." 

— Jared Bouwer, CTO, Wunderman Thompson Technology South Africa & Global WT Drupal CoE

If you’re ready to transform your business by becoming an Acquia Partner, visit our partner page.