Today’s buyers have more power during the sales enablement process than ever before. As such, cookie-cutter solutions no longer suffice. The modern buyer requires cutting-edge solutions to meet all of their needs so sales teams have an interesting opportunity at hand. The creation of an open and scalable sales ecosystem is the next natural progression of a buyer-centric approach.
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A sales ecosystem allows buyers and their partners to build on top of sales solutions, customizing it to their new, ever-changing business needs. The true value in this type of ecosystem approach is that organizations can deliver solutions that are tailored to solving a business’ unique challenges. Competition for buyers is always fierce so access to an open platform brings the best solutions in one marketplace as part of a strategy that puts the buyer in the center of their options for tech solutions.
Open source and APIs
One way to create an open and scalable sales ecosystem is to use open source technology and standards-based Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). This creates a unified system of access and control for customers and their partners to easily build on top of an existing solution. This approach highlights the value of buy vs build – without the costs involved. As an open API is free, customers can finally create solutions that fit their unique, niche needs and create a plethora of new use cases with sales technologies.
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Creating open source software or API that encourages collaboration and innovation in the developer community. Steps to create one, include:
- Choosing a license: Open source software is distributed under a license that allows users to access and modify the source code. There are many open source licenses to choose from, such as the GNU General Public License, MIT License, Apache License, and many more. The license you choose needs to meet both the organization’s needs and the needs of its users/customers.
- Planning the project: Before coding begins, you should plan your project by identifying what your API or software will do, and what features you’ll need to include. The needs of users should be considered and the API or software design should be easy to use and flexible.
- Writing the code: Once you have a plan, start writing the code by following best practices for coding, such as keeping your code modular and well-documented. This will make it easier for other developers to contribute to the open-source project.
- Setting up a version control system: Using a version control system, such as Git, to keep track of changes to your code is instrumental. This will allow you to collaborate with other developers and keep track of different versions of the code.
- Publishing your code: Publishing the code on a code repository like GitHub or GitLab allows for collaboration. By ensuring there is clear documentation, including how to install and use the software or API, will ensure streamlined adoption.
Partnering with complementary solutions
In an open ecosystem, it’s important that partnering, not competing companies, are part of the marketplace. Otherwise, leaders in one category will begin to eat into market share and customer value will be impacted. When the open ecosystem applies choice and access to different breeds of complementary solutions businesses can innovate faster and implement go-to-market strategies. As such, productivity is improved and ROI is scaled more faster.
Partnering with complementary solutions in an open ecosystem can be beneficial for both parties, as it allows for integration and interoperability between different products and services.
To start partnering with complementary solutions, the organization should:
- Identify potential partners: Look for companies that offer products or services that complement your own. For example, if you have a software platform for project management, you might look for partners who offer time-tracking tools or communication apps.
- Assess compatibility: Evaluate whether your solutions can work together seamlessly. You may need to make modifications to your products or APIs to ensure compatibility.
- Establish communication: Reach out to potential partners and start a dialogue. Discuss your goals and how your products can work together in harmony. It’s important that you identify the benefits of collaboration and establish a timeline for implementation.
Open ecosystems offer integrations with other platforms and tools, as well as co-marketing and co-selling efforts to reach a wider audience. Lesser-known brands in specific verticals can capitalize on these opportunities to generate new customer leads and ultimately, increase revenue. An open ecosystem helps to level the playing field in tech and allows customers to consider other solutions that were not even on their radar.
Building a developer community
A strong developer community helps propel the growth of an open ecosystem. An open ecosystem should encourage collaboration with other developers to contribute to the project by creating clear guidelines for contributions and setting up a way for people to report bugs or suggest improvements. When developers have access to software development kits (SDKs), they can build apps in an intuitive environment to deliver a superior user experience. With low- and no-code tools, developers remain in control of what they build and can personalize the experience to meet their needs. Developers will also help to maintain the ecosystem by pointing out any bugs that need to be fixed. When adding new features, the documentation should be kept up to date and pull requests and contributions from other developers should be reviewed.
When the complementary solutions have reached a limit on scenario development, new developers can be brought into the fold to bring fresh perspectives and ideas. Developers like to have access to thorough documentation so any new open ecosystem needs to ensure this part of the puzzle is right from the onset of developer engagement. By hosting regular developer meetups and events, companies can build a stronger developer base. Developers are also quite active on social media and forums so companies can also engage with them on these platforms.
Overall, creating an open and scalable ecosystem requires a combination of technical capabilities, strategic partnerships and strong developer engagement, to provide customers with the flexibility and support they need to build on top of a solution. In 2023, one of the biggest hurdles businesses will face is client retention. However, with access to an open, scalable ecosystem, customers will quickly realize how their tech choices are multiplied and how the buyer journey is forever transformed.
